I did MAP 6 x 2 on the road today (part of all purpose plan). I found it very hard to sustain the 2 minutes with the prescribed power output. I couldn’t do them correctly.
As I analyzed my training, I saw that the prescribed percentage power output for outside ride was far different from the actual power target in the indoor ride.
My current FTP is 273 (after one month off) and the power target in the indoor workout is 373 Watts. About 135 % of FTP and actually my MAP. The outdoor workout is prescribed at 150%… 410 watts…
When I look at other workouts with 2 MAP intervals, it is usually prescribed for outdoor as follow : 100% MAP (115-135% FTP).
So is there a typo error for the MAP 6 x 2 or am I weak today ? or both…?
Your indoor and outdoor power meters might not be perfectly calibrated to each other. Lots of factors can cause that. It’s not a problem, but something to be aware of and to adjust for.
I find it much harder to maintain steady effort outdoors due to traffic, changes in road surface, changes in grade, and the need to focus on staying upright and safe. For a stem eating, highly structured workout, it might just be that the trainer is a better environment.
I would tend to share your suspicions that 150% is high for the that length of repeated interval. I imagine most people would struggle to hit that after the first effort, unless they have a particularly high ratio of MAP/AC to FTP.
On a side note, I find it odd that outdoor efforts reference MAP efforts to FTP, whereas I imagine that the equivalent indoor effort would calculate the MAP effort based on the user’s 4dp MAP. It would make more sense to me if it stated “Work: … X% of MAP …”
if i recall, the outdoor workouts didn’t used to support 4DP. At least that’s the way they were built when they were loaded in Trainingpeaks, which didn’t support 4DP and workouts you built in that system needed to be based off of %FTP for power or % of HR if you didn’t have it. But i think it’s safe to say that basing workout targets on % of FTP for anything over FTP is kinda silly, after all that’s the whole point of 4DP, right?
So long story short, maybe this is not exactly a typo but a holdover / legacy issue from when outdoor versions were based on %FTP.
I would suggest to use your MAP target that you got from your testing, at least as a starting point. I certainly cant’ think of any reason to inflexibly target 150% if it’s not working for you.
That was indeed a typo which has now been updated. As you mention a more appropriate target would be 100% of MAP for those targets.
Thank you for pointing this out!
Do I get a free consultation with you for finding an error? lol