Hey All,
I wanted to get the opinion of those more wise than I… I like doing long outdoor rides as opposed to the longer indoor rides. I know that I have to put in way more outside time than indoor to get the same benefit, but the question is: What is the difference between doing specific intervals at power vs doing the equivalent time in those zone (and more) over the course of a long outdoor ride with a lot of climbing? I’m comparing Mary Austin -1 to say, an outdoor 2.5hr ride with around 3000k ft of climbing.
Sure, you CAN do that outside with climbing, but it has to be sustained climbing. Mary Austin has 10min intervals in a small series of steps.
Do you have a 10min climb where you’re riding at 95%+ FTP? If you do, great. Go outside, and do 6 repeats. If you don’t and only have 5min climbs, then i’d say you need to find a way to get yourself up to 10mins of sustained power to help replicate what fitness and physiological system Mary Austin is trying to foster.
What i’m trying to say is that a 2.5hr ride producing 124TSS of climbing, broken up into punchy up and downs of small rolling hills is not the same things from a fitness perspective. Still a great ride, but it’s not doing what the indoor workout is intending.
Totally depends on your route. 
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Thats kind of what I was thinking as well. I have about a 30 or so min climb. The problem I ran into last time was being able to stay low enough to recover at appropriate wattage. i.e. the interval ended but I was still on an 8% gradient lol
Yeah, just adjust and do a 30min interval with 2 repeats, etc. Or turn around and go down after 10min. Best yet, if you really want 10min intervals at threshold, find the best and most consistent 10min section of the climb and do your repeats there. 
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