I know this was covered in June 2023 but the topic got off track from my query so going to ask a similar question.
I train about 7.5-9 hours a week:
Mon - Rest
Tues - 60-90 mins Sweet Spot Intervals
Wed - 2 hrs Zone 2 (using HR - keeping HR under 140bpm)
Thurs - 2 hrs Zone 2 (using HR - keeping HR under 140bpm)
Fri - Rest
Sat - 60 mins Threshold Intervals
Sun - 3 hrs Zone 2 (using HR - keeping HR under 140bpm)
So it’s a pyramidal style of training and every session right now is indoors.
I have no issue sitting on an indoor bike so motivation isn’t an issue for me.
I have a 300km one day event next year and I am not a natural aerobic ‘athlete’, hence trying to do a reasonable amount of aerobic/base work.
My query is this:
Wed and Thurs I have to train at my local gym with little to no aircon. My average power is about 130 watts over the 2 hour ride.
At home I average 150-160 watts as I have a fan and can open all the windows.
My average power at the gym hasn’t really changed in 5 months and I wonder if my fitness isn’t getting anywhere due to me overheating. Am I really improving my aerobic system if my power is 20-30 watts less than it should be due to the heat?
I can’t switch my gym training to home sessions and the gym aren’t going to change their aircon just for me so I don’t have any option but to train at the gym.
My lack of change is my concern…I don’t mind sitting for hours on an indoor bike at a low zone but I also don’t want to waste my time either.
Any thoughts on whether training at the gym is hampering any improvements I may get?..or any ideas on whether to just stick with what I’m doing or change something?
What would your HR do if you rode at 150W for 2h in the gym?
Can you take a fan into the gym and use it for your session?
How long have you been doing that particular training schedule? Does it vary much over time (periodisation)? Have you tried, say, some VO2 instead of threshold or, say, some sprints instead of sweetspot from time to time?
Are you riding 30W lower in the heat because it’s too hard to ride at the higher wattage? Or are you purposely limiting yourself? I ask because I do 90% of my Z2 without turning my fan on. I just don’t like the fan blowing on me. I’ll use it for harder efforts but for Z2 I just suck it up and ride. So I wonder what would happen if you just ride normally at the higher wattage.
How are you measuring power in the gym? Are you carrying power pedals in and installing them on the gym’s bike? I guess it’s nice that the gym wattage seems consistent, but, unless it’s the same brand equipment you have at home, I wouldn’t assume they would match to any degree.
Has your home z2 wattage (at the same HR) increased over that period of time?
It came from having a test at my local University where they did blood lactate testing in order to see where my thresholds were.
The guy has a PHD in exercise physiology and it was his testing and advice that made me try to stick under 140bpm when doing endurance work
I find the Zone 2 rides pretty easy. My max HR is just under 200bpm so I could ride at 150 or 160 watts but my understanding is that puts me into a different training zone so the adaptation would be different?!
Hi
I use a Watt Bike at gym and it does feel harder than my Wahoo Kickr at home.
I sort of feel there is a discrepancy but as with any discrepancies, the lower the initial value, the less the discrepancy is. So even if the two bikes are 10% out, which would be a lot, it still wouldn’t make up for the difference in my power outputs.
I was trying to ascertain whether I’ve seen much change in my Z2 power…it’s hard to know as my first 3-4 months were all done at the gym and only recently I added home training into the mix (as my situation changed).
I have made a chart to track home changes and will update as I find
Ok, I now see you’re doing these rides based on HR as the cap. Somebody with more experience can correct me but I do all my rides, even Z2, based solely on power. Meaning that my Z2 rides don’t have any HR zone I’m targeting and there isn’t a target I keep my HR under. To be honest, I don’t really even watch my HR during Z2 rides 99% of the time.
I discussed this with the Physiologist who did my testing and his opinion was that lactate production is based on heart rate…driven (amongst other things) by how much power you are applying.
He advised me to stick with HR when doing lower zone workouts but when I do higher threshold work, I could switch to power as my prime metric.
No idea if this is completely correct or not but that’s why I’m sticking to a HR for Zone 2 work.
Having said that, as I mentioned in my post, my power output is notably different if training at home or at the gym - hence me wondering if I am not gaining fitness with heat inhibiting my power output.
Can you hold the same power for two hours at the 140HR, or does power drop away before the 2 hours is up?
Is your Endurance power correlated to 140 HR, either at home or in the gym?
In TR terms, Endurance power is 55% - 75% of FTP.
So how close to 75% of your Trainer Road FTP is 140 HR on a typical at home or gym endurance ride?
I do think it is likely that the wattbike and the kickr will read differently from each other. The difference may, or may not, be significant. You would have to test that to be sure.
Those zones don’t really matter, see the post below from the man after who those zones are named. If you have a hard session planned the next day just go by rpe and not worry if you are some time in zones 1 to 5 for brief moments
In my experience I can do the same power in a gym as I can at home, but it’s miserable. I did two RAMP test the same day switching power pedals and got a result within a few watts off the home session.
So the problem is RPE, if you can’t use a portable fan and they won’t let you use their spin class equipment (which does tend to be airconned) then I would keep the session high intensity and short.
Your heart rate is elevated because of the heat, not because you’re in a different zone. This is one of the reasons it’s better to ride by power with heart rate as a secondary metric.
Try riding higher and monitor RPE and how you feel and recover. If it doesn’t impact your other workouts or tire you out too much, riding at the higher power will be better from a training and adaptation perspective. If it’s too much, keep it lower.
As others have said, you do acclimate to doing work in hotter temps. By mid summer I can do hard workouts in 90+ deg F temps with high humidity, but the first couple times out always suck …
Have you got a really cold drink ( with ice cubes aplenty) or maybe some way of putting some ice blocks ( the ones you can refreeze and reuse) inside a towel and place on your back?
If I’m in the gym, my HR decouples due to the heat. At home, if I sat at 150 watts, I could sit for 3 hours at the same HR.
My FTP is 220w so 55% of that would be 121 watts and 75% would be 165 watts so that’s a pretty big range.
As mentioned, 150-155 watts I can hold steady HR for the whole work out at home. At gym it’s down at about 125 watts to stay more stable but it depends on the gym temperature that day.
I asked about a fan but that’s a no as they don’t want you ‘blowing your sweat around the gym’.
When I’m training, there’s usually a spin class on so I can’t get in there which leaves me in the gym.
My issues is on Thursday mornings, I have more time to train…hence the 2 hour early morning fasted session.
I do an intense shorter session on Wed late afternoon so usually my legs are a bit achy Thursday but I could switch to two lower sweet spot sessions and reduce the Wed session and increase the intensity of the Thurs session.
I’ll have a think…than you
