FF flags and adjusted numbers - help!

[MMcMahon]

Hi all, I really hope I’m not being an idiot and someone could potentially advise. Ive done the FF twice now, most recently at the end of the 6 week fitness kickstart and in prep for the TOS 21 training.
Both times I’ve received this flag warning

I have no idea how to improve it. I’m on an Elite Volaire Mag dumb trainer ( connected as advised in the guide as a Novo force) and in the lowest resistance and I have Wahoo speed and resistance sensors, no matter how hard or fast I pedal in my max gears, I cannot get my power reading above 115 and I mean I’m going hell for leather. HELP. I’ve tried a few training sessions in L2 on the trainer but I can’t work out if that’s increasing my power output, from what I can see it decreases it but that’s because my legs feel like lead . My concern is that it amends my numbers from FF which means all my sessions will be at higher numbers that I can achieve.
So I guess the question is can someone advise if I just need to train my legs to deal with L2 if I want to have any hope of maxing past 115? Or am I stuck?

[timbo]

I had similar issues with my elite hydro mag dumb trainer. I got very low power numbers. I solved the problem by splurging and getting a smart trainer.

I was happy with the training effect on the dumb trainer, but using erg on a smart trainer is sooo much better if you can justify the expenditure!!!

[MMcMahon]

Thank you for the reply! I was worried (partly hoping) that might be the solution time to get saving then! It’s soooo demotivating on a day like today when it already took some serious self talk to get on the bike to get on and see targets that are just not possible to hit. Doesn’t matter if cadence is 90 or 120 in max gear, 114 is the top power and my sessions have been based off the amended 4d so expect me to hit 120. Very annoying! Pfft I’ll give myself another talk and stop whining now for another session to smash.

[philip.potgieter]

It makes a lot of sense to me. SFest has some “intellegent” checks in the program to ensure that the results you receive is within certain accepted norms. If not, it is possibly not correct. Their logic of their message is that because anyone gets tired under stress, which means that the watts you produce WILL reduce the longer you train. Your wattage in 1 min should be less than your 5 seconds power, your 5 mins power should be less than your minute power etc. According to their thousands of members they can also predict the range of decline within certain boundaries, and this is what they are saying - your results do not make sense - it is out of the normal range of their thousands of athletes.

My verdict is that your trainer cannot produce the correct results. You probably need a smart trainer to get good and accurate results

[JGreengrass]

When you are saying you are going hell for leather do you mean you are spinning out in top gear? I am also using a “dumb” trainer and found that I could easily spin out a cadence of 130rpm in a sprint with resistance control on the trainer set to level 1. I increased the resistance level until I was no longer able to spin out top gear. I also had to change the “trainer level” in the device settings to match the increased level set on the trainer so that the app knew I wad producing more power for the same wheel speed.

[MMcMahon]

Ah, no not spinning out by any means, I can get up to 120 cadence for about 5 seconds before my brain catches up with my legs and starts screaming at me. But regardless 90 or 120 in top gear produces the same Power. I’m trying to get my legs used to L2 to see if that helps but I hadn’t actually thought about changing the device settings! I’ll give that a go for my next session thank you.

[MMcMahon]

@JGreengrass you are a star and I am an idiot. Changed the settings on the app to match the trainer level and BOOM above 114 with plenty of gears left. Thank you, I’d completely forgotten that was an option.
Just did power station with it updated and I feel EPIC!