Power Output?

Can't find time to get out on the road or to turbo sessions. However, we have a decent gym in the basement of our building with some fairly flash kit, so I'm doing some training whenever I can grab the odd hour. Have never checked things like power output, so I'm having some fun. Want to get in (reasonably) mean shape for the Marmotte, TT's and some racing next year.

So, after a bit of googling, the only sensible measurements seem to relate to power to weight ratio. However, I guess you then have to think about heart rate as a three way mix. Does anyone know of some guidance on using power/heart rate as a mix for training purposes....perhaps taking account of my advancing years?!

I'm a bit fat right now, so I'm at 90kg. Managed to keep up 300watts output for 20 minutes at around 150pbm. Is that crap or ok? My target weight is 80kg, so I guess if I can get power up to 320watts for 20mins while maintaiing same pulse, I should be flying at that weight?

Or is this all nonsense? Like th emachines though. Much more fun than sticking the bike on a turbo and the scenery is rather better than my loft. And I'm just soooo not into cold wet weather.

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Harris on December 18, 2011 at 18:02

Firstly, if you're at all interested in power, invest in Allen and Coggan's book, "Training and Racing with a Power Meter". It's basically the bible as far as these things go and all the answers you need (and a ton that you don't!) can be found within.

Anyway, I'll try to answer a few of your questions to keep you going. I will caveat my answers by saying that I'm relatively new to power training, and although I've done a ton of reading, they're just my best understanding of things. I'm certainly no oracle on the subject!

Does anyone know of some guidance on using power/heart rate as a mix for training purposes....perhaps taking account of my advancing years?!

Power and HR are sort of interchangeable, in that you aim to train within specific power ranges or at certain power levels, in much the same way that you currently train with HR zones. Having said that, at this time of year, it's useful to concentrate on the relationship between the two, particularly in terms of 'decoupling': http://www.peaksware.com/articles/cycling/aerobic-endurance-and-dec...

TBH, at the moment during base phases, I'm working to HR and trying to improve my output at a given level (http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2011/01/comparing-output-and-input.html). As the season progresses, I'll more-or-less stop concentrating on HR and work with power.

Allen and Coggan have a watts:kg chart in their book that gives an indication of potential performance levels at given watts per kg. These are based on sustained output at 5 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes and FTP (1 hour). If you can sustain 300w for an hour (which I'd guess is emminently achievable given your low HR), at 90kg that puts you in the middle of the cat 4 range and at 80kg, in the middle of the cat 3 range.

FTP (Functional Threshold Power) is kind of the golden standard when it comes to power. That's what your power ranges are derived from and a lot of training plans are based around boosting your FTP, as this is a good target in improving all round cycling performance.

The problem is finding your FTP. FTP is defined as the maximum output you can sustain for one hour under race conditions, but that's not particularly convenient given that you should regularly test FTP to monitor improvements (and adjust power ranges accordingly). So, it's a case of trying to find an accurate proxy. Alex Simmons has a good summary of different proxies here: http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com/2008/05/seven-deadly-sins.html (I did a MAP test: http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com/2006/12/map-testing-where-failure-is...)

So, first thing I would do is try and find your FTP. Once you have that, you can start developing a training strategy, monitor your performance and play with different training drills.

That's a fairly brief introduction. If you've any further questions, post them up or e-mail me and I'll do my best to answer.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Dines on December 19, 2011 at 17:25

Wow, that's a brilliant brief introduction. Thanks for taking the trouble.

Age comes into the data though, as my theoretical max HR, based on age adjustment, is 170 (so 150 is not that low really). having said that, I can go up to 185 when in death zone, and average 170 when doing a 10.

After Christmas I'll see if I can keep up 300 Watts for an hour. a good benchmark i guess.