The Power Meter Profile Project has been collecting power meter data from riders from all over the World for the last 3 months. 31st of July is the last chance to join this project and make the total data amount even better. Thus, if you haven’t submitted your power records yet, then it is about time to fill in the form on this site. If you know about PowerTap or SRM users who have performed these tests then please ask them to submit their data. The more data we get, the more power to this study.

Read more about the Power Meter Profile Project here.

I will publish the results and conclusion in August.

Comments

Gonzalo is one of the more experienced riders into power meter training as he has been training with power for the last three years (SRM, Ergomo and now PowerTap SL). What he was looking for was a training program that could motivate him for training to cycling races of 80-90km. Motivation is the cornerstone in many riders training program, because even the best program will end up as a failure if the rider is not motivated. I guess a part of the predicted progress can be explained by motivation. A motivated rider trains harder and obtains better results than a non-motivated rider. Thus, my challenge was to motivate Gonzalo and keep track of his performance during the 12 weeks.

Focus on Aerobic Power
I decided to focus on 5 and 20min maximum power in the first 6 weeks and then work harder with anaerobic power in the last 6 weeks. I prefer to build a great aerobic base instead of just working on the anaerobic stuff from the very beginning. The reason for this is that it takes longer to build an optimal aerobic engine than anaerobic endurance. It is quite fast to train anaerobic endurance to a relative high level compared to the time it takes to optimize maximum oxygen consumption. Well, but he asked for more anaerobic endurance and sprinting power? Yes, but in cycling races of 2 hours it is essential to have a high VO2 max and endurance. If he got that, he has a chance to get home with the peloton or even make a breakaway. But if he is limited in these two factors, VO2 max and endurance, he will be dropped before they get to the final sprint. Thus, the primary goals for the first period were improvements in 5 and 20min maximum power.

Intervals
Like all the other riders in this project Gonzalo had to struggle with intervals three times a week. In the first couple of week it was two days with intervals and on Sundays he participated in some duathlon events of 2hrs duration. The following weeks were with intervals on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Gonzalo performed several intervals of 6min work / 4min active recovery with a workload around his 20min maximum power (Normally done three times on each interval day). There were also a couple of days 3x(3+3)min and 40/20sec intervals to maximize his VO2 max and add some fuel to his anaerobic enzymes.

Results
1min power increased dramatically making him a much stronger rider with more punch in his attacks. Combined with significant improvements in 5 and 20min maximum power, Gonzalo is now a lot more competitive in flat cycling races. I could wish that he was stronger in sprints, but the 1, 5 and 20min maximum power will result in more success for him in the races after all.

Maximum Power Tests	5sec	1min	5min	20min	Body Weight
Week 1 (Watt)	1105W	557W	357W	321W	73kg/160.9lbs
Week 1 (Watt/kg)	15.1W/kg	7.6W/kg	4.9W/kg	4.4W/kg
Week 6 (Watt)	1148W	604W	389W	335W	72.5kg
Week 6 (Watt/kg)	15.8W/kg	8.3W/kg	5.4W/kg	4.6W/kg
Week 12 (Watt)	1113W	674W	416W	342W	73kg
Week 12 (Watt/kg)	15.2W/kg	9.2W/kg	5.7W/kg	4.7W/kg

Comments

Yesterday I published and commented on the results from Dave Simonson. Today, I will talk about Marc Moeller who is a category 3 rider with an ambition of promoting to category 2 this season. That goal sounds quite fair if Marc’s training wasn’t limited to only 8 hours per week. Thus, Marc gave me a challenge when he entered the project, but also a great chance to test how much progress you can achieve with training program with limited time available.

Wattage controlled intervals
I chose to push Marc’s intervals to the maximum capable amount. He was supposed to do intervals three times a week, but these days were not only like regular interval days, they were really tough workouts that required a dedicated effort to succeed. These intervals were monitored on his PowerTap Pro. There was a risk that this program could be a failure if the total training load was too heavy.

The three interval days were one session with anaerobic intervals (6 bursts of 40 seconds at 600-650W, recovery 6minutes), one training day with VO2 max intervals (3 times 3minutes 400W, 3min recovery or a couple of sets of 6 bursts of 40/20seconds at 410+ W) and finally one day with threshold power intervals in the range of 3 to 15minutes, normally with a total time of 24-30minutes. Two times a week there were sprint sessions with short power sprints and regular sprints.

