This forum really needs an acronym sticky!

mises said:

It's like trying to read a defense intelligence memo with all the acronyms. It would be nice to have a listing that deciphers and defines them.

That is a really good Idea. I am with you

SolarEnergy said:

That is a really good Idea. I am with you

Might as well get started!

NP -- "Normalized power." This metric attempts to answer the question, "how hard could a rider have gone during a ride if he had ridden at constant power?" For a typical ride, this number will be larger than the ride's average power.

VI -- "Variability index." Normalized power / average power. A measure of how variable the rider's output was during the ride. Rides with large VIs included highly variable power output. Rides with VIs near 1 were very steady.

IF -- "Intensity factor." A NP-based metric intended to represent the intensity of a ride (or section of a ride). To enable cross-rider comparison, the IF is normalized to a given rider's "threshold" (approximately equivalent to a rider's maximal 1 hour power). A ride done right at threshold has an IF of 1.

TSS -- "Training stress score." An IF-based metric that attempts to quantify training stress. By basing the metric on IF, it avoids the pitfall of most other measures of training stress (miles, hours, altitude gained, etc.) by accounting for the increased stress of higher intensities. A 1 hour time trial results in a TSS of 100.

For the entire constellation of NP-based terms, and how they're computed, see http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/defined.html.

SST -- "Sweet spot training." Training that emphasizes a high volume of the high end of what most cyclists think of as "tempo" pace: Zone 3 for Friel, Level 4 for Coggan, or "no man's land" if you're a skeptic about SST! The case for SST is made here: http://www.fascatcoaching.com/sweetspot.html

Thank you for starting this thread. Please do continue with the list.

Thank you for starting this thread. Please do continue with the list.

David_Zen said:

Thank you for starting this thread. Please do continue with the list.

I think this is a great idea, and very helpful to those new to power training. I posted asking about abbreviations before, but noone responded.

FT: Functional Threshold.
TP: Threshold Power.
FTP: Functional Threshold Power.
LT: Lactate Threshold.
MAP: Maximum Aerobic Power.
HIT: High Intensity Training.
CP: Critical Power.
AWC: Anaerobic Work Content.

I have left out definitions as I am unsure of them myself. Maybe someone could define for me.

AndROOb said:

AWC: Anaerobic Work Content.

Anaerobic Work Capacity

xxMP (e.g., 20MP) = max power at a given duration (e.g., 20 mins).
VP pacing = variable power pacing
CP pacing = constant power pacing

AndROOb said:

I think this is a great idea, and very helpful to those new to power training. I posted asking about abbreviations before, but noone responded.

FT: Functional Threshold.
TP: Threshold Power.
FTP: Functional Threshold Power.
LT: Lactate Threshold.
MAP: Maximum Aerobic Power.
HIT: High Intensity Training.
CP: Critical Power.
AWC: Anaerobic Work Content.

I have left out definitions as I am unsure of them myself. Maybe someone could define for me.

Definitions for the above would be great too. Thanks. 🙂