Cycling Training Tips

Brief Results From The Power Meter Project

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.
Ӣ 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.
Ӣ 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.
Ӣ 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.

Brief Results From The Power Meter Project Read More »

What Is Your Highest Power Output Ever?

The post about who had the lowest resting heart rate was well visited. Thus, I thought it might be interesting to hear who has performed the highest power output ever? One of the interesting conclusions from the empiric study about resting heart rates indicates that genes often play a bigger than training level it self. That is greatly illustrated by Sue who counted her husband heart rate to as low as 31 beats per minute.

Power Output and Sprint Performance
Having a high maximum power output is important in sprints and accelerations. Like I have described in ”˜How to win a bunch sprint‘ it is not only a question about putting lots of watts in the pedals. Also it is important to consider how much impact your body weight has on your sprint performance. I have discussed the topic in a post about maximum power outputs and body weight.

Are there any 1500+ or even 2000+ Watts riders reading this? Well, show me your best power output ever!

What Is Your Highest Power Output Ever? Read More »

Reviews of Power Meters Needed

I want to publish a collection of power meter reviews. If you have used your power meter (SRM, PowerTap, Ergomo, Polar etc.) for more than 6 Months, please write a review of it and share your experiences with people at Power Meter Tips (yup, there is a new name on this blog..!)

The review shall contain details about: Installation, Software, Pros/Cons and Overall Rating (1-10).

You can submit a review here.

Reviews of Power Meters Needed Read More »

What Is Your Lowest Heart Rate ever?

  Well, if you can’t win the races, you’ve got to focus on other competitions. One of my personal favourites is the physical parameter: Low Resting Heart Rate. As I have described previously, your resting heart rate gets lower as your condition gets better. You will probably already have noticed that your resting heart is

What Is Your Lowest Heart Rate ever? Read More »