I’ve done a little bit of reading on this but am still struggling to find a Simple! way of measuring decoupling and training to reduce it.
Whats the process? Some of the other posts confuse me as they get too technical. What kinda rides/plan should I do and how do I progress and remeasure to ensure m aerobic base is there? My thinking is something like this:
Test my aerobic capacity by doing 1.5hr of zone 2 (140hr for me or circa 175watts) follow power for this test.
Measure decoupling using icu intervals ( metric =power/hr).
Then do loads of zone 2 via 1.5hr rides and min 1 ride above 3hrs a week.
Repeat for a few weeks
remeasure on week 4?
If below 5% move bavk onto a training plan, if it isnt repat again.
If that someway close to the general basic advise? Feel free to rip the above apart/rephrase. As always help greatly appreciated.
I think a 90 min workout is on the shorter end to see a reliable number, but if that’s what you got… preferably you want to ride until some fatigue develop.
A few years ago when decoupling was a thing, I used Boarstone as a benchmark workout. For non TR users that is basically z2 at IF=0.7 for two hours. As I experienced negative decoupling that was probably also to short.
Theory is that decoupling improve with increased fitness/aerobic capacity/durability, which basically translate to “ride a lot”. Values under 5% are considered good, but needs to be in relation to what length your races are.
Like @TomasIvarsson said I think your main problem here will be the duration of the rides
My understanding is that two hours is the hard floor for reliable decoupling measurement, and longer is much better. Assessing decoupling on the longer, 3+ hour rides will give you much better data
If you’re truly constrained on time to 90 minutes for these assessments then your plan is a solid start, but tracking over longer rides will give you a much better idea of aerobic base
Decoupling goes down as you get more in shape. The more hours per week on the bike, the less decoupling you’ll see on a 2h z2 ride.
To that extent, I personally don’t use it as a goal in and of itself. It’s just a relatively early sign I’m going in the right direction. Im training to go faster, not minimize decoupling.
This. Decoupling is a natural byproduct of your training and will occur automatically as you get fitter. There is no need to specifically train for it…use it as a benchmark of your fitness, not a goal.
I look at decoupling a lot these days. But mainly as a measure of training dose. Once you start to see HR rising it indicates a high amount of central stress that is going to increase recovery time. I’ll usually see it creeping up, and then once I get over 5% is starts to jump up at a more rapid rate. The tricky part is that heat, fueling, and hydration will impact decoupling in addition to aerobic fitness. I think that the amount of central stress is the same with the same amount of drift, but if the root cause is simply over-heating / lack of fueling / dehydration, then it is not a great measure of tracking fitness.
One thing to keep in mind is that the front and back ends of the workout should probably be ignored when you calculate. I start from 20 min into an endurance ride and exclude the last 10 min. I can’t remember if that is what intervals automatically excludes or I adjusted from the defaults.