Today I tried something new: An ErgVideo race.
ErgVideo is software that runs on my CompuTrainer, so it's yet another way to control my trainer through my laptop. The neat thing about them is that they use video of actual bike races (or group rides) and tie the intensity that you feel from the trainer to the race. Even better, the software records all the data from the ride so that I can analyze it with my WKO+ software just like I would any other ride.
Today's ride was a simple 4-corner criterium, so every time the group sped up, I felt more resistance. Whenever the group slowed down, it got easier. Like most crits, you pedal like crazy in the straights and coast through the corners. Once in a while someone would attack and I had to go after them.
The shock to me was that it felt REAL. Just like a real race, your goal is to pedal easily and as little as you possibly can, saving your effort for when it matters. From the download, the most common power during this race was 130 to 140 watts, which is my common wattage for an easy Sunday ride. My average for the day was 201 watts (240 normalized), so you can imagine the intensity I must have been going the rest of the time to raise the average so much. I had portions at 520+ watts for a thirty seconds or so, 400+ watts minute or so, and 300+ watts for two or three minutes at a time.I could never really find a rhythm. It was constantly changing from hard to easy to hard to medium to very hard to hard to medium, and on and on for an hour and ten minutes.
I did a thirty minute warm up and a twenty minute cool down giving me a total of two hours on the trainer today.
Considering how much I liked this ErgVideo, I'll probably pick up a few more. They are not cheap, at $45 each, but they offer race-like training that's hard to find any other way when there's snow and ice all over the place.
Tomorrow's ride will be two hours again, but MUCH easier, with a goal of an average of 140 watts or so.
My weight this morning was 185.6, bringing me down from 190 in four weeks. I'm aiming to be 182 or less by the end of my next four-week training cycle ending Feb 19.
