1) My original question was about power! I promise! (I have another thread about Fat Loss Tips)

2) This is my understanding as well. Riding at Z2 mostly uses fat, which is my goal.

Question is, is it better to do higher Z2 for a shorter amount of time, or lower Z2 for a longer amount of time? Or is there a difference? Or am I wasting time with Z2 (on such low hours) and stick to intervals?

This question (in the power thread) is more towards the "Is there any training benefit for either option?". Whether one is better at burning fat could probably be taken to the Fat Loss thread. :)

I think intervals and tempo. It's not enough hours to burn out so you can sustain it, and it'll burn more kj overall. Additionally doing z2 at 90-120min per day isn't going to do a lot for fitness.

Makes sense. I just have to be more cognizant of time then. Tempo and Intervals reduce my ability to get work done, which reduces the amount of time I can spend on the bike. I can probably sneak to the basement for 2-3 hours every day if I'm getting work done. If I have to focus on riding/can't type, I'm pretty much limited to lunch hour rides.

Kinda sorta power related:

I just had to get a Training Peaks account as part of a coaching study I'm part of.
I uploaded the 6 years of data I have and have been poking around the graphs, etc.

What's so much better about this than CyclingAnalytics? Aside from the automagic annual training plan.
Other than a few terminology differences CTL vs Long Term Stress, etc, I don't see a whole lot of differences.

Hello, is there a site with a good library of power files with data from actual races to analyze? Same question for workouts. I guess I can pick out some strong riders in Strava/TrainingPeaks or similar and look for these files, but I was hoping for a more centralized way of finding these.

Not sure if this means anything for you, but I really like the TrainingPeaks app on iOS (don't know if they have a Droid equivalent).

Checking your CTL/PMC/etc at a glance is nice, especially when my co-workers ask what my TSB is, I can just check it right there.

IMHO CyclingAnalytics has a nicer UI. Only reason I still use Training Peaks is because it auto-syncs with Garmin and I don't have to manually upload my training files.

I've actually found the TP app to be pretty nice. I wish CA had one. So far that's the biggest differentiator.
I also like the auto-upload from Garmin. I know CA looked into it but it costs something like $5000 for the API access.

Does anyone know what cranks will work with this one?:


Seller says he thinks Shimano.

Finally going to try Zwift. Not sure if the graphics on my old Mac will handle it though.

How old is old? I was running it on my wife's 2012 macbook just fine.

2009

WKO4 Power Users facebook group is excellent and has some posts about files from elite riders and analyzing them and the like.

Also a bunch of WKO4 webinars on youtube that give workout ideas and season planning help, too.

This is even harder than just following users in Strava and grabbing their power files. I'm looking for just a bunch of files in some directory/database, I'd imagine there would be such a public database with some many users of GoldenCheetah, Strava, Garmin Connect, WKO, Training Peaks, etc.... it seems odd that I can't find such a thing.

:foo:

A public database storing multiple private companies' files? That makes no sense.

Besides, a bunch of files aren't going to be of much use if you don't know and understand the processes behind the training. That's the beauty of the WKO group, in my opinion.

What do you mean? I would gladly share my power files to such a database if it's formed, and so will plenty of users that already have these files public on Strava and the likes. As for the matter of using these files I can think of plenty of uses ranging from statistical analysis to better matching algorithms to find intervals.

I don't see what value the power data files would have if they weren't tied to a user profile with individualized performance and physiological metrics. I'd assume you'd need FTP, weight, age, etc to find any value in the data and that would require the users to create and maintain an active profile in the database. I can't imagine a database of that nature exists beyond Strava and Training Peaks and I doubt there is enough interest to warrant creating one or getting enough participants to have it yield real value.

World Tour teams are quite simply competing against each other for results, which translates to sponsorship dollars.
Having a public database with each teams' riders power files would undermine at the very least a perceived notion competitive advantage on a large number of given metrics.

Team rosters are set ahead of time for Grand Tours/Day Races/Whatever. If form/fitness/strengths/weaknesses/etc are know by rival teams, once can quickly develop a plan to best attack another team's leader during their weakest point in the race.

If you were a team boss, would you want that data known by your rival team bosses?

Also, as stated. These numbers are really only as accurate as the biometrics that go with them for that particular event. Not knowing FTP, weight, form, etc, makes the files useless for generating any reasonable patterns, etc.

Zwift works fine on my 2011 Macbook Air. It's at a lower resolution than when running on my gf's shiny new MacBook Pro, though.

Whatever floats your boat. Sounds like you're looking for something that's already readily available in regards to analysis, regressions, and algorithms. Can even get optimized intervals with just a click of a button.

I need some help if possible. I have done a CTS Field Test, on the trainer with a result of 247w, so my threshold should be something like 225w.

However, when I ride outside, I'll get something ridiculous for TSS. For example, yesterday, only did 2 hours, but the ride had a TSS of 298. The NP on the ride, was 274w, and I know I'm riding pretty hard, because I'm a bigger guy and hills around Atlanta require me to work harder to just keep moving. I'm just not riding 100%+ for 2 hours

Its screwing up how I view the PMC in Training Peaks, and I suffered the same problem last year (my first year really training and racing). It's hard to believe that I'm doing 925 TSS on ~8 hours riding.

Should I retest, with a different protocol, finding somewhere outside to retest and reset my FTP numbers? Any help is appreciated.

Retest outside. I suck at trainer watts.

yup

It might be a combination of two things: on the one hand tests on a trainer are naturally lower, my first test outside ended up being 20% higher than in the trainer and the consense of the replies in this forum seems to be due to heat. On the other hand it is much easier (at least in my case) to output higher powers in hills that in flats. Since you mention Hills in your post this may compound with the fact that you have an artificially low FTP.

I myself train daily on hills as I have no flat roads available during the week, so I use an FTP tested on a 20' climb to set my workouts at 311W. However for the workouts in the flat I use an FTP of 290W also tested several times in flat stretches. This has worked for me since I started training with power.

Are you using the same power meter indoors and outdoors? That could be an issue although most likely you just need to redo the test.