Training with a power meter

Posted by Mark on March 14, 2009 under training | Be the First to Comment

Having taken part in a PhD student’s  study of VO2max and power I’ve recently had a series (four, to be precise) of VO2max tests. Coupled up with two more tests I had done last year, I’ve come to the conclusion my fitness has plateaued out. Time to do something different, rather than just ride my bike.

So, jumping on the bandwagon, I’m going to give power based training a whirl. First stop, a power meter.

I’ve hired a PowerTap from the excellent cyclepowermeters.com. Many thanks to Bob for the advice when deciding what to rent. I opted for a PowerTap because a) it’s less faff than messing about with an SRM, b) it works with my Garmin 705, and c) they’re cheaper than an SRM

Today was the first outing with the wheel, and although I’ve not tried Allen & Coggan‘s method for establishing a baseline (on to that in good time) it was quite a revealing session. The initial numbers from a four hour ride today suggest a profile fitting of a middling cat 3 racer. In watts per kilo (at my current 64kg)…

5sec: 16.47
1min: 5.5 (this was a bit of anomaly. The average power was 352, with a max in the 1 min period of 613 watts, which gives me a – frankly unbelievable – 9.59, or a cat1 grade 1 min power. I doubt it Likewise there was a lot of low power, 112 watts, in the sample period)
5min: 4.71
…and I know my FT power is 250 watts, or 3.91 w/kg.

Now I need to work out some intervals to get these numbers up. If I want to achieve my goal of a silver in this year’s L’Etape du Tour.