Thank you Andy & Hunter

giannip said:

After 8 years of a sedentary lifestyle (and NOT a healhty one either) I decided 2 years ago to get back in the saddle. Afetr 1 year of noodling along and 1 getting back into some sort of racing conditioning without killing myself, I had decide that this year I would enter a 3 day (4 stage- 76ml, 4ml TT, 60ml, 60ml ) race.

Luckily for me I a) purchased a powermeter and b) more importantly purchased Andy and Hunter's book.

The PT only arrived in Jan and I only had 13 weeks to the big day but following the workouts from the book I did it. I realised my goal of finishing the event and finishing it in the front group every day.

While I may have achieved it doing conventional training, I believe that it would have taken me longer and the possibility of me overdoing things would have been greater.

The workouts really helped me to focus. The only mistake I made was forgetting to zero the power on day 2!!

Now to set some new goals :-)

Thanks again A&H

Thank you - you just made my day!

Not surprised that you found it so easy to plan and analyse your training. Did you purchase Cyclingpeaks as well?

Hamish Ferguson
Cycling Coach

I did yes.

I believe that without those workouts, it would have been a lot to ask to get to grips with power training + devise my own workouts for the 13 weeks.

Now if I can just get some more for the rest of the year 😄 😉

Your welcome!!!!!

Glad we could help.

Like I say to my athletes. "I am just the Bus Driver. You decided to get on the bus."

Keep up the great work!

Hunter

Let me pile on here. I came back to competitive cycling in Jan '05 after a 7 year hiatus. I was making slow and steady progress but then found Andy and Hunter's book along with this forum. It's completely changed the way I train and the results (for someone like me with little or no talent) have been great.

A year ago in my target event I was dropped on the first climb of the first lap of a 48 mile race. This year I was in the break that formed on that very same climb. I've seen my FTP jump 20% in the past 7 months and my motivation to train is as high as its ever been.

Thanks Andy/Hunter, and to all those that share their advice/experience so selflessly.

gene r

PS: I also had the good fortune to attend Hunter's camp in Solvang in late February and the advice and insight I received there was immensely helpful. Thanks for a great experience Hunter.

Hunter w/kg said:

Your welcome!!!!!

Glad we could help.

Like I say to my athletes. "I am just the Bus Driver. You decided to get on the bus."

Keep up the great work!

Hunter

Thanks. Yes, I have also given myself a pat on the back for sticking to the workouts and obtaining the goals. Next year it's a top 10 in one of the stages!

Will be looking at some workouts as soon as I can re-test myself....there's a 16km TT coming up next week so that could do well for 20min power value.

I'm SURE it's increased at this stage!

Will a guy who can't afford a power meter right now be able to apply the concepts found in the book?

Animator said:

Will a guy who can't afford a power meter right now be able to apply the concepts found in the book?

I would say that a person who doesn't have one but is saving for one (like I had to ;-) ) will definitely benefit from reading the book before getting the PM.

Animator said:

Will a guy who can't afford a power meter right now be able to apply the concepts found in the book?

Absolutely. I read the book and this forum for 2-3 months before I bought my PM. I was really struggling with which PM to buy but wanted to guage my power output and train with power. So I used a 6 mile, 7% average grade, climb near my house to calculate my wattage using this calculator kreuzotter.deespeed.htmOpen ↗ on analyticalcycling.com.

After setting a baseline I was able to train at certain power levels based on completing set distances in a certain time. Since I didn't have a PM for pacing I was using perceived exertion to guage my efforts (Tempo vs FTP vs vo2, etc) and it worked out pretty well.

When I finally bought a PM i realized my calculations were a bit off but surprisingly not by much, and they were close enough for me given my talent level.

Ok, all that said getting a PM and Cycling Peaks opened up a whole new world so I'd stronlgy recommend you to make the leap when you can. I just wish all this (PMs, Forums, Calculators, CP) was available back in the late 80s when I got into this crazy sport!

good luck.

gene r

Gene R has made excellent points about getting a book or attending a seminar to learn about Power Training before getting a powermeter. I had the privilege of knowing Gene for few days in Feb and he certainly knows what he's talking about.

I'd like to add this. Ask around and see if there's anybody who's willing to lend you their powermeter so you can do a field test of your own (5 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes and 20 minutes). Analyze them with what you've learned in the book. Some coaches may rent them out.

In few months, you can re-test and find out which workouts may work the best for you when you see an improvement with the data. Naturally, you won't have the opportunity to view the data on daily basis but it's better than not working with a powermeter competely.

I would like to follow the words said here.

I am in week 15 of the trainingplan provided by the book. my treshold test i did in november 2006 just told me that me FTP is at about 250 watts. I purchased CyclingPeaks WKO+ as well and just for the outdoor season i git my powertap.

So hopefully i make it the next weekend my day ! I will start in 5 KM TT and 110 KM Race.

Quoted post said:

Page 224
Race: "Make this day a great one! The work is done and you are stronger than ever!"

Thank you very much !