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Power meters - All about SRM

10 Steps to Achieve Better Results with Interval Training

July 26, 2012 by Jesper Bondo Medhus 2 Comments

Interval training is often mentioned as the key to successful cycling training. Interval training is a cornerstone in all my training programs and I believe it is the most time effective way to achieve great results. Here is a list with 10 tips that can rapidly improve your interval training:

1.High priority to your interval training

First of all you must decide that you really want to do interval training. It might sound obvious, but if you give high priority to your interval training, it’s also much more likely to become a success. Try to perform your intervals as the most important part of your ride. Prioritizing interval training means that it is more important for you to perform your intervals than e.g. getting your planned distance, joining a social group ride or even participating in a race.    

  • Key Principles of Solid Cycling Training.

2.Schedule your intervals

When you have decided to perform you interval training, it is a good idea to make a crystal clear plan for your interval training. You (and your training partners) must know exactly what is going to happen when the interval training begins. Intensity, distance and recovery should be well defined in a way that everyone understands. There should be no need to ask questions during the interval session.

3.Have a goal

When you perform interval training, you will often try to pace yourself through high intensity efforts that require a high amounts of mental power. If you have a goal with you interval training like a specific race (e.g. a time trial) you are training towards, it is a lot easier for you to go through the difficult parts of the training.

4.Warm-up before interval training

Warming up before interval training should be a no-brainer. Metabolic processes are temperature-dependent, thus many enzymes perform better at higher temperatures. Oxygen transport from blood to tissue is more rapid. Warming up simply increases your performance and makes it possible for you to train at higher oxygen consumption.

  • How to perform a quick warm-up before interval training.

5.Use a heart rate monitor or power meter for pacing

Pacing is a discipline in itself, but heart rate monitors and power meters have made it easier than ever before to pace yourself through an interval session. There is a steep learning curve and many positive experiences with both kind of monitoring.

  • Introduction to Power Meter Training
  • 5 Steps for Better Heart Rate Monitor Training

6.Active recovery between intervals

It is tempting to stop pedaling after finishing a hard interval, but it makes good sense to keep pedaling at low intensity because it helps your recovery. The recovery periods can also be used to maintain your oxygen consumption at a relatively high level and thus make it easier for you to reach high aerobic levels in the next interval.

Bottom line is you will get more time at a higher percentage of your VO2 max and that will give more stimuli for both peripheral and central adaptations.

7.Cool down after interval training

When you have finished your interval session it is recommended to perform a short cool down. If you are serious about your cycling training, this is the time where you should start your post-training recovery process. Eat proteins and carbohydrates, drink water and ride easy to boost the recovery process.

  • Post-training nutritional tips for cyclists

8.Experiment

Train alone, train with other riders, try different routes, try different bikes and naturally try a broad range of intervals sessions. The best way to get experience is to experiment with different strategies and that is also a great way to keep your motivation high.

  • Boost Your Performance with Alternative Workouts

9.Evaluate

When you have performed your interval session you must always remember to evaluate how it worked out for you. Are there any things you would like to adjust before your next interval session?

10.Share your best interval training tip!

Just to remember you about that fact that I don’t have all the answers to perfect interval training. If you have some good suggestions, please don’t hesitate to share these tips with the readers here on Training4cyclists.com. Your comments are highly appreciated!

Ironman Increased Threshold Power with 62 Watts in 12 weeks

June 14, 2010 by Jesper Bondo Medhus 7 Comments

Image by Unplug
Image by Unplug.

Dave Simonson had finished 3 ironman competitions before he entered the power meter project back in 2007 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.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.

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

Results

Bike training with high intensity does not require the same amount of time as training with lower intensities. Dave performed 6 to 8 hours weekly training and that was enough to significantly improve his 5min and 20min maximum power output. It is also worth to remember that these increments are achieved with solid indoor training.

Have a look at these numbers that illustrate his impressive progress:

Maximum Power Tests5sec1min5min20minBody Weight
Week 1 (Watt)850W450W290W219W90.6kg/199.8lbs
Week 1 (Watt/kg)9.4W/kg5.0W/kg3.2W/kg2.4W/kg 
Week 6 (Watt)978W512W326W264W90.0kg/198.4lbs
Week 6 (Watt/kg)10.9W/kg5.7W/kg3.6W/kg2.9W/kg 
Week 12 (Watt)894W498W346W281W89.8kg/198.0lbs
Week 12 (Watt/kg)10.0W/kg5.5W/kg3.9W/kg3.1W/kg 

Interview with Dave Simonson after the Power Meter Project
After the project I asked Dave a couple of questions to get his opinion on power meter training:

Your 20min maximum power went from 219Watts in week 1 to 281Watts in week 12. What impact has this increment had on your performance?

Dave: “My improvement has made it much easier for me to gauge my effort on long rides. Also, I am able to ride long distances faster with less exertion.”

How will you describe your progress through the project?

Dave: “I was surprised that I made the progress I did only on 7-8 hours/week of training. The training program you created for me really enlightened me to the need for specificity for each workout.”

Have you adapted some of the ideas from the power meter project into your daily training?

Dave: “I have adapted your training plan to my continuing training and now exclusively measure my training performance and training progress using power. I download my power data into CyclingPeaks software and evaluate my progress and plan my training from a power perspective.”

Case Story: VO2 Max Power Increased 59W In 12 Weeks

May 25, 2010 by Jesper Bondo Medhus 2 Comments

I really like the concept of power meter training. It makes it possible for me to convert my knowledge about exercise physiology to the best possible training for my riders.