Have a look at the graphs and full results

Comments (2)

This article is a part of the final articles in the Power Meter Project 2007. I will try to describe the training programs and results from the 5 participants in the project.

Dave Simonson had finished 3 ironman competitions before he entered the power meter project so I knew he was a very experienced athlete. If you don’t have a clue on training it is very unlikely that you can finish three ironman competitions. The reason Dave entered the project was because he recently had purchased a power meter. He had bought a Cycleops Pro 300PT (Powertap indoor) and wanted to learn more on power meter training and get some experience.

Optimizing of physiology for an ironman athlete
The goal for Dave was to increase his average power output on long distances (112miles/180km). This is often trained with very long rides at a comfortable pace, but I believe in building up this endurance with intervals close to race speed and even intervals performed at VO2 max once in a while. The reason for these tough intervals is that a higher VO2 max also improves your performance at lower workloads. Another reason for doing intervals close to race speed is to learn the pacing strategy which is made easier than ever before by the development of power meters. Thus, Dave’s program was a combination of short 3min intervals to build VO2max, repeated 6min bouts of high aerobic intensity and finally long 15min pacing control intervals. By doing the intervals very frequently he had a good chance to get familiar with the pacing strategy.

Read the full results and a short interview with Dave Simonson

Comments (1)

I thought it was time to make some posts about the Power Meter Project 2007 since the project is over and I got all the results ready. For people who haven’t heard about the Power Meter Project I will start with a short summary about the project:

Inclusion criteria: SRM or Powertap
Back in November 2006 I invited motivated riders to participate in the Power Meter Project 2007. The purpose of this project was to investigate what results completely unknown riders were able to achieve with wattage controlled intervals dictated by me. The only requirement to be included in the project was to have a calibrated Power Tap or SRM power meter mounted on their bike.

Goal: Stronger riders, better coaching

For the last seven years I have coached riders in Denmark with great success, but training with power is still a quite new phenomenon. I have some great data from wattage controlled training in the winter months for my riders, but having data from more riders simply increases my overall knowledge about coaching and power meter training. Thus, I thought the internet was a great way to achieve more data from riders there were willing to strictly follow my program for 12 weeks. By offering them a free training program it was a win-win situation for both parts.

Communication via email
The 5 participants in the project did an awesome job throughout the 12 weeks (one rider dropped out after 9 weeks). They sent me emails, questions and race reports that gave me an idea of how they were doing and showing me that their motivation were enormous. It was really difficult to know how to adjust training because all I knew was a short summary of their power meter data and a brief report about how they were doing.

Intervals three times per week
I decided to make tough programs with interval intensities close their scores in the maximum power output tests. E.g. 20 min maximum power output were converted to 3 or 4 intervals of 6min with 20min power (4min recovery with 50% 20min power). The frequency of intervals was also higher than in most training programs with 3 interval days per week. Some of the riders replaced one of the interval days with a race day.

Summary of results
• Improvements in 5 sec power, but not all riders. One didn’t spend time on sprint training, because his focus was on aerobic endurance. Another rider was probably close to his potential when the project started.
• Great Improvements in 1min maximum power (anaerobic endurance). This skill is probably where power meters are most valuable. Precise intervals resulted in increments of above 20 percents.
• Great improvements in 5min maximum power (VO2 max). This skill is really useful, so it has a great impact on performance in most cycling races. These are the improvements that satisfy me most.
• Good improvements in 20min maximum power (Threshold power).

Conclusion
Overall I will conclude this project as a success. The riders achieved great success and were impressed on their own progress. In the following posts I will take a closer look to each of the participants’ progress.

Comments

We are now close to 40 submissions for the Power Meter Profile Project. That is great, but we need even more submissions because that will make the data more reliable. Category 1 riders are the best represented group in the project so far, but all other groups are represented. If you have not performed the tests yet or just haven’t sent them, read more about the Power Meter Profile Project.

I know that there are many cyclists that use the tests in this project, so by participating in this project you will have a unique chance to compare power meter data with people from the rest of the world. Thus, I will strongly recommend you to submit to the project and ask your friends to do the same.

I want to publish a lot of statistics about watts and related parameters. I need to know the power profiles of as many athletes as possible, so please tell your friends about this project. The more power profiles I get, the better and more reliable results can be presented here on the website.

Last chance to participate is 31st of July 2007

Comments (2)