Power Training for Cyclocross

jmocallaghan said:

Ok, we've all heard about training for road via power and ever tri's but.... anyone ever seen any articles or have any info on training for 'cross with power. Obviously most of it would be on the road but anyone seen anything out there or have any info?

I don't know, but I imagine it would be the same. After all Power is Power is Power! Someone will no doubt correct me. 😄 Tyson

jmocallaghan said:

Ok, we've all heard about training for road via power and ever tri's but.... anyone ever seen any articles or have any info on training for 'cross with power. Obviously most of it would be on the road but anyone seen anything out there or have any info?

might want to check out:

jbvcoaching.comjbvcoaching.comOpen ↗

rmur17 said:

might want to check out:

jbvcoaching.comjbvcoaching.comOpen ↗

🙂

Thanks Rick, specifically there's at least one 'cross training article on the articles page jbvcoaching.comarticles.aspOpen ↗. It's probably the least power focused of the training articles there, and that's for a reason.

Adam Myerson has some good stuff up on cyclo-cross training:
cycle-smart.comindex.htmlOpen ↗

I don't really use the PM for training by power in 'cross, I'm still doing more than half my training on the road bike then, the PM is still useful for managing overall load. When training in the 'cross bike, I'm going purely by PE...plus those sessions are often as much about skills and specificity as "precise" intervals.

The principles of training for cross with power are obviously the same as for other branches of the sport, I do most of mine on the road / trainer, what's very different is the power profile produced during a cross race.

My data says I spend 65% of the time below FT with 20% 0 - 50 watts, the other 35% is spent above FT with multiple 2xFT efforts and frequent efforts to 3xFT ie each race is a series of short intense intervals.

Agree that skills are also essential.

djsmi said:

The principles of training for cross with power are obviously the same as for other branches of the sport, I do most of mine on the road / trainer, what's very different is the power profile produced during a cross race.

My data says I spend 65% of the time below FT with 20% 0 - 50 watts, the other 35% is spent above FT with multiple 2xFT efforts and frequent efforts to 3xFT ie each race is a series of short intense intervals.

Agree that skills are also essential.

Skills aside, and that is because we all know a good portion of success is skills and smoothness, has anyone here actually ran (and it sounds some have) a power meter during a cross race.?

jmocallaghan said:

Skills aside, and that is because we all know a good portion of success is skills and smoothness, has anyone here actually ran (and it sounds some have) a power meter during a cross race.?

Sure, and I've got data from several other people who have as well.

so how do you that race cross with a PM figure TSS with all the running? Also-do you find that you can keep an adequate training load during cross season ......versus say long SSt sessions?
Thanks, I'm interested in doing cross but seem to need all fall and winter to get my CTL up to a level that prepares me for big NRC stage races

jbvcoaching said:

Sure, and I've got data from several other people who have as well.

jmocallaghan said:

Skills aside, and that is because we all know a good portion of success is skills and smoothness, has anyone here actually ran (and it sounds some have) a power meter during a cross race.?

In a German magazine, a race file of Christian Heule (Swiss champion) was printed. If someone wants to see it, I can search my garbage...

I'd like to see it!

thanks

Speedskater said:

In a German magazine, a race file of Christian Heule (Swiss champion) was printed. If someone wants to see it, I can search my garbage...

marmatt said:

so how do you that race cross with a PM figure TSS with all the running?

I use PE and a watch and generate manual entries. I've seen power files from technical and/or running-intensive races with IF as low as .80 for an hour, but the athlete was going full stick, was wrecked afterwards, and got a good result. So, my opinion is that a power file from the bike isn't capturing the full stress of the event, and PE is better. Since a 'cross race is at most an hour, I just assume an IF of 1.0.

This issue comes up a lot in the 'why don't mountain bikers have PMs' discussions.

Quoted post said:

Also-do you find that you can keep an adequate training load during cross season ......versus say long SSt sessions?
Thanks, I'm interested in doing cross but seem to need all fall and winter to get my CTL up to a level that prepares me for big NRC stage races

Most of the 'crossers I work with consider it a separate season, so we're really not looking at what CTL will be in March/April. I coach one guy who did a 2 week trip to Belgium to end his 'cross season (after US nats), raced his last race on New Years day, then we took two weeks off and he built up to ride Tour of California.

Most people I know using PMC don't fall below 40-50CTL on their breaks, and then it doesn't take so long to get CTL up into the hundreds again for the road season.

jbvcoaching said:

This issue comes up a lot in the 'why don't mountain bikers have PMs' discussions.

Why don´t they? I´m really interested in that since I consider buying a PM for my MTB.

Speedskater said:

Why don´t they? I´m really interested in that since I consider buying a PM for my MTB.

Basically an expansion of what I said earlier, technical sections and long, difficult descents still require energy and create fatigue (relative to road), yet are not reflected in a power file.

I'm not really any sort of expert on it though, search the google wattage list for discussion by Dave Harris on the topic.

What I would ask yourself, is what you're going to use the PM on the MTB for.

jbvcoaching said:

(...) What I would ask yourself, is what you're going to use the PM on the MTB for.

In the first place, I would use a PM to determine the characteristics of a typical MTB-race in my region. Then I would like to tailor my specific MTB-training according to this needs. Finally I would use it to pace myself in long uphills (15-30 min) at MTB marathons, that are very popular here in Europe. Energy expenditure would also be interesting in such races.

dc.cyclocross said:

I'd like to see it!

thanks

Here you go:

http://img530.imageshack.us/my.php?image=srmheulecrosswmmb2.jpg

A little twist on this thread, but would training for a short biathlon (I dont run) help with cross, or are the running stints in cross too short. I would basically train for a month to do the 3-mile running portion of the biathlon and then not train for running again all winter.

Ray