Wattage, what the ........

Aaron H said:

Hi guys, just wanted to ask how important all these power meters are, and at what stage you'd consider using one.

I've just come back to cycling after a long break (years) due to serious illness, but when I used to race my training used to be a healthy mix of weights, varied distances on the bike and going down to the truck park to chase a few trucks on the by-pass. I did use a heart monitor for a while but never really got much out of it, most of the time I just used to listen to my body and gauge what I should be doing training-wise from that.

Now I've come back everyone's going on about wattage etc, would this be something to consider when trying to get that last 5-10% out of your body or are the benefits right accross the board from those just starting to those at the top end of the sport.

Aaron,

This is kind of a loaded question, as there are a multitude of reasons to train with power.

Personally, I made my decision to buy one based upon the fact that one will always see the effort at which one is working. I liken it to lifting weights on the bike, in that you always know how hard you are pushing. I automatically have a goal for the workout based upon these numbers.

There has been a ton of work done to make sense of these numbers and how they work certain parts of a body's physiology.

If you are really interested, cruise the power forum here, check out the wattage group on Google (formerly Topica) and hit the following websites:

www.trainwithpower.net
cyclingpeakssoftware.compower411Open ↗

I personally think that the power profile is the cat's meow. I am able to do a few tests and find out where my limiters are, based upon my goal races.

One of the drawbacks of training with power is the pure amount of information that is out there. There are a lot of intelligent people that have done some amazing things thus far. Even though I have been training with power for about 4 years now, I find that I am still on the learning curve.

On the flipside to that drawback is that these intelligent people are constantly giving back to the power community. I am at a USA Cycling Power seminar this week with the Rock Stars of Power themselves: Dr. Andy Coggan and Hunter Allen. Fantastic amounts in information being exchanged at this one...

I am more than happy to continue this discussion, send screenshots, etc. PM me if you would like...

Jim

Thanks for that Jim, plenty of info to look at there. I must admit the drawback you mentioned would actually be a plus for me, as I work in IT one of the favourite aspects of my job includes a lot of performance analysis in a business environment, so doing the same for my training would be really interesting for me.

It was just a curious comment at first, but quickly looking at those sites you mentioned, I think I'll do a bit more homework on this when I get the time.

Thanks again ...... Aaron

Aaron H said:

Thanks for that Jim, plenty of info to look at there. I must admit the drawback you mentioned would actually be a plus for me, as I work in IT one of the favourite aspects of my job includes a lot of performance analysis in a business environment, so doing the same for my training would be really interesting for me.

It was just a curious comment at first, but quickly looking at those sites you mentioned, I think I'll do a bit more homework on this when I get the time.

Thanks again ...... Aaron

Aaron,

Looks like we are practically brothers...

I am in IT myself. I also like to "geek" out on stuff...

Training with power is fantastic for this. With WKO+, you can analyze your power files to the nth degree...

Several of the people that I work with, though, find this as a big drawback... Too much information...

Enjoy...

Jim

Aaron H said:

Hi guys, just wanted to ask how important all these power meters are, and at what stage you'd consider using one.

I've just come back to cycling after a long break (years) due to serious illness, but when I used to race my training used to be a healthy mix of weights, varied distances on the bike and going down to the truck park to chase a few trucks on the by-pass. I did use a heart monitor for a while but never really got much out of it, most of the time I just used to listen to my body and gauge what I should be doing training-wise from that.

Now I've come back everyone's going on about wattage etc, would this be something to consider when trying to get that last 5-10% out of your body or are the benefits right accross the board from those just starting to those at the top end of the sport.

If you want to improve at the fastest rate, then a power meter and coaching are the way to do that. The next fastest route will be a power meter and self-coaching. That is, unless you happen to going to do any of the same races as me, and then power meters and coaching are no good 😉 :eek:

ric