Unnecessarily “busy” workouts...?

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I train in resistance mode on smart rollers and I prefer the single flat intervals vs a bunch of little variations. For me, it’s partially about wanting to just dial in a resistance and knock it out, but mostly I just hate doing the constant calculations.

I’ve been doing sweet spot work recently and doing 15-20 minute intervals that vary. At the start of the interval (made up of smaller intervals), I have to look at the elapsed time and calculate and remember what time the interval will end. Then, I need to do math throughout the interval to figure out how much longer. You’d think all this “advanced” mathematics would be a good distraction during a long interval, but mostly I find it annoying. Give me a long interval with a real count down timer for the entire interval and I’m much happier. I can break a 30 minute interval into tolerable phases in my head, but I always want to see how long is left without doing the math. If they could vary the power up and down within an interval without having to break it into micro intervals, that would be good for me.

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This type of workout is probably a cleaned up example of how I ride endurance outside. The power is never in one place for a meaningful period of time and my cadence will bob up and down.

For me, in the winter months, these workouts are a God send.

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I think it is mainly to give people some variety. I have a dumb trainer, so I don’t particularly like such busy workouts, because I have to pay close attention to the target power than with workouts that feature longer steps. But on a smart trainer, I think I’d like those a lot.

These short steps are also a chance to do small exercises. To pass time, I will often vary my cadence, for example, sometimes to the extreme ends. Doing 2 minutes at 50–60 rpm at modest power output is much better than during sweet spot workouts with longer intervals.

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If you live anywhere that isn’t pan flat then your outdoor rides will be pretty similar to Baxter et al. As noted above, these workouts are best done in resistance mode, find a gear and spin up or down as required.

Don’t think of them as “just” power, they are an opportunity to push other metrics like cadence.

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If you’re on the rollers, why not do it as an outside workout (on the rollers) using your head unit?

Warm Up: Ride for 15 minutes gradually raising your power from 117 to 152 watts.
Main Set: Ride for 1 hour and 40 minutes varying your power from 117 to 152 watts.
Cool Down: Spin easy for 5 minutes, longer if you can.

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I’ve also got tons of workouts like that. Just spin away watching a series, do the work without even realising it.

I created a bunch of my own workouts all the way up to 3.5 hours of just steady power. If I feel good I bump up the percentage and if I feel fatigued I bump it down.
Corel

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When I first moved back to TR I was using ERG and I was glad of the change to break up the monotony of a long interval and psychologically it helped too with the interval being broken up time wise. I’ve started using resistance mode and therefore tend not to follow exactly the interval but get into a TT position and pedal at a constant rate, just glancing at the screen occasionally. Having the intervals broken up still helps sometimes with psychological stuff.

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I always choose the workouts with these changes vs constant as I feel it more closely mimics riding on the road.

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:100: This is a pretty consistent theme if you keep the workout text on, even in the less varied/more boring endurance sessions. You’re sitting there spinning at not that many watts, so since you’ve clearly got time and energy to spare, why not focus on complementary skills at the same time? In the case of Perkins, it’s about cadence – the whole workout is a giant cadence drill. Is it “unnecessarily busy”? That depends on you and your goals. :woman_shrugging:t2:

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If you don’t want to do the cadence drill portion of these workouts, then indeed they are busy for nothing. If you do the cadence drills (go in resistance mode, pick one gear, and change cadence to match the power, then the “busyness” has a purpose.

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I much prefer these “busy” workouts. On both ERG and normal modes. Much more fun than boring constants.

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I know what you mean, but I think they vary intensity to make it more engaging to ride rather than to ‘look’ good. Zero difference in benefit but mentally MUCH more engaging.

I also use rollers for my indoors most of the time and would do it manually even if the session was a flat power target. Just change a gear every few mins and/or maybe change cadence on some of them. No reason other than to combat the monotony.

Same here. I’d much rather do twenty four short, slightly changing, 5 minute intervals than one long, pancake flat, 120 minute interval. Whether in erg mode or resistance mode, time seems to pass much faster when the interval are shorter, even when the overall time is the same.

Very long unchanging intervals might be useful if you are training for a time trial or triathlon, but that’s not me.

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Just going to be a nob and repeat what the guys are saying above.

If I’m on the trainer, busier the better. Keep them coming TR!

When I’m doing outdoors workouts - the exact opposite - longer intervals and flat please!

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Yes, in many cases of desired effect.

Bingo!

Wild guess here… your work involves numbers. (assuming you enjoy that training).

Same here. I lose my mind just holding power on a smart trainer. Could be the ADHD :wink:

I would much prefer workouts like OP posted. Or like the below, which is one of mine intended mostly to combat boredom.
image

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I quite like the ‘busy’ aerobic / endurance rides, especially when not using erg mode. I tend to treat them as a bit of a fixed gear ride - just varying cadence to hit the prescribed power targets. Sometimes it means the cadence will range between 75 and 110 rpm, but on most of the busy endurance / aerobic rides its only a much more comfortable range difference of 20rpm

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Screenshot_2021-03-26_10-20-42

Here is my goto easy ride, I just extend it to fill the time I have for the workout.

I’m on a non-smart trainer and get my power readings from a power meter and for very busy endurance rides I just ignore the watt targets and stick to a single number throughout so my workouts turn into a straight line. I’d probably enjoy busy workouts on a smart trainer.