Last 3 months I have been mainly riding out on road. Getting stronger and doing lots of climbing. Due to time limit I did my ride on my trainer using same workout that I used on trainer many times in winter at same FTP. I was surprised as I could not complete the workout as the same wattage’s used in winter where much more difficult. could barely spin the pedals at highest watts in workout.
Has any else experienced this? Any reasons why?
I would of thought workout would of been easier as I feel stronger on the road.
Thanks!!
Do you have airco and fans?
If not, heat is your biggest enemy.
Motivation and boredom also come in to play.
What workout?
Oh yes. So this is highly anaerobic in nature and relies on a lot of W’ energy. Outdoors your riding is more aerobic focused so your W’bal can be lowered. Aerobic energy is much more important and takes longer to build and you can build back your anaerobic energy quickly. If you were doing tabata outdoors you would likely jump back in and do these no problem.
The foundation of the outside work is much more important in general but as you can see these two energy systems are not completely connected.
Now once you do some tabata training you can hit new highs with a bigger foundation.
What I noticed more was leg strength, even though I’m getting stronger on road and hills I’m weaker on the trainer. After the winter using only the trainer and the trainer day workout I noticed I was much stronger on the road than past years where I did mainly weight training and basic trainer. So what I learned is that the trainer builds cycling leg strength faster than just riding on the road. With that said I’m going to add trainer workouts back into my weekly schedule even though the weather outside is beautiful. Any suggestions on how many indoor sessions to add? Thinking of only doing anaerobic workouts indoors.
Could it be because on the trainer you pedal constantly. Outdoors, you don’t.