Wattbikes - HR vs Power

[LauraTri]

Hi,

I sometimes use a wattbike to ttain during winter, but I never know whether to train by HR or watts?
My HR never seems to correlate with my watts based on my FTP result (HR Will always be lower than what is expected!).

Does anyone else have this same experience or is there anything anyone can suggest? I also find it hard to get my HR up and I'm not sure if I just need to do another FTP (and put a bit more effort in!!).

Also, if anyone has any good wattbike training plans/sessions - feel free to share

Thanks

 

[zizou]

The watt figures on a wattbike are pretty accurate (and consistent / repeatable) so its worth using power rather than heart rate to train. The wattbike app has some training plans and interval sessions which are quite useful - it will give you target watts to hit based on results from their 3 minute test

 

[windyrider]

Train with power/watts. I hate doing 3 or 6 or 20 minute FTP's tests and now use www.xertonline.com to analyse my data. It calculates your FTP based on the rides that you normally do. The software also comes with a whole bunch of workouts that will pull down your data and set the efforts for the selected session.

I still keep an eye on my heart rate and anecdotally if its going high and the watts seem too much then I'm over training, ill or in need of more rest and possibly all three!!!

Good luck with the winter training

 

[S-Express]

HR is not really relevant if you have a power number available. If you know your ftp then use that as your baseline, although bear in mind the figure will change as your fitness develops.