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Wattbike Training

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  • May 12, 2014 at 9:28 am #21404
    notfastenough

    Hey folks,
    When I was in the gym on Saturday morning, I noticed that 2 shiny new wattbikes have appeared. I intend to try and snag one each saturday am for 40-50 minutes. However, I’ve not trained with power before, so I don’t know my functional threshold or anything like that. I’d like to achieve the following goals:

    Improve my TT performance over both 10 and 25 miles
    Improve my climbing
    Improve my pedalling technique (I read the wattbike review on here, so I know about the pedal force graphic and trying to generate a sausage shape)

    So, I’m wading through the 150-page training guide from the wattbike website, but could do with some advice on specific workouts, baseline measuring etc. I have a couple of sufferfest vids I can use, but I don’t know, for example, how many watts I can generate to equal 7 out of 10 for effort. Thoughts/advice?

    Thanks all.

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  • May 12, 2014 at 1:21 pm #791985
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    notfastenough

    Ok, I’ve just downloaded the
    Ok, I’ve just downloaded the pdf file “Training with Power” from Joe’s website. For the trainingpeaks stuff, isn’t that assuming that I can download a log file from the wattbike to upload to TP? Or can I just manually input some numbers into TP for it to do the maths bit? I don’t know whether they’ll like me plugging a USB stick into the wattbike or something… still, what they don’t know etc!

    I should add that I haven’t even been training with HR – the opportunity to ride my bike is usually an escape from complexity for me, so I just ride, go hard when I feel good, try to pedal in nice circles, and try to beat my own times on climbs. The difference here is that we put the twins into the Gym’s creche on a saturday morning, but their insurance doesn’t cover you to leave the premises – hence, the best use of time while onsite (I currently do weights and cardio) will be to learn to actually ‘train’ (and train with power) rather than ride.

    The gym is a David Lloyd, I don’t know how much training they’ve been given on the product.

    “combine these long efforts with stuff that’s gonna improve your bodies lactic threshold. ” – By this do you mean combining the long efforts with shorter ones, or is it not that simple?

    I have got a cheap HR monitor somewhere, should I be using that as well? I need to replace the batteries but that’s easy done.

    Sorry for all the stoopid questions!

    May 12, 2014 at 11:53 am #791983
    0
    mooleur

    Also (sorry!!) what gym are
    Also (sorry!!) what gym are you at? Most gyms that buy direct thru Wattbike have to do a spot of training on them, so it’s worth asking the staff their too, they may be able to provide some initial guidance though I’m not sure on the depth of their training sessions.

    If all else fails, I’m sure if you email the guys at wattbike they might be able to help with training direction (they’re lovely people).

    May 12, 2014 at 11:18 am #791981
    0
    mooleur

    Get hold of Joe Friels
    Get hold of Joe Friels training bible, everything you need to know about training with power (he’s literally a genius, most coaches base a lot of their work on his research). Also check out his blog; http://www.joefrielsblog.com/ – hes got loads of articles on training with power. The book itself explains a lot on how to make that transition between training by HR and training with power.

    Try out the free version of Training Peaks too, that does a lot of “the maths” so you can start to figure out what your power zones are, so you can then translate that to specific workouts.

    For TT stuff I do tons of tempo & higher zone workouts, like 10 min intervals at threshold, bit of rest then back in, but it’s really making sure you mix it all, as you need to combine these long efforts with stuff that’s gonna improve your bodies lactic threshold.

    For the “peanut/sausage” thing on the wattbikes I always found doing short, high cadence spinny intervals a big help, where you really have to focus on keeping a smooth circle to maintain a good rhythm. When you go back to a “nomal” cadence, all that practice filters down.

    Can’t recommend Friel for training guides with power though, the man is brilliant.

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