Help me figure out why I failed Little Park

Training
1

Hello friends,

Help me figure out why I failed Little Park.

Equipment:

-Outdoor-
Favero Assioma Duo power meter pedals
Wahoo Elemnt Bolt.
Scott Addict 20

-Indoor-
Specalized Allex e5 sport
Wahoo Kickr Snap replacing Favero power meter pedals
Trainerroad app

Yesterday I did an outdoor group ride which netted me a TSS of 101. Analyzing the effort, I did 103% (235.8) my ftp (227) average 20 min power as reported by Wahoo. 20 min, with much of that front loaded. I rode pretty dang hard and blew up around mile 10. The ride was with the P12 field which I try to hang on to as long as I can. This was my third outdoor workout since starting TR on Aug 2 (original ftp 221).

Additionally, I picked up a second hand Kickr Snap, and was excited to use ERG mode to help keep my power closer to target.

Today, I rode my scheduled Little Park ride, which my all accounts should have been an incredibly easy ride but ended up failing at around the thirty minute mark. Holding 134w was so unusually difficult. My heart rate was 165bpm trying to hold 135watts!

When I rode Bess on August 22, which has similar power target numbers, I was holding 134-136w with a HR of 120 no problem. I ended up stopping the workout early as I have a cross country mtb trip with a friend tomorrow morning and don’t want to cramp up on the trail. If I would have continued today, I would have cramped on the trainer.

I am not sick, sleep was good, food stores are all topped up. TSS is 180 of planned 261.

I have two thoughts as reason for the fail.

  1. Yesterdays ride put me super into the red. Wahoo shows my 20min power at 236, or +9 of ftp This would be a first for me not the I trained too hard the day before bit (I have done that far too often before), but how high my heart rate was for such a low effort.

  2. The new Kickr Snap was mis-calibrated after performing a spindown. With it being the first ride on new equipment, it is possible I simply messed up the spin down some how. I have not yet used the kickr, and the Favero pedals at the same time to compare if the output numbers are the same.

TR had 14 adjustments after ending the ride, which I found at least somewhat amusing. What are your thoughts as to the reason for failure? I start power build on Tuesday and its gonna be a doosey I can already tell.

2

Sounds a lot like a calibration issue. I’m not really familiar with the kickr snap, though, so I can’t help with that. Barring that, maybe you encountered the kickr’s power-floor for cadence / the gear your bike was in?

2 Likes
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This.

1 Like
4

Hey @bobroxs

I’d have to agree with the others on this one. I, of course, can’t say for sure that you aren’t ill or experiencing any other issues that could be impacting your performance, but it does appear to be a calibration issue from my end.

I’d recommend reading through our KICKR Snap Support document to ensure that you’re following our best practices guidelines and performing another spindown before trying out another workout.

As you mentioned, it might be worthwhile to throw your power peals on your Allez to see how they might compare to the KICKR, too.

I wouldn’t sweat it too much!

5

Just finished with Fuss without issue. I recalibrated twice with a slower spin up for the spindown and used the Power meter medals running on the wahoo.

The Kicker Snap read ~10-20watts lower than the pedals recording to the Wahoo, so thats something I need to figure out too.

6

@bobroxs, that’s not too uncommon, unfortunately.

Then KICKR Snap has a +/- 3% accuracy rating, and Favero pedals are closer to +/- 1%. This could bring discrepancies as much as 4% between the two, which is 10 watts when riding at 250 watts.

You may be able to improve this by calibrating your pedals before each ride, warming up your trainer before each spindown, and staying on top of tire pressure and trainer contact pressure.

Our PowerMatch feature is also great in these situations as well! Check out more about that below if you’re interested.

Best of luck!

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7

Direct feedback like this only adds value to the service. Thanks again my man :3

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8

Do a few repeated spindowns on the trainer - not uncommon for the Snap to need a few calibrations before it ‘settles in’.

And if it still seems off, try a factory spindown.