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Some power questions from a power rookie
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 2012-05-16 10:14 PM |
Pro  4339    Husker Nation |  Subject: Some power questions from a power rookieJust got a PowerTap a couple of weeks ago and have been able to take it out on a few rides. Now that I have some power data I am wondering what cool stuff I can figure out with it. When you first install the PowerAgent software it asks you to put in a lot of stuff that I have no clue what should go there (for instance, I don't know my FTP, 5 minute power, 30 minute power, etc). I have done 40K time trials on each of the past two Tuesdays and I found the results to be very interesting. My average power was the exact same for both rides (221) and my normalized power was a seemingly inconsequential 3 watts higher on yesterday's TT (253) than last week (250). The courses and wind directions were completely different, and I was fatigued going into last week's ride whereas I was recovered going into yesterday's ride! The first course was 8 miles of headwind on the right side, then another 7 miles of headwind on the left side (obviously more of a head/cross wind), and tail wind the rest of the way, so I went conservative the first 16 miles or so. Last night was a different story, the wind was coming out of the North and the first 5 miles were South, so I actually hammered a little more than I had anticipated for the first 10 or so miles and I just tried to pace the climbs and cross winds conservatively enough to have enough gas in the tank to turn back into the head wind for ~3 miles. So ride 1 I started easy-ish/finished hard, ride 2 I started hard-ish/finished spent. My logs are up to date, each ride was around 1:15. Can I use some sort of algorithm to determine my FTP? I don't necessarily have room in my training schedule to do a test and quite honestly am not sure what I would do with an FTP number anyway (did I mention I'm a power rookie?). I'm training for the Kansas 70.3 in less than a month and I'd like to know what knowledge I can derive from the power data I have available to me so far in preparation for and during that race. Obviously purchasing a book learning about this stuff would be the easiest. I guess I'm just looking for some quickie bits of wisdom from the folks who know what they're doing with this stuff, given the info above and anything else you need to ask. |
| 2012-05-16 10:38 PM in reply to: #4214121 |
| 190 | Subject: RE: Some power questions from a power rookie Bripod - 2012-05-16 8:14 PM Just got a PowerTap a couple of weeks ago and have been able to take it out on a few rides. [...] Can I use some sort of algorithm to determine my FTP? I don't necessarily have room in my training schedule to do a test and quite honestly am not sure what I would do with an FTP number anyway (did I mention I'm a power rookie?). I'm training for the Kansas 70.3 in less than a month Less than a month before your race? You got the PM two weeks ago? Well, here's what I suggest to all new PM users: for a little while, at least a couple of weeks, just do all the rides in exactly the way you did before you got the PM. Collect and download the data after every ride. If you keep logs and training notes, continue to keep them exactly as you have been. Learn how to zero the torque, mark intervals, and move through the menus without accidentally erasing your data. You don't (yet) know enough to act on what the PM can tell you, and you'll find that having a "base" set of data will be useful for when you *do* start to figure out how to use the info the PM is collecting. Then, do the race with your Power Tap -- not so much as a pacing guide (since you won't know how or at what level to pace yet) but as a recording device. |
| 2012-05-16 10:42 PM in reply to: #4214144 |
Pro 4339 Husker Nation | Subject: RE: Some power questions from a power rookie RChung - 2012-05-16 10:38 PM Bripod - 2012-05-16 8:14 PM Just got a PowerTap a couple of weeks ago and have been able to take it out on a few rides. [...] Can I use some sort of algorithm to determine my FTP? I don't necessarily have room in my training schedule to do a test and quite honestly am not sure what I would do with an FTP number anyway (did I mention I'm a power rookie?). I'm training for the Kansas 70.3 in less than a month Less than a month before your race? You got the PM two weeks ago? Well, here's what I suggest to all new PM users: for a little while, at least a couple of weeks, just do all the rides in exactly the way you did before you got the PM. Collect and download the data after every ride. If you keep logs and training notes, continue to keep them exactly as you have been. Learn how to zero the torque, mark intervals, and move through the menus without accidentally erasing your data. You don't (yet) know enough to act on