gonna sell my pt after this year
but its been interesting experience tracking TSS and seeing how it affects my “form” (i hate that word, but its accurate)
[quote=halbritt]Fuck your notions about an HRM. They are very nearly pointless. RPE is superior in every way. It helps to calibrate RPE with a power meter occasionally. As for using a power meter for pacing, it can certainly help one learn to pace.
I don’t think anyone here is confused about that. Folks that don’t have that realization are the same folks that simply ride around, stomp on the pedals a few times and say shit like, “I hit 800w today!”[/quote]
Notions based on years of seeing HR relative to other info (HR+pace+lactate testing swimming in college 80s, HR+lactate testing 80s-90s on bike, PM+HR since 2001).
They’re not pointless if you put the info they give in proper context (knowing how heat/cold/humidity affects your own HR, understanding that HR for high intensities starts to go down as you get closer to a peak, etc.). indeed useless for anything under VO2, and they don’t give the whole picture for 3-10min efforts. I’d put HRM about even with RPE. I saw my best w/kg for the last decade at the end of 2009 after just using HRM and PE in training and only using the PM for racing and every 8 week indoor tests (instead of sending old wired training wheel back for another rebuild, just let it go).
Not making any argument for HRM over PM. I love the PM. But, you can certainly get to the same end point without one, although you have to know yourself or the athlete really well to do that, and the margin of error is higher because of the missing info.
And I’ve seen cat 1s get hung up on the PM and start seeing it as an end. It’s not just the casual goofball user.
agree that the PM helps you learn to pace, but fucking hell so does a speedo
and i think perceived exertion is very effective, once you get a taste for the pain
maybe even more so, since when you’re well rested and feeling good/uninjured you can do some amazing shit
and with a PM i often go to my number and call it good
i like the idea of using the PM just to do periodic testing
but the guy i am, if i have one for “testing” i have to use it for everything
yea im that guy, saving data on my recovery rides 
TC: Lost my Garmin during Seattle trip and hotel where I’m 99% sure it is won’t call me back about it.
i bought a garmin 200 now what
[quote=teach me how to douggie]agree that the PM helps you learn to pace, but fucking hell so does a speedo
and i think perceived exertion is very effective, once you get a taste for the pain
maybe even more so, since when you’re well rested and feeling good/uninjured you can do some amazing shit
and with a PM i often go to my number and call it good
i like the idea of using the PM just to do periodic testing
but the guy i am, if i have one for “testing” i have to use it for everything
yea im that guy, saving data on my recovery rides :([/quote]
I’m going to say it again: Using a power meter to quantify training stress is more useful than knowing how much power one is putting out.
[quote=halbritt]
I’m going to say it again: Using a power meter to quantify training stress is more useful than knowing how much power one is putting out.[/quote]
this
PM free only works if you’ve acquired a good sense of how to apply stimulus-recover or if you’re always on the conservative side with your periodization (micro/macro cycles).
the year I went PM free I was still running HR data through a TRIMPS algorithm spreadsheet, just to see if/how it measured up to Coggan’s PMC (answer, sort of, but not really, the PMC is better).
Most people don’t ride enough to need to quantify training stress. For those that do, having the PMC addresses so many issues. The trick is getting the model to suit the athlete. Adjusting the ATL rolling average is usually the trick to this.
and that’s the art of it, and where talking to the athlete and looking at subjective stress ratings like mood, sleep quality, soreness, and ability to concentrate. the default ATL constant 7 doesn’t reflect everyone’s ability to recover.
also hard to really quantify flukey off the bike stress with ATL – breakup, job loss, death in family, jet lag, final exams week, whatever.
you fucked up. 200s don’t do shit.
and that’s the art of it, and where talking to the athlete and looking at subjective stress ratings like mood, sleep quality, soreness, and ability to concentrate. the default ATL constant 7 doesn’t reflect everyone’s ability to recover.
also hard to really quantify flukey off the bike stress with ATL – breakup, job loss, death in family, jet lag, final exams week, whatever.[/quote]
yup yup yup
basically it just let me know i will never be fast
at least not while working and going to school
and well, the drugs and smoking and drinking probably don’t help much
[quote=teach me how to douggie]
yup yup yup
basically it just let me know i will never be fast
at least not while working and going to school
and well, the drugs and smoking and drinking probably don’t help much[/quote]
how many hours a week do you have to commit to school+work?
if 50 or less, then you can get 10hrs of good training in. more than 60, you’re in damage limitation mode. in between, it depends.
get some rollers and ride them early in the morning if you have to.
some of your posts have this “it ain’t gonna work” vibe. don’t do that – it takes about 1500, 1600 hours of training and racing to begin to see whether you’re going to get to cat 2. after 2000, then you really know. so, at maybe 500hrs/year, you’re looking at 3-4 years just to see what your level is. keep the powermeter and keep plugging away at it.
be in for the long haul. there are ups and downs. but if you just keep at it for enough hours, you won’t suck.
you fucked up. 200s don’t do shit.[/quote]
Not exactly, you can preprogram routes and still do most all of the strava shit. No power-meters or heartrates though. I kinda prefer it.
I kinda want a 200, just cause it’s like a computer that doesn’t need a sensor or settings changed each time I switch bikes.
Once Mattbabby quit smoking, his climbing started to improve immediately. I think he’s improving about twice as fast as he did before.
Yeah. This is pretty appealing to me.
why i bought it
i dont care about power, heartrate or all that other shit. most of our racers just use the basic cateye computer, i wanted something i didnt need to worry about with 3 bikes.
Also its neat to see I ascend 78m over my 22km commute.
[quote=CockLobster]
some of your posts have this “it ain’t gonna work” vibe. don’t do that – it takes about 1500, 1600 hours of training and racing to begin to see whether you’re going to get to cat 2. after 2000, then you really know. so, at maybe 500hrs/year, you’re looking at 3-4 years just to see what your level is. keep the powermeter and keep plugging away at it.[/quote]
I should try this. I only gave it whirl for one year and gave up coz fat and slow.
Also, aside from all the reasons that Coggan and crew gives for HR being bullshit, the HRMs built into the Garmins are also woefully inaccurate.
[quote=CockLobster][quote=teach me how to douggie]
yup yup yup
basically it just let me know i will never be fast
at least not while working and going to school
and well, the drugs and smoking and drinking probably don’t help much[/quote]
how many hours a week do you have to commit to school+work?
if 50 or less, then you can get 10hrs of good training in. more than 60, you’re in damage limitation mode. in between, it depends.
get some rollers and ride them early in the morning if you have to.
some of your posts have this “it ain’t gonna work” vibe. don’t do that – it takes about 1500, 1600 hours of training and racing to begin to see whether you’re going to get to cat 2. after 2000, then you really know. so, at maybe 500hrs/year, you’re looking at 3-4 years just to see what your level is. keep the powermeter and keep plugging away at it.
be in for the long haul. there are ups and downs. but if you just keep at it for enough hours, you won’t suck.[/quote]
thanks for the encouragement. i’m kind of a negative dude sometimes when it comes to my own abilities. just coming off a bummer season of injuries, one which started with high hopes. it calls question the sanity of 6 hour rides in the freezing rain all winter and wearing recovery tights to community college.
i’ll probably keep logging data. the new g3 is actually very reliable (but burns the batteries fast) so its much less a hassle
[quote=halbritt]
I should try this. I only gave it whirl for one year and gave up coz fat and slow.
Also, aside from all the reasons that Coggan and crew gives for HR being bullshit, the HRMs built into the Garmins are also woefully inaccurate.[/quote]
i started out pretty fat and very slow
now at least im skinny