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Cycling Training Tips

Power Meter Training for Beginner Triathletes

Heart rate monitors like Polar and CardioSport have been the most used strategy in triathlons because these events have such long durations. If you like to use a heart rate monitor for pacing, triathlon and especially ultra distance triathlons are definitively the place to wear heart rate monitors. It is clear that when a constant tempo is the ideal pace in a race situation, then there is a good chance that your heart rate will show you how tough you current workload is. In cycling races the workload (Watts) is very inconsistent (sprints, jumps, hills, breaking, corners, etc.). In a traditional triathlon race there is lot more consistency in the power output, thus there is a lot better correlation between heart rate and workload.

Power Meters to the People

Power meters like SRM, Ergomo and PowerTap are very common among pro triathletes, but actually they would be at least as helpful for beginner triathletes. When a triathlete enters a competition for the first time, he will realize that it is very difficult to get an efficient pacing strategy. It is very tempting to hunt down the opponent in front of him and it is difficult to save the energy for the final part of the race (hint: there is a run AFTER the bike race in triathlons”¦)

Even though there is a better correlation between heart rate and workload in triathlons, there is really good arguments to start considering power meter training. By knowing your critical power outputs for the distances you compete in, you have the best opportunity to optimize your training program. As an example I would like to mention Dave Simonson who participate in the power meter project. He has gained several watts because he has learned how to pace himself and trained at the right intensity.

Heart rate monitors are good for pacing, but they are still influenced by several external factors (temperature, caffeine, level of recovery, etc.) This indicates that there is a great potential for beginner triathletes to improve their performance. Power meter training improves their skill for pacing and that is one of the most important non-physiological skills in triathlon

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Helmet position for time trialists

Joe Friel has an interesting article about optimization of aerodynamics for time trialists. He has been doing some testing with differents setups of head position (aero helmet, head position etc.) and saved 77seconds. I can strongly recommend time trialists to have a closer look at that article and notice Joe Friel’s final comments: “I’m afraid many helmets on the market that are marketed as “aerodynamic” are actually less aerodynamic than a standard road helmet. And even wearing a decent helmet with the front down close to the eyebrows, while it may look good, is actually slower than with the helmet’s leading edge worn closer to the hairline in front.”

I found this link via PowerTap Geek that publishes a lot of interesting articles for PowerTap freaks.

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Every single watt counts at high level cycling

Marc Moeller has a season goal of moving to cycling race Category 2. Moving up one category per season seems fair for serious cyclists like Marc, but doing it with only 8 hours per week is a bit of a challenge. Nevertheless, he has worked hard for the last 6 weeks to improve his already good fitness. And with great success! Here are the results from the critical power tests Marc has performed with his PowerTap:

Critical Power Tests 5sec 1min 5min 20min Body Weight
Week 1 (Watt) 1110W 600W 395W 337W 82.6kg/182lbs
Week 1 (Watt/kg) 13.4W/kg 7.3W/kg 4.8W/kg 4.1W/kg
Week 6 (Watt) 1184W 649W 417W 351W 80.4kg/177.2lbs
Week 6 (Watt/kg) 14.7W/kg 8.1W/kg 5.2W/kg 4.4W/kg

Week 7 to 12
I know that Marc is getting close to a plateau where additional improvement requires a bigger training amount. But by giving his high intensity training program some periodization, there is a chance that he can continue his progress. I am really satisfied with the results I have seen from him so far, and predict that he will deliver even more watts next time. It is though pretty clear that he will have to work very hard for every single watt from now on. But as I told Marc in an email: “Every single watt counts at your level”.

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What does 3x(3+3) minutes VO2 max mean?

I have often been asked the question ”˜What does 3 x (3+3) minutes VO2 max mean?´ so I thought it would be a good idea to spent a short post on it. 3x(3×3)min VO2 max means 3 times 3 minutes maximal effort with recovery periods of 3 minutes between each interval. (3min hard work, 3min recovery, 3min hard work etc.) VO2 max refers to the intensity you shall try to maintain through the intervals. It’s clear that you don’t know what your actual VO2 is, but when you have tried these intervals a couple of times you will know how to pace yourself. The important thing to remember is that you are supposed to ride as fast as you can for a period of 3 minutes (but not faster than you can repeat it a couple of times). It is not possible to use a heart rate monitor for pacing because of the delay of the heart rate but can be a good indicator of your performance afterwards. A power meter like SRM or PowerTap is very useful for such pacing. Yeah, they are expensive, but strongly recommended if you are a serious cyclist. In the recovery periods it is a good idea to do some light pedalling to remove metabolites. That will make it easier for you to make the following interval at the right intensity.

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