Increase your Cycling Power over the winter = Faster times on 2009 (Page 26)

Jorge,

I read somewhere that in order to increase your speed by 10% you would need to increase your power by 33%.  Is that correct?

I read the same thing...I think it was in Triathlete Magazine...I think it referenced if you averaged 20mph on a flat course and wanted to increase speed 10% that you needed to increase power 33%..

Either way, I would imagine it to be relative to your current speed/power.

you can play with this calculator and see how CdA, Crr, power, terrain etc can affect your speed

http://www.analyticcycling.com/ForcesSpeed_Page.html

If you don't know CdA use the suggested value or I *think* they also have a guesstimate calculator. You can also find Crr on this website from different tires http://www.biketechreview.com/tires/AFM_tire_crr.htm

I've used it before and I've been able to roughly estimate what sort of speed athletes could achieve on a race given their goal race power and assumed optimal conditions. Obviously all this are just estimations...

week 11 is up! Testing and an unload week to get the legs a bit of rest before ramping up on Threshold sessions on the next and last cycle for this plan. For those training with power, push hard and see where is your power is times time around vs 6 weeks ago and for those training with HR/RPM push hard as well and if test done on trainer repeat the same protocol you did the 1st time around (same resistance) and compare your speed with last time, you should see improvements if you have followed the plan and trained consistently.

Have fun!

I'm with you on these thoughts...and a few more

• I thought this would be fun.
• I'm doing this on purpose?
• This is soooo painful..I can't wait to see what's next!

I know a little sadistic but I am really enjoying this challenge. Looking forward to the test today, just have to convince the legs!

20min torture test completed last night.  I can honestly say that I have never suffered that much while riding a bike before.  There was zero fun involved, and it hurt like a .... you get the picture.

Speaking of pictures, here's a little graph of the week 3 test vs week 11 test.  I only increased overall by 5% , was hoping for more.  But that second half of the test I clearly picked it up a bit, and was much better than both week 3 and the first 1/2 of last night.  I just couldn't get the legs going at the beginning.  Overall, 287 watts vs 273 watts.

At the end of this, I had absolutley nothing left, I just about fell off my bike.  Enjoy everyone.

(20min tests.jpg)

JorgeM - 2009-01-27 9:51 AM

GoFaster - 2009-01-27 8:14 AM

20min torture test completed last night.  I can honestly say that I have never suffered that much while riding a bike before.  There was zero fun involved, and it hurt like a .... you get the picture.

Speaking of pictures, here's a little graph of the week 3 test vs week 11 test.  I only increased overall by 5% , was hoping for more.  But that second half of the test I clearly picked it up a bit, and was much better than both week 3 and the first 1/2 of last night.  I just couldn't get the legs going at the beginning.  Overall, 287 watts vs 273 watts.

At the end of this, I had absolutley nothing left, I just about fell off my bike.  Enjoy everyone.

That's pretty good considering we haven't hit the threshold specific focus we had a few easy weeks to begin the program and then the holidays 

Thank you - I will stay positive.  I buried myself last night, and I really questioned how I could possibly do anymore.  Answer - at this point, I couldn't.  I pushed as hard as possible.

I do have another question though, which I also posted on the Tri Talk forum.  Why is my HR higher in the am vs. pm?  If I'm using HR to help monitor performance, how do I do that when time of day seems to be a factor for me.

I know you're a big advocate of RPE instead of HR, but I'm not in tune enough with my body to sometimes know when I'm overdoing things.  HR helps keep me in check.  But if zone 2 at pace X is different in the morning vs. evening, how do I train around that?

well, I tried to push a 20-minute interval during cycle this morning.  It was hard but all I could do was just under LT.  I had about a 15-minute warm-up so I don't think that was the problem.  Moreso I think I was just tired.  I took yesterday off but had a hard tempo run on Sunday.  I was flat today.  Actually all last week I was feeling pretty strong and did most of my training hard.  I think this week I am going to take it easy.

you certainly dont need to taper, with a a day or two of easy/steady sessions (swim, bike or run) you should have enough energy on your legs to tackle the test. Your legs won't be 100% freshed and ready but as long as they are rested enough you should be good to go (and yes it is going to hurt like a MoFo )

JorgeM - 2009-01-27 1:58 PM

GoFaster - 2009-01-27 12:44 PM

JorgeM - 2009-01-27 9:51 AM

GoFaster - 2009-01-27 8:14 AM

20min torture test completed last night.  I can honestly say that I have never suffered that much while riding a bike before.  There was zero fun involved, and it hurt like a .... you get the picture.

Speaking of pictures, here's a little graph of the week 3 test vs week 11 test.  I only increased overall by 5% , was hoping for more.  But that second half of the test I clearly picked it up a bit, and was much better than both week 3 and the first 1/2 of last night.  I just couldn't get the legs going at the beginning.  Overall, 287 watts vs 273 watts.

At the end of this, I had absolutley nothing left, I just about fell off my bike.  Enjoy everyone.

That's pretty good considering we haven't hit the threshold specific focus we had a few easy weeks to begin the program and then the holidays 

Thank you - I will stay positive.  I buried myself last night, and I really questioned how I could possibly do anymore.  Answer - at this point, I couldn't.  I pushed as hard as possible.

I do have another question though, which I also posted on the Tri Talk forum.  Why is my HR higher in the am vs. pm?  If I'm using HR to help monitor performance, how do I do that when time of day seems to be a factor for me.

I know you're a big advocate of RPE instead of HR, but I'm not in tune enough with my body to sometimes know when I'm overdoing things.  HR helps keep me in check.  But if zone 2 at pace X is different in the morning vs. evening, how do I train around that?

is this for your runnning sessions?

Both cycling and running - since I'm using the trainer and treadmill it's easy to mimic the same environment from workout to workout.  i.e. When we do the 10min warmup for the cycling sessions, I am typically around 120-125 bpm for an evening ride, but 128-134 for a morning ride.  This messes me up cause I'll hold the same power, but the HR will be very different depending on the day.

Wow retesting

I just finished week 4 Q2 last night.  I felt I was over my illness, and jumped in the saddle.  It took me three times to get though Week 4 Q1.  I was petering out and could not finish, so I kept at it.  I felt good lst night after W4 Q2.

Thing I did notice is my crusing speed, the 82/87% is just a little bit slower then my last race average speed.  I am looking forward to summer!

Joe

well I either improved or just tested poorly the last time..

I don't think I paced myself well since my last ten min was an avg of 227 and my total avg for the twenty was 203/4?.  what's nice is that is a big jump from before which was 182 avg and my 5 min power test from before was 227ish so I basically avg more than that for ten minutes today.. 

Thanks Jorge.  It's hard to say for sure what made it so hard for me today but it just wasn't there. I know I'm not as rested as I would want to be but that is not all that uncommon and I seem to get through it at other times.   Regardless it was a good effort for me this morning even if I couldn't keep the HR where I think I should have. I'm enjoying the program and appreciate the workouts and guidance!

My 20 min test a couple weeks ago was a bad day for me (average 203)..so I've been using my old test for my training sessions(average 210).  

My test yesterday was average 225 so it's still about a 7% increase! I maintained that power rate pretty much the whole way with a slight lower in the first 5 and a slight higher in the last 5.  I'm pretty happy with my effort! 

Now if I can nail my 5 min test...