Suck it up and stop moping!!!!!

So, over the last week or so I have finally figured out how to calibrate my power tap and zero out the torque and to make sure my readings are as close to what they should be everytime I ride. What I found out last week was that I was probably riding about 15 watts higher than I actually was on all my rides/intervals. It was a bit of a downer for me, I'm not going to lie, but I'm also pretty honest about it because the numbers I was producing were pretty sick. I'm glad I found out now so that I can just continue to perform and hopefully continue to improve on my overall fitness.

This week ( probably Saturday) I will be testing to find my zones on the bike. The test properly warms me up for about 40 minutes and then I go into a 4 x 5min test with only 1 1/2 minutes in between for recovery. I am supposed to start the first two intervals at low to mid range of my Vo2 max and with the last 2 minutes to increase my wattage if able by 10-15 watts per minutes. Interval number 3, I am to start at the average wattage I put out from the first two for the first 3 mintues and then increase by 10-15 each minute after until 5minutes and then the last interval I am taking the average of interval 3 and trying to MAX my performance for the full 5 minutes if I am able.


Saturday and today I have been riding either with the computrainer or just my trainer with my power tap to see how my watts have been producing. It clearly shows that I am riding lower than I have been and I'm not going to lie I have been pretty bummed out about it. Today I rode for 42 minutes for a warm up and then my main set was:

4 x 8 minutes: 1 1/2 min at 60-65 cadence mid range to high range SS then 30 secs at mid range tempo cadence of 80-85.

recovery inbetween each interval was 2 minutes.

My numbers for each set:

Set 1- 205
Set 2-213
set 3- 218
set 4-218

My peak HR was only 161bpm by my final interval and < 160 bpm on all the rest. My coach noted that even with the 15 watt difference I am still operating well above where I was performing last summer. He noted that, the bottom line is that power meters, like any tech gadget can and will fail you. It could happen in a race or key training session. You should expect that it will happen. He continued to tell me, that if I let a few numbers rain on my parade now, how will I handle it when the pressure is really on?

Coachies advice- suck it up and stop moping!!! and thats an order.

Ok, enough moping, I'm done, know its time to still kick some ass and get these numbers to be better.