Originally Posted by
TMonk
Sounds like it might be the pedals. Did you see anything weird with you HR?
Welcome bampilot06. Here are a couple of ideas / observations for you...not criticisms.
We have two sets of Garmin Ralley duels. My wife uses her on her track bike and mine swap between track and gravel bike - no issues. The earlier versions of Garmin vector pedals had battery compartment problems that lead to power spikes. Garmin provided a hardware fix.
Not that I have to but I do not understand the relationship between the target power and actual power in the chart. It seems like you are putting in power when it should be zero. Also, there are power spikes on the recovery part of the workout. What is that all about? Terrain?
Your heart rate drops and then ramps up 1/2 way through the interval. Maybe that is normal for you. My wife and I doing a similar our HR ramps and then holds or slightly builds over the intervals. Of course that is with 17 years of continuous training and racing.
When I do a hill climb race, my power will be constant as along as the terrain is steady. If the terrain changes to a flatter terrain, then I gear up and apply more force to keep the power up. If I just hold level of effort and let the cadence increase, the power will drop. That is independent of the power meter being used.
Years back, I did some similar 5x5 and I found it difficult to find terrain that worked. I used a couple of hills to that provided a relatively constant grade for the 5' on portion and the coasted back for the off portion. Today, the coach and group with whom I train, we do not do this type of interval. Not saying it is wrong, we do other intervals.
We have a guy on our racing team that is constantly looking for the perfect interval. It does not exist. There are three energy producing systems to train and a number of ways to do it. What I have found is that consistency is key and I do not focus on performance. I focus on level of effort (power as a guide) and completion of the workout against a plan and goal. I am a power junky but I do not let it be a limiter.
You can blame
TMonk and me for this response. I was also in on the idea of inviting members such as yourself into the racing forum. Now, I bet you are really glad you posted something.
