Post by Ed Slovenkay on Oct 22, 2012 19:45:57 GMT -5
Like your heart rate monitor, a power meter is displaying a number. The difference is that heart rate is measuring input (your body’s response) and power is measuring output (work and intensity). Just like with heart rate where zones are used to determine effort and training, power also has zones and we train in those zones in order to improve over time. The first step to determine your power zones is to find out what your FTP (functional threshold power) is by either testing or estimating.
Andrew Coggan, PhD came up with the notion that a fit athlete can maintain his/her lactate threshold intensity for about an hour. He named this concept to estimate one’s lactate threshold power Functional Threshold Power and uses the number to establish training zones. Rather than taking up space in this post, below are links that explain FTP and why it is an important measurement in cycling;
www.flammerouge.je/content/3_factsheets/constant/functhresh.htm
home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/what-is-threshold-power.aspx
Unless you have sophisticated software and gobs of power files to draw from, the most common way to determine your FTP is to do a 20 minute test. You don’t have to have a computrainer or even find flat sections of road without any traffic. The test can (and should IMO) be done indoors on the trainer using your power meter. If you’re using a power meter instead of a computrainer, it is helpful to hit the lap button as you begin each segment of the test protocol. I’ve attached Hunter Allen’s testing protocol and a link explaining is also here;
home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/training-explained,-by-hunter-allen.aspx
The thing to remember as you test over a season is to keep the protocol for each test identical so that you have good data.
The reason why I urged you in the last post to become familiar with uploading the data from your power meter into the software is that once you complete the FTP test now you need to know the average power number from the 20 minute time trial (less 5%) and that number is revealed in the software.
Questions? More on training zones in the next post.
Andrew Coggan, PhD came up with the notion that a fit athlete can maintain his/her lactate threshold intensity for about an hour. He named this concept to estimate one’s lactate threshold power Functional Threshold Power and uses the number to establish training zones. Rather than taking up space in this post, below are links that explain FTP and why it is an important measurement in cycling;
www.flammerouge.je/content/3_factsheets/constant/functhresh.htm
home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/what-is-threshold-power.aspx
Unless you have sophisticated software and gobs of power files to draw from, the most common way to determine your FTP is to do a 20 minute test. You don’t have to have a computrainer or even find flat sections of road without any traffic. The test can (and should IMO) be done indoors on the trainer using your power meter. If you’re using a power meter instead of a computrainer, it is helpful to hit the lap button as you begin each segment of the test protocol. I’ve attached Hunter Allen’s testing protocol and a link explaining is also here;
home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/training-explained,-by-hunter-allen.aspx
The thing to remember as you test over a season is to keep the protocol for each test identical so that you have good data.
The reason why I urged you in the last post to become familiar with uploading the data from your power meter into the software is that once you complete the FTP test now you need to know the average power number from the 20 minute time trial (less 5%) and that number is revealed in the software.
Questions? More on training zones in the next post.
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