Standing start: all-out or restrained?

Training
1

I’ve just done the Standing Start workout, and from the description and video instructions, it seems like those should be max-efforts on big gear. But the prescribed power is much lower and is even coloured in orange (as AC). I had 450, 495, 450, and 495, but I ended up doing 720, 790, 771, and 830 (of course not as avg but as peak during those 20 secs of effort).
So, for next time I do it: shall I stop pushing and hold when I get to the prescribed power or keep on pushing?

2

Standing starts is just flat-out, do it in level mode and it’s an all-out effort.
The “targets” aren’t, they’re just there to show you the “when” and because if anyone has left their bike in ERG mode it would likely put them into a death-spiral if they were NM levels.
Whack it in level, go all out.

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3

The information does seem to be contradictory.

The last paragraph of the instructions seem to imply that you should just stay in ERG mode and do the best you can, using a higher cadence if necessary.

In the article “How to Get the Most Out of Your Workout” (which does not seem to exist any more as following the link leads to an entirely different article), it suggests that if your trainer has difficulty with low torque/low starting speed efforts, it might be worth doing level mode. It also states that low cadence is more important than power output. If you are feeling good it suggests riding to RPE. If you are feeling lousy, it suggests turning off ERG mode, and trying your best (it does use different words).

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4

I did stay in level mode, otherwise it’s impossible to start from still.
But I’m wondering why the prescribed power is so low compared to what one could do on a standing start. If they just wanted to “mark” the time, why not put it in red as they did for the warmup sprint or in many other workouts?

5

I did Standing Starts today.

I did the intense efforts in Level mode, but I did the rest of the workout in ERG mode. I switched about 15 seconds before the standing start began.

While I focused on getting the cadence right, I used the power targets as a means to decide which Level mode setting to use. I then treated it as an all out effort.

6

Hello! For standing starts, definitely best to be in Level mode, and just hit the highest effort that you can…the targets are an average suggestion that many will be able to exceed, though some will struggle to hit. Just do what you can do!

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