Turbo Trainer PtII

If you ain't feelin no pain you have indeed been doing it wrong!

Sorry Slinky, I've just re-read this and realised that it sounds a bit flippant and rude. Sorry, not intended to be, it's just that I don't actually know what exactly a power tap is. Could you explain what it does and how please

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Ha ha dont worry about it! A Powertap is a torque meter built into rear hub. It will give you a constant power reading in watts as well as monitor your heart rate. The advantage of using one of these is that your heart rate can vary a significant amount from day to day depending on such factors as sleep, heat and what you've eaten and drank. When you change your effort on the turbo your heart rate will take a while to change. Your power reading will give a much more accurate measure of effort, especially for intervals, where if you were following your heart rate, you would struggle to max it doing 1 or 2 min intervals. There is loads of info about on power training, well worth having a look at

But the downside is the cost right? How much does one of these set you back?

I'll go against the grain here and say power training whilst great on the road isn't really necessary for turbo work. Were power works well is giving a true reading no matter what other variables are at work i.e incline,wind etc. On a turbo these aren't factors and using a speedo you can work out power using some calculations. If you were racing with power using the same measurement method would be a good idea though.

Thanks for the info on the Powertap Slinky. I think this will be a bit OTT for what I want.

However, I think I might invest in an HRM - but can't see the point in spending lots of dosh. Lloyds Pharmacy are offering one for £9.99 which seems remarkably cheap compared to most. The cheapest I've seen otherwise is £35 - £40 range (Maplins do one which includes a bike mount but is out of stock). Polar bike specific seem to start around £60.

Would the Lloyds one be OK to see if it's all worthwhile?

Well I bought one of the Lloyds Chemist ones - and it was on offer at £7.99 - and it seems to work OK. Just a basic heartrate count, stopwatch and time but it's enough.

According to the charts my Max HR should be 159 (220- 61 my age) and my anaerobic exercise rate should be 135-ish. I find I reach this very easily and can get into the upper 150's without to much effort and not feeling as if I'm trying very hard. I've not dared use it out on the road as I know what I feel like going up hills and I'm sure I'm in the red!

Is this normal? I think I need to speak to a coach at some time to discuss some sort of programme and make sure I'm not overdoing it.

220-your age is not very accurate,you need to do a max hr test(although you should see a doctor first).My max hr is 201 but 220-age would give 188,this would throw all of my zones out and make the use of a HRM almost pointless.Hope this helps.

HRM

220-your age is not very accurate,you need to do a max hr test(although you should see a doctor first).My max hr is 201 but 220-age would give 188,this would throw all of my zones out and make the use of a HRM almost pointless.Hope this helps.

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My heart rate can be as much as 20 bpm out at a given power depending on the training Ive done the previous day, so not the best way to train at all

Re: HRM

slinky182":fbnmzw17 said:

220-your age is not very accurate,you need to do a max hr test(although you should see a doctor first).My max hr is 201 but 220-age would give 188,this would throw all of my zones out and make the use of a HRM almost pointless.Hope this helps.

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My heart rate can be as much as 20 bpm out at a given power depending on the training Ive done the previous day, so not the best way to train at all

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Not sure any of these are ideal - whats needed is an appreciation of the pros/cons of HR, Power, and how you feel - ie if you feel shit one day, back off!
Regarding the 220-age max HR - this has been known to be very approx for years. I knew there were other approximations around, quick wiki gives..

For me, tested max HR by Sally/Sally methods on Turbo gives 202bpm

Formulas give:
220-age = 187
HRmax = 205.8 − (0.685 × age) = 183 (SD of 6.4!!)
HRmax = 206.3 − (0.711 × age) = 183
HRmax = 217 − (0.85 × age) = 189

Which are all pretty way out.

The other important factor when training is to identify your anearobic threshold - this is a good measure of fitness and useful for training.

I am sure a power tap has its uses, but for most, just the basics of a HR monitor and understanding of training to suit your own needs/targets will give a noticeable advantage IMO.
Have known a few guys use powertaps, and although useful, comments were more that it was useful for getting max power out for TT type events.

If you are already near peak fitness and looking to gain theabsolute max on a structured life training program, sure there is some use.

I still find best thing is just go out and ride with people quicker than you

I have used a powertap in the past and it was pretty good,only problem is they are very prone to breaking(mine is back in the States for the 3rd time)an SRM is the best but these are BIG bucks and need regular calibration.Also to get the best from a power meter you really need expert advice/analysis as while all the information and graphs look pretty most people can't make head nor tail of them,including a fair number of coaches.For a cost/performance HRMs are hard to beat and as for your heartrate being 20 beats lower for a certain wattage from training,you should already know you're tired from taking you're resting HR every morning and previous experiance of hard sessions and back off accordingly,none of these devices are any good if you can't listen to what your body is telling you.