Today, I did my first trainer ride on my "new" Kurt Kinetic Road Machine. I am doing Coach Troy Jacobson's 32 Day Spinerval Challenge. (I'll talk in a different blog about Spinervals, and anything else that comes to mind.) So, I got my new trainer yesterday. It was an easy setup. I also purchased a Kurt Kinetic Wireless computer. My primary reason for the new trainer and computer is that I want to train with power, but wanted to do it fairly inexpensively. Not ready to pony up $900 for a PowerTap right now. I got the trainer used and the computer new, for a total of $327.00! First, if you have a magnetic trainer, get rid of it now and treat yourself to a fluid trainer. What a difference! The pedal stroke was so smooth and realistic compared to my Cyclops magnetic trainer. And it is much quieter. The trainer alone made the purchase worthwhile. I'm not as enamored with the computer, but I think I am going to love training with power. I am used to my Garmin 500. I can customize the screen (and toggle between 3 customized screens), so that I can have all the data I want to see on one screen. Not so with the KK wireless. The three data points I want to see: HR, cadence and power are on different screens, that I have to toggle through (not easy pushing that button on the side while I'm pedaling/breathing hard/sweating excessively. Today, I was doing a Zone 2/3 workout: Spinervals 17, which was a 1:20, 22 mile ride. Coach Troy was talking about cadence and heart rate zones a lot. In newer DVDs, he discusses power more. So, I wanted to keep an eye on my cadence and HR, but I was particularly curious about my wattage. Here are some things I observed: regardless of the cadence or gear, I was able to keep my power output fairly steady until the last 20 minutes, when I suspect I started to tire a little. Also, I ate breakfast about three hours before this workout, but started with plain water. About 30 minutes into the workout, I saw my power suddenly drop by 20 points, almost immediately followed by that low blood sugar, bonking feeling. I got off the bike right away and grabbed a Roctane Gel, and mixed a bottle of Electrolyte Brew. Within 10 minutes, I felt better, and my power numbers came back up. After the ride, I scrolled through the screens and recorded my data, then manually entered it into Training Peaks. I may miss not having all the "in-ride" data, but I was very excited to see how my power data compared to my HR and cadence. I finished feeling like it was the best trainer workout I've ever had. I've never been able to maintain the speed and achieve the distance of Coach Troy's workouts until today. For sure, the Road Machine is a far superior trainer to my old one. Being able to watch and maintain my power during the proscribed sets was exciting! Here are my final stats (pretty much all the relevant data you can glean from the KK wireless computer): Time-1:23:09, Avg RPM-79, Max RPM-112, Avg HR-136, Max HR-219 (what's up with that?!), Avg watts-171, Max watts-241, Avg MPH-16.1, Max MPH-19.1.
Nice - not much of a blogger myself, I've looked at a few but never started on. Nice stats especially with the downtime that he gives us, the breaks usually kill my stats.
ReplyDeleteMary, I was thinking the same thing. Was able to keep my watts around 220-225 for the 1 and 2 min intervals and still stay aerobic. The last set had 4 min intervals with high cadence and easier gearing, and I noticed my power drop to around 200. I'm sure I've got a lot to learn. I'm probably going to do the threshold test tomorrow (class Tuesday), so I'll have an FTP number to start working from.
ReplyDeleteWow Alicia, you are an animal! Those are impressive power numbers for an aerobic workout!!!!! You'll get used to the KK computer - I remember being annoyed at the switching screens at first, but after a while you get into a rhythm with when to look at what and it comes pretty naturally. And once you know your power numbers, you won't care about HR at all (except as an aside) so all you'll look at is cadence and watts. Nice blog! Looking forward to more reading.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michelle. I've been riding a long time, but this is the first time with power. Starting to get a feel for what the numbers mean when I'm training.
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