Power meter: 3s avg vs 10s avg

chrisjohnsen

Hallo, I am pretty new to training with a power meter and I was wondering if anyone would like to share their preferanses when it comes to the power displayed on the computer.
I am not sure what is the best for my use. When trainig I mostly do longer intervals, from 8-20 minutes. I find the 3s avg power to "jump" a bit too much. Will the 10s avg power be accurate enough, or is it better to get used to the 3s.

Thanks,
Chris.

nigeldoyle

I find 10 far to slow and laggy. So if you're under target power then put out more power, because you're using 10 seconds there will be a delay before the new power is displayed, then you could be a bit over and you'll have to readjust. Personally I use 3 seconds on my Garmin and 4 or 5 seconds on Trainerroad. The power is then much quicker to respond. Yes it can move around a bit but just a matter of getting used to it.

Best thing is to experiment and see what works best for you.

chrisjohnsen

hi, thanks for your reply. I will try out the 3 sec for a while and see how it works out, hopefully I will get used to it.

Chris

hdow

For longer reps I use the 'lap power' display (Garmin 810) which shows the average power for that lap. At the same time I use the 3 sec average to check that I'm not going too hard or too easy as I have great difficulty holding within a 25 Watt range

redvision

I am also quite new to training with a pm and the 3 second average can be difficult to hold without too much fluctuation, especially if the roads are not flat.

I found it helps by turning off any other fields such as time, speed, cadence etc and having a page just displaying power data.

nigeldoyle

redvision wrote:

I am also quite new to training with a pm and the 3 second average can be difficult to hold without too much fluctuation, especially if the roads are not flat.

That's why any critical workouts e.g. interval workouts are best done inside on your trainer where you can maintain constant power. That's my opinion anyway. Outside I find the best use of my power meter is to stop me going too hard if I'm doing a lower intensity workout.

rjkflyer

redvision wrote:

I am also quite new to training with a pm and the 3 second average can be difficult to hold without too much fluctuation, especially if the roads are not flat.

I found it helps by turning off any other fields such as time, speed, cadence etc and having a page just displaying power data.

I used to ride to a pretty 'usual' display of speed, cadence and HR, but after buying a PM changed to Power and Cadence. I use instantaneous power and haven't had much of an issue - the problem with smoothing the data is that you are now permanently trying to chase an outdated reading. It's a poor control algorithm.

Riding 'to Power' made a material difference to my overall ride performance - less PBs on climbs but higher overall ride average speeds without exception. It's surprising how, without power displayed, a growing headwind can push you beyond FTP to your detriment as you try to maintain speed, whereas with it you just ease off that little bit and preserve your matchbook.

rjkflyer

nigeldoyle wrote:

redvision wrote:

I am also quite new to training with a pm and the 3 second average can be difficult to hold without too much fluctuation, especially if the roads are not flat.

That's why any critical workouts e.g. interval workouts are best done inside on your trainer where you can maintain constant power. That's my opinion anyway. Outside I find the best use of my power meter is to stop me going too hard if I'm doing a lower intensity workout.

Agreed - see my other comment.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, I have found that riding indoors on rollers has improved my ability to maintain 'target' power quite considerably - I'm able to do TrainerRoad workouts which match the power targets as well as the erg mode on my trainer now. A lot more tiring though!

fenix

Agree on the indoor power training is the best.

napoleond

Why not have both on display?

philbar72

both have their uses. Prefer 3 second. if they could do 1 minute and 2 minute that would be handy for what I'm trying to achieve.

TrevorDeRuise

Another good way to do intervals using power is to set up Normalized Power or Average Power for the current lap on your screen and hit the lap button at the start of each new interval. Combined with a 3 sec power view, this is a great way to get an overall picture of how close to your target you were over an entire interval.

supermurph09

If I'm training indoors I'll have 3s, 10s and lap power, as was mentioned, it's easier to keep the power when you are indoors so for outdoors also look at "time in zone" for the prescribed interval. For tempo I have a 50W range, so if training outdoors that still allows for quite a fluctuation.

olake92

10s for me; I find I chase the number too much if it's lower than that, paying less attention to my ride and just staring at my PM. If it's really short efforts I might go to 3s, but then I don't pay much attention to it due to the intensity. Have a play with both and see what you like.

markhewitt1978

I too find that 3s power using my Stages is way too jumpy. I can be just riding along and it's showing 150W, 180W, 140W, 200W. I can basically use it to tell if I'm going way too easy or way too hard but anywhere in the middle is almost impossible to pin down.

Whereas inside it's easier to keep to a very narrow band, although that's using my trainer to measure power.

I might try 5s power next time I go out and see if that's any better.

chrisjohnsen

Great, thanks for all the replies.
I haven´t landed on anything yet, but trying out both to see what works best.

okgo

Always used 3 sec myself, can easily keep it steady on 3 sec and it responds quickly to effort if you're wanting to give it some in a shorter effort.

AK_jnr

3 secs
% ftp
Lap power

Thats my main screen then average power is on another with the less important stuff.

A PM taught me to stop soft tapping with tailwinds and smashing myself to keep the speed up in headwinds.