So this workout was one intended to keep using the same gear the entire
workout, using cadence to alter the intensity. It made for an interesting
workout. Since I'm using HR as the baseline for intensity (more on that in a
minute) - it created a dilemma: do I try to follow the plotted intensity with my
HR (which naturally increases throughout the workout, which would thus make later 'high cadence' spurts be at a lower cadence?), or say screw the HR and
go with cadence. Sometimes I did one, sometimes I did the other.
Going back to the HR, though - the folks @ trainerroad do say they prefer
using 'virtualpower' as the intensity setting (virtualpower being the correlated
power output based on the trainer being used, in leiu of an actual power meter).
The thing I'm not sure of is that I'm doing this training for endurance, not
necessarily a 45 minute time trial. So if I were going for a time trial, I could
see wanting to build power, and would be less concerned about having my HR reach
some high number or going out of the aerobic zone. In coming from a running world, the idea with base building is
to keep the intesity low to stay in the aerobic zone. In fact, at the beginning
of this workout, they say that the purpose of the workout is aerobic
conditioning - which makes me believe that I would want to prioritize on keeping
the HR lower.
Anyhow, the cadence usually ended up between 105-115, which is on the higher
end of my comfort zone. However I recently found out that spinter cyclists can
have a cadence of 160 (!) - so it might be useful to get comfortable at higher
cadences. Fortunately this workout seemed to be reasonably effective for this,
as I felt more stable at the higher cadences after a while once I figured out
how to relax the legs and hips a bit.
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/22184
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