Over-unders at 113%?

[Grutte]

Hi all - just did Palisade as part of the mv ss base 1 plan and had to put the intensity at 113% to be challenged. Is my trainer providing wrong data (flux - calibrated prior to training)? Somebody got similar experiences? Should I change intensity/reset trainer? What would you do?

Some background - 188cm / 71 kg - ramp test october 19 about 255 - due to injuries it decreased to 236 in Jan 20. In the meantime caught covid19 and some knee injuries, but started with the base plan again 4 weeks ago (put ftp at 230 as I didnt want to ramp to be careful with the knee - Reinstein made me puke during the second interval but seemed doable). I definitely expect an increase of ftp during this plan as I wasnt able to train a few months and mostly bike on heart rate basis. Due to injuries however never able to finalize base phase the last 1,5 year so no experience with gains.

I really felt tired last week during my rest day and was happy to go to the last intense week of the plan (starting next Monday). Yesterday I drunk 4 funky beers and although the temperature in my house was 4 degrees C lower then normal and fan closer, the intervals itself are slightly shorter and I am becoming fitter this output seems to good to be true.

Many thanks!

[Captain_Doughnutman]

What were the unders at, 105%?

[Grutte]

I was supposed to do 5x an interval of 1 minute 95% and 2 minutes 105% (9 minutes per interval). Half way the second interval I bumped up to 113% (unders 107% and overs at 119%).

[iamholland]

One workout does not define much. Pallisade for SSB MV comes in at the end of Week 4. I would just finish it up, you only have one more week before a rest week. You’ll have good days and you’ll have bad days, especially since you said you felt really fatigued last week.

You’re going to have another test at the start of SSB 2, so I don’t see the urgency in any of this. It seems lots of posts about things like this. Try not to get too excited. You’re experiencing the vanity FTP chase.

You should be calibrating your trainer weekly, and during any temperature swings.

You’ll have a FTP increase for sure, that just comes with the territory when getting back on the bike.

[Grutte]

Thanks - dont understand me wrong, I am not cheering at all. Already anticipated some quick gains, but questioning the quality of my trainer and were wondering whether somebody has seen such substantial differences in output.

I think it makes the most sense to keep current ftp and adjust on the go if neccesary, but obviously want to be in the right zones during the last week.

[RoadMilitia82]

Hmmm…you’ve been sick, your house is hot, you had 4 beers, at the end of a training block, which all resulted in you increasing the intensity by over 10%?!

I failed that same workout hard today but, my house was hot, I had a beer and smoked last night, did SS intervals Tues and Weds, leg workout on thurs and a 3 hour climbing ride yesterday in the heat.

I guess YMMV…

[iamholland]

If the only source of information is your trainer, then that’s all you have, and there’s not much you can do about it until you get multiple sources. This is like virtual power, and some people having to make big adjustments down (and some up). Consistency in terms of relative power and training zones are all that really needs to be focused on, unless you need to, or want to, track other metrics such as TSS and CTL, etc.

You are recovering, so there’s no reason to doubt increases in power. The real test is when you go outside and relative to what you are working out with, and what your times on a time trial or hill climb are. Until that time, you have what you have, so working within what you have is all you can do.

So, are you also saying that you don’t want to test? You don’t have to ramp test, you can do a 20 minute or a 8x2, if you’re concerned about maximum power through the knee. If neither of those work, then you can try to get a metric based on RPE and heart rate…but you can’t really tell what your HR zones are until you get a long maximum effort in.

If going by RPE and heart rate, then you can track efforts across multiple days. Personally, I would look at 1 week, and go from there.

I’d bump up 3% for the start of SSB2 and see how it feels, adjust accordingly, but ideally you should be able to do 1 week, and have no real effects (fatigue) from it. Again, gauge across multiple days.

[PusherMan]

@Grutte

but questioning the quality of my trainer

As a TACX Flux user who has been through three different Flux trainers, I would advise regularly calibration. I use the TR App for this as I found the TACX App almost useless.

The Flux model seems to be considered by a lot of the industry to be ‘budget/entry level’ when it comes to Smart trainers. From my experience, I’d have to agree. All three of my Flux trainers have varied in general build quality and my RPE/FTP has drifted wildly whilst using the individual units.

So long as the trainer works consistently, I believe you’ll be able to train effectively but don’t take the numbers you’re seeing as anything more than training aids.