phenian said:I have just bought a turbo and computer which is
fantastic for those nights when the missus goes to work
and the kids are in bed and I can ride along to taped
Eurosport. Only problem is all the workouts I have found
are cadence based and my computer has just about
everything but cadence. Is there an easy to work out the
cadence from say the speed and watts or gradient etc or
does anyone have good workouts based on a different
measure or does it not matter?
Just count pedal revs. I ride at the same cadence all the
time anyway (apart from sprints) - it comes out between
100-105 rpm.
I do three different sessions depending on my mood and the
time of year:
1) Road miles replacement: 40 minutes at 42 x 17 (about
19mph). Deadly dull but keeps things ticking over in
winter. 40 mins is all my bottom can put up with -
steady state turbo work is uncomfortable because I
rarely stand up. HR 145-155 (it rises as I get hotter
towards the end).
2) TT pace: 10 mins at 42 x 17 then 20 minutes at 52 x 19
(or 52 x 17 if I'm feeling strong) then 10 minutes at 42
x 17. This builds up a bit of speed. HR 165-175 during
the fast bit.
3) Sprint intervals: 10 mins at 42 x 17 then 52 x 13 all-out
sprint for as long as I can stand it, dropping back to 42
x 17 when the lactic acid gets me after 15-30 seconds.
After 3 mins repeat another 6-10 times. Do a 10 mins 42 x
17 warm down at the end. HR up to 175 - the intervals are
too short to get anywhere near maximum. This speeds me up
quite a bit but is for summer only, and not very often.
Intervals are very hard on your nerves and I've had the
shakes afterwards.
Note that these gears are a lot lower than you might find
recommended in C+, but C+ are usually assuming low cadences
of 70-80 rpm.
My turbo is an old-school Tacx T1400 with a traditional fan.
It's incredibly noisy, especially for interval training, but
it does replicate the speed-power curve of road riding a lot
better than a mag trainer.