Originally Posted by
rensho3
I have the track version and that is what I use to warm up on, even at major events such as nationals and worlds. You can do any standard roller type warm up. I know every one has a preference, but I am not sure I understand the whole watts thing when we are talking about warming up. Carleton's list of the reasons for a warm up are quite correct. One routine that works well is to do a progressive rpm-driven warm up on them. If you really need to feed some watts, warm up on the feedback, wait until the last 10 minutes of track warm up time, and then go out on the track with you racing gear for some laps, roll up standing starts, or flying somethings. I find warming up in leg warmers, and keeping them on until its time to race (unless, of course, you are at Rockhill and its 90+ out) keeps the muscles warm and ready to go.
For keeping your legs warm, lower wattage makes sense, but 70-100w? That's not even a decent recovery zone range. I don't know about anyone else but spinning at 130rpm at 100w feels all wrong...there is virtually no push back on the pedals...like riding on air. But that's with the tires at 150 psi. On my other track bike, at 115 PSI, things feel better. The problem here is that I'm trying to find a solution for multiple bikes, which may not be feasible without being able to change resistance in real time.
Then the question is how are you opening up your legs before the race even starts, vs. keeping warm in between events? I can't do a decent leg opener without being able to lay down about 300 watts on a few short intervals. I will typically warm up using the British Time Trial warmup protocol, about 30 TSS in 40 minutes, through various intervals to blow the carbon out of the legs and vessels :-) After that, I'm good...low wattage spinning will suffice. Your example above of warming up on the feedback and then blowing out the legs inside the track would also work.