Sweet spot group ride without power meter

Hello all,
I am just starting the 16 week off SS plan and my Saturday prescribed ride is the sweet spot group ride until I hit 115 OTS.
I do not have a power meter, only a Garmin HRM so how do I know WHEN I hit 115. Is this a 2 hr ride, 3 hr ride, or ???
BTW, I do have a kurt kinetic trainer with their rudimentary power sensor but would rather ride outdoors.
What do other people without power meters do ( or am I the only one :open_mouth:)?
Thanks!

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Hi @null_ptr - its ok, I wold still recommend riding outdoors and thinking in terms of 50 TSS per hour.

So that will take you roughly 2-2.25 hours. You will get an hrTSS in TrainingPeaks upon uploading your heart rate data. So you can double check ‘your work’.

Unfortunately there is no real time hrTSS on bike computers like there is pwrTSS but you can experiment with your rides.

As long as you ride - you are ‘doing it right’ and with a few rides and data you will quickly get a feel for what a 115 TSS ride is by heart rate.

We are working on an hrOTS feature for Optimize and hope we can bring that metric onto the bike computers for situations just like you want! Plus hrOTS will be useful for non-powermetered activities like running and swimming and nordic skiing.

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Thanks Frank, that makes sense. You mention Nordic skiing which brings another question to mind: is that a suitable alternative to the weekend sweet spot ride? I live in Boise and we are due to see snow this weekend :disappointed_relieved:.

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I think it is - I have several athletes this weekend subbing their sweet spot OTS/TSS rides for skinny skis.

The catch is how good of a skiier you are? The better you are the more glide you get and the less stress.

Me, personally I am not that good and 1 hour of skiing feels like 3 hours of sweet spottin’ (on the bike)!

You can record your ski with heart rate and get an hrTSS and eventually an hrOTS to use as a proxy. XC Skiing is phenomenal cross training!

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Haha, I hear you on the one hour feels like three, especially if you are skate skiing :rofl:!! I skied in college years ago so am decent. If we get the several inches that is forecast, I might give it a go this weekend.

Thanks for the quick and thoughtful reply!

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@null_ptr if you have Garmin device, there is a ConnectIQ datafield app called HRSS that estimates live hrTSS.
Here’s a link: Connect IQ Store | Free Watch Faces and Apps | Garmin

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