Let me show you an example that demonstrates what I talk about.

Gonzalo Vilaseca from Spain is an experienced rider who had been riding quite seriously the last 3 years before he participated in the Power Meter Project 2007 here on Training4cyclists.com. Before he started out on my 12 week training program he was able to perform 357W/5min and 321W/20min with a body weight of 73kg.

Quite impressive numbers so it was no easy task for me to make him significant stronger in only 12 weeks. I decided to put the most focus on building a large aerobic engine. In old days (and still found in most standard training programs) such an engine was period with long slow distance training without intervals, but I let Gonzalo test one of the newer training strategies with more intensive training.

Actually it was a quite intensive training program with intervals every second day. These intervals were designed to increase his VO2max and aerobic endurance.

I’ve used similar technics in my two latest training programs: 12 Week Winter Training Program and VO2 Max Booster Program. The VO2 Booster program though is an extreme, short and focused demonstration of how you can use a power meter to increase your VO2 max.

We know that well trained riders need intervals with an intensity close to their VO2 max to make further progress. You might wonder why I keep telling you this, but lets look at the results from Gonzalo:

The hard work payed of and he made some impressive results. His 5min maximum power went up to amazing 416w (+59W) and still weighing only 73kg. His 20min maximum power made a significant increment from 321 to 342w. I think these numbers speak for themselves.

You can read an interview with Gonzalo here.

Time Effective Cycling Training

Time Effective Cycling Training- A Guide to Better Performance with Less Effort

Time Effective Cycling Training is the culmination of my years of experience training some of the top cyclists across Denmark. The e-book is designed to help road cyclists, mountain bikers and triathletes to reach their full performance potential.

Time Effective Cycling Training is not a miracle cure or a “quick fix”. Instead, readers will get an insight into intelligent and proven scientific training principles that will accelerate their progress. It takes a long-term view: that you can get faster by training less.
Read more here…

3 Reasons Why Your Attacks Are Unsuccessful

December 22, 2009 by Jesper Bondo Medhus 1 Comment

Attack from Kim Kirchen in a local criterium. Nicki Sorensen struggling to close the gap.Ever thought about why your attacks are unsuccessful? There are 3 main reasons why your attempts to win races don’t work out as you wish:

1) Insufficient VO2 max/ Threshold power

When you ride with the fastest riders it may be difficult for you to just stay with the group. In this case there will not be any opportunity for you to make early, serious attacks unless you increase your VO2max and threshold.

When you get a larger aerobic engine you will realize whether your problems were due to insufficient VO2max/threshold or insufficient anaerobic power. VO2max also plays a major role in the minutes where the attacks start.  It may also be the factor which ensures a successful break. Read more about why VO2 max is Crucial in Road Cycling.

2) Insufficient anaerobic power/sprint

If you feel comfortable during the race, just waiting for the moment to attack, then unsuccessful attacks might be caused by insufficient anaerobic power/sprint. What happens is that the whole bunch reacts when you start to jump and catch you quickly because there is not enough punch in your jump. Also the other riders may be extraordinary aware of your attacks since you have showed that it’s not a problem for you to stay in the group. Read about how to increase anaerobic endurance.

3) Tactical mistakes

Separating yourself from a group is difficult, because you are competing with riders at your own level and they all dream of winning the race. Thus, they are not going to just let you make a solo ride without hunting you to the finish line.

If you are not significantly stronger than your opponents (that is actually quite normal) then you will have to use your mind to make a clever move. Instead of making power-attacks you can make a slow attack to which the other riders will not pay attention. The other riders will probably think “he looks tired and if that is the best he can come up with, he will be back in a few minutes. I do not have to pull him back, he will come by himself. I will save my energy for serious attacks”¦”

And that is exactly the point: You get a gap for free and the bunch doesn’t react (in time) because you did not frighten them with a scary power attack. An extra benefit is that you do not have to make an anaerobic burst to make the gap which will give you a better chance to find a decent pacing strategy. Read about 5 successful tecniques used by winning cyclists.

Review: Training and Racing with a Power Meter

July 27, 2009 by Jesper Bondo Medhus Leave a Comment

Training and Racing with a Power Meter is written by Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan as an introduction to power meter training and analyzing. It is easy-to-read language throughout the book and if you already know a thing or two about using a power meter, you will finish this book fast.

There is a detailed description on the different power meters on the market helping you decide which power meter is the right for you. I think this presentation is objective and quite useful for beginners. Thus, there are some pages you might skip if you already own a power meter. There is also a short intro to the main advantages by using a power meter. I agree with most of the words in these chapters.

There are some examples of workouts you can do with a power meter. The testing procedure to make a power profile and training programs are different from the ones I prefer, but it would be boring if all coaches ended up with the same training programs. There are some good basic principles in these programs and just like all other programs they should be modified individually. The major advantage is that it clearly shows beginners how to train with a power meter and also underlines the importance of post-training and post”“races analysis. 

The authors work closely together with TrainingPeaks which means that most analyzing refers to features in this software. This is logic but sometimes the book looks more like an extra manual to the software. When you look beside this, there is a great description of the features that TrainingPeaks offers.

Conclusion
This is a great introductory book about training and racing with a power meter for beginners. It is also a nice book for coaches who haven’t yet had the pleasure to work with athletes using SRM Cranks or PowerTaps, but want to know what power meter training is all about. This book shows you why power meters are getting so popular and gives you the initial tools to getting started racing and training with a power meter.

You can buy the book at Amazon for around $13 which is an extremely low price for so useful information.

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