The Training load Garmin applies to my zwift activities seems significantly lower that rides outdoors. My “perceived effort” seems similar!
Yesterday, I rode approx 35 miles outdoors in 2 hours, most of the ride in zone 2 with one or two hills. Average power was 210w and average HR was 130bpm. Exercise load = 181. (Vector 3 power meter)
Today, on Zwift, I rode 2hr 17mins, mainly zone 2 with some zone 3, average power of 262w, average HR of 137bpm (with a push at the end up to 162). Exercise load, around 130. (Kickr v5 as power meter).
Something does seem wrong. I just rode on Zwift for 1 hour averaging 175 watts (Kickr Snap, calibrated before ride) — supposedly zone 2 —with an average heart rate of 130, ending with 10 mins at 215 watts and maximum heart rate of 157). Garmin load = 143. However, load is apparently based on “excess post-exercise oxygen consumption,” so maybe it is particularly affected by intensity at the end of a workout?
What was the normalized power for the two rides? Typically I find on Zwift my avg and normalized power are a lot closer together but outside the NP can be higher creating a higher training load.
They’re not overly different… I felt the load would also reflect HR time in zones as well! What would be anerobic outside, shows up as recovery or base via. Zwift!
If anything the load for the outdoor ride looks out of whack. There is no way a ride with that low of an intensity would generate that much load. The zwift ride looks more realistic to me.