New toys

I've been using power as a training metric for exactly one year now. I have no idea how I managed to go so long without it. Training without a power meter now would seem as alien as doing a running session without a watch. I found myself avoiding using any of my bikes that don't have one, even just for an easy ride.

Originally I only a power meter on my time trial bike. Then I met the good people from Power2Max at Eurobike late last year. I'm now delighted to be able to use a power meter on all the bikes I use. The second great thing about these meters in particular, after the fact that they're less than half the price of the an SRM(!), is that you can change the chainrings without any need for recallibration. So, I was able to use small chainrings for cyclocross, then put on bigger chainrings for time trialling. On my road bike I've kept a semi-compact set of chainrings. One power meter, three different gearing options. Brilliant.

As a training tool they're invaluable in recording effort and ensuring you train at the correct intensity.  Here are some data for two ostensibly similar races. They both lasted about 45 minutes and on both my average heart rate was about 150 beats per minute and my average power output was around 300 watts. So, using time, or heart rate or perceived effort would suggest that these races required the same type and level of effort.

The graphs clearly show that isn't the case. The one on the left is a cyclocross race, that alternated bursts of high power output coming out of corners and climbing hills, with very low power output during technical sections. The graph on the right shows the sustained high power output of a time trial. The two types of racing require different approaches to training and a power meter helps to replicate the same type of effort that each type of racing needs. 

What I find them most useful for though is pacing, especially in time trials. It's all too common to go out too hard at the start and fade towards the end. Using heart rate as a guide makes this worse, as it takes a while to achieve a high heart rate and it stays high even while you fade.  An optimal performance requires staying within a narrow range of power for the whole duration. Having an objective measure helps to hold back early in the race to keep something in reserve for the end, and then to push hard at the end when perceived effort may be higher than actual effort.

Power2Max recently released a version of thier power meter for mountian bikes. I received mine last week. I'm particularly happy as it'll help me with pacing during the Finale Ligure 24 Hour race in May. I know I definitely went out too hard when I did it last year. Happy days!

Out of hibernation

The sun is shining, the snow is melting and I'm back on line. I know it's been ages since my last post, but I've had training to do! The last time I wrote I had just finished up the cyclocross season and was looking ahead to the Australian national road championships.

Well, my plan of dropping a few kilos for nationals didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. GreenEdge (the new Australian pro team) turned up in force and demolished everyone. Of 161 starters only 21 finished. Needless to say I wasn't one of them. I barely made it 50km into the 160km race. After being dropped on the fourth lap the little group I was with were pulled off the course after the fifth lap.

In an effort to be able to stay with the race on the climb I'd lost 3-4 kilos in the month before the race. Unfortunately I lost some power along with the weight. Power that I sorely missed during the time trial. My 20th place in the TT was exactly the same as last year. While I was a bit more than a minute faster than last year in, much more difficult conditions, I had hoped for better. For those interested in such things, my average speed was 44km/hr and my average power output was 318 watts (4.54watts/kg).

Anyway, that's enough of the short stuff for now. My focus has switched entirely to the 4,800km time trial that is the Race Across America. Only 13 weeks to go!