Does anyone else struggle with the mental side of putting power down on the flats? On a climb, I can happily push hard on the pedals and work it but on the flat I loaf along. I think it's mental as I was quite happy with 18mph (on the flat) but having a PM makes me realise I'm only doing 100w to get to 18mph. I probably just need to find some longer segments on the flat and push it to train myself to do so but does anyone find the same?
Move somewhere really windy. If you're not busting your ass on the flat round here you're pretty much going backwards or sideways into a hedge.
But yeah, a lot of it's mental. On the flat you know you can always just make it easy by coasting, whereas on a climb you're kind of forced to put a certain level of effort in otherwise you stop moving. If i'm doing a TT effort on a flattish course, i tend to just focus on the pain in my legs initially, as it lets me know when i'm working hard enough. As soon as it starts hurting enough that i want to stop, then i know that's the point to keep it at. Then after that i try to focus more on my breathing.
I think it was Boardman that said something about gauging effort in a TT - if you feel like you can't go on, you've gone out too hard. If you feel like you can finish, you've not gone out hard enough. If you feel like you might make it or you might not, then you're right where you want to be.
I see the same just from the estimated power readings on Strava. Two or three hundred watts on climbs and then half that on the flats.
I'd pay no attention to that. Strava has no idea about wind conditions, road condition etc. 18mph into a block headwind and 18mph with a tailwind are massively different in terms of your power output, and Strava can't reflect any of that.
