I did up some cheat sheets for myself for when I want to do an endurance ride based upon target power & type of work rather than workout level. In the context of this conversation they may be handy for others. Feel free to use & abuse.
There’s a few oddball workouts in the catalog but I’ve specifically excluded the ones with hard starts, sprints, etc. For the ones I’ve included I categorise their profiles as being flat, a wave, or a “castle”, like the cartoon image of the top of a castle where it has peaks on the sides & middle, with hard transitions to the valleys between. Antonio tells the story better:
Say I want to be in the vicinity of .7 IF for 2½ hours I’ll pick Ochoco or something similar.
Or if I want to sit right on .74 IF for 1½ hours I’ll pick James because its profile is flat.
Or if I can/want-to be on the bike for 4 hours to do a few segments of work at .7 IF but save myself from being toasted with some easy spinning in between I’ll pick Cheyne.
(Edited to replace a table with an error)