Watts

Training with power has to be one of the most frustrating things ever. I look down at my Garmin and numbers are jumping all over the place. The first time I rode with the power meter was extremely distracting. I kept staring at the numbers, which was a bad thing because I was riding around Lake Tahoe. The jumping around made me go "wtf?" so I had to ask one of my buddies, a very experienced rider who knows what the hell he's doing and has trained with power, what the hell was going on.

Here are the main reasons why I get very frustrated:
1) I keep fucking up my zones because, apparently, I forgot how to math.
2) Numbers are jumping all over the place.
3) I don't have the attention span to keep focused on a zone.

I've wondered how my coach deals with me. The simple fact that he can deal with an athlete with the attention span of a humming bird on crack is amazing. Add the fact that he actually helped me achieve my goals for the year. All of them. I think he deserves a medal.

The most frustrating part it probably having to keep the focus to stick to a zone. Since I'm in base miles right now, I'm mostly riding at endurance pace. I basically have to go faster on the flats and slower on the hills to keep my watts in the correct zone. Basically, I'm riding the parts that I'm better at (flats) faster and getting them over with at a quicker pace and staying on what I hate (hills) for longer, just suffering. Forever. Or until the hill is over, but it feels like forever. Plus a half.

As of right now, I'm not sure how much training with power will benefit me over not training with power. I've only done base miles with it. I'll admit that I'm pretty excited to see the numbers that my sprint puts out. My coach says it'll help a bunch, so I'll have to trust him.