I had a short interview with Marc Moeller about his participation in the Power Meter Project. If you haven’t looked at his results yet, read the full results here.
Your maximum power tests indicate that you are significantly stronger, but what impact have these increments had on your race performance?
Marc: “This has been my best racing year yet in Category 3, and I plan on moving to category 2 in August! I’ve raced quite a bit and always felt I had a chance to win, not just finish as the middle of the pack. My lowest place in Cat 3 has been 12th, and I almost always can finish in the top 5.”
How will you describe your progress through the project?
Marc: “Well, to tell the truth, I do feel quite a bit stronger this year than last, which is due to the program structure and my sticking to it. Being motivated and focused has helped tremendously. I have a suspicion though, that I may have reached a peak a bit early this year, and I don’t know if I can get my power levels up quite as high as I had them in early April. I have even resisted doing the tests because I don’t want to know my current max power outputs as they might be discouraging to my present training.”
What is your opinion on power meter training now?
Marc: “There is nothing better than power training. How else could you ever incrementally increase your workload on a bicycle? I think the ability to do repeatable efforts at different percentages of power is critical to progress on the bike. It also is great for letting you know how your legs are “feeling” as you warm up or towards the end of a long ride you know where your relative fitness is.”
Have you adapted some of the ideas from the power meter project into
your daily training?
Marc: “Undoubtedly, the thing I have used most is a range of power intervals from short burst to longer sessions that work different energy systems. For me, what I have used the most is the four-minute interval, the one minute, and the shorter recoveries at 40 seconds on and 20 seconds off. Those have helped me the most.”