what the PM can tell you, and you'll find that having a "base" set of data will be useful for when you *do* start to figure out how to use the info the PM is collecting. Then, do the race with your Power Tap -- not so much as a pacing guide (since you won't know how or at what level to pace yet) but as a recording device. Cool. That's basically what I've been doing, just didn't know if there was more "under the hood" that I could tinker with. I'll stick to what I know and figure out the rest later on. I did notice that somewhere in the low 200 watts seems to correspond with my Zone 2 HR range, for whatever that's worth. I'll have a better idea of my "long ride" wattage Saturday. EDIT: Oh yeah, I do have another question. For some reason my LYC won't display the speed (I'm using a wired PT Comp). I've seen it display speed before, but only briefly, and no matter what I do I can't seem to get it to show up. Wattage shows up, and it has the correct distance and speed when I upload the data to the PC afterwards, but it's just not displaying during the ride. ?? Edited by Bripod 2012-05-16 10:44 PM |
| 2012-05-16 10:44 PM in reply to: #4214121 |
| Veteran 307 Liberty Lake, WA | Subject: RE: Some power questions from a power rookie I will add what the usual...read "Training and Racing with a Power Meter." That book has the answer to every single question you posted and more. It has detailed analysis, graphs, and way more information anyone could possibly ever post on this forum. Here is a website by the author of that book. |
| 2012-05-16 10:52 PM in reply to: #4214121 |
Master 10208 Northern IL | Subject: RE: Some power questions from a power rookie Follow what the other two said. One thing I could pick up right away though were the spikes I was getting. You'll get the idea over time, but it's very likely that spikes of 400, 500 or 600 watts are a bit high for steady state efforts like a triathlon or TT. I mention that because of the difference in your NP vs AP in the TT's listed. This would be VI from what you will be reading. Bigger tends to mean more spikes and dips in power output. |
| 2012-05-16 10:57 PM in reply to: #4214159 |
Pro 4339 Husker Nation | Subject: RE: Some power questions from a power rookie brigby1 - 2012-05-16 10:52 PM Follow what the other two said. One thing I could pick up right away though were the spikes I was getting. You'll get the idea over time, but it's very likely that spikes of 400, 500 or 600 watts are a bit high for steady state efforts like a triathlon or TT. I mention that because of the difference in your NP vs AP in the TT's listed. This would be VI from what you will be reading. Bigger tends to mean more spikes and dips in power output. That makes sense... I see 9 spikes >400w from yesterday's ride, all but two seem to come after brief periods of no power output (I'm assuming I coasted down a short hill and then hammered over the next one). |
| 2012-05-16 11:02 PM in reply to: #4214149 |
| 190 | Subject: RE: Some power questions from a power rookie Bripod - 2012-05-16 8:42 PM EDIT: Oh yeah, I do have another question. For some reason my LYC won't display the speed (I'm using a wired PT Comp). I've seen it display speed before, but only briefly, and no matter what I do I can't seem to get it to show up. Wattage shows up, and it has the correct distance and speed when I upload the data to the PC afterwards, but it's just not displaying during the ride. ?? Is the middle line blank, or does it show something other than speed? If you see either cadence or HR on the middle line, you inadvertently flipped what's shown on that line -- it's buried in one of the setup menus. If it's blank, there's something wrong with your LYC. |
| 2012-05-16 11:05 PM in reply to: #4214167 |
Pro 4339 Husker Nation | Subject: RE: Some power questions from a power rookie RChung - 2012-05-16 11:02 PM Bripod - 2012-05-16 8:42 PM EDIT: Oh yeah, I do have another question. For some reason my LYC won't display the speed (I'm using a wired PT Comp). I've seen it display speed before, but only briefly, and no matter what I do I can't seem to get it to show up. Wattage shows up, and it has the correct distance and speed when I upload the data to the PC afterwards, but it's just not displaying during the ride. ?? Is the middle line blank, or does it show something other than speed? If you see either cadence or HR on the middle line, you inadvertently flipped what's shown on that line -- it's buried in one of the setup menus. If it's blank, there's something wrong with your LYC. It just shows "--". Like I said, when I first got it I was playing around with it and got to see it displaying speed when I spun the wheel. I don't remember changing anything since then but I probably borked something up and told it to display some non-existent data. I'll have to go RTFM on that one  |
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