FEBRUARY 2008
TRAINING AND TESTING WITH POWER
Below I will begin to describe the use of fitness testing and training with power meters. this is not intended to be the final word in the subject, entire books have ben written only skimming the surface of this interesting area of training. This is merely my view following several years training and working with power meters and testing athletes using blood lactate. Training with power and fitness testing go hand in hand. This articles merely skims the surface of the subjects.
I believe the most useful test of a cyclists fitness is a blood lactate (LA) test. I have used the same test for the past 3 years since meeting Michele Ferarri and using stepp test to determine training intensities.
THE TEST
This is a sub maximal field test where the subject is required to ride up a climb between 1200 - 1600m in length with and elevation of around 80-140m. Ideally using a power meter, though heart rate can be used. After a good warm up of at least 30-40 minutes of easy riding the subject ascends the climb at pre determined low effort. At the top of the climb final hear rate, time, cadence and average wattage (or HR) and blood lactate are recorded. The subject then repeats this process at increasing intensities while a bank of data is gathered and the subject will cease the efforts when lactate threshold is exceeded. usually around an LA of around 4mm/l.
THRESHOLD
A graph showing the onset of lactate and the HR response to the increasing effort. From this we can determine accurately the subjects threshold with no “guess work”. Lactate threshold is the literally the threshold where the body cannot tolerate or porcess lactate acid. Exceeding lactate threshold will result in buring muscles and after a few seconds/minutes, plummeting work rate.
WATTS PER KG
When threshold is determined a figure of watts/kg can be given. By dividing the subjects power at threshold by their body weight in kg, one can calculate w/kg. Generally, he higher the number the stronger the cyclist. There is always a trade off of weight to power after a point. An athlete with excess weight can increase power whilst losing weight, however an elite athlete at peak fitness can loose power as weight falls. w/kg is used to determine when this trade off becomes negative.
EFFICIENCY
This is where blood lactate testing becomes more valuable than other forms of measuring and determining threshold. Effort can be monitored at low and medium intensities by the gathering of lactate data, and the efficiency of a rider becomes obvious. For example, 2 cyclists with the exact same weight, equipment, diet and lactate threshold may not be equally matched in a race! Assuming they both have an LA threshold of 350 watts, though at 250 watts one rider produces 1.8mm/l of lactate and the 2nd athlete produces 2.6mm/l. Over a race the first athlete will burn less glycogen (carbohydretae) and more fat, whilst the second would eat into greater glycogen store literally meaning he would have less in the tank in the final stages of the event.
THE OUTCOME
This test can highlight an athletes weakness enabling them to plan appropriate training to reach their potential. The two theoretical athletes above would appear identical in conventional testing methods, though in reality they would require very different training programmes.
VAM
The next benefit of the test is VAM, or the subjects rate of ascent. This number is recorded in meters per hour m/h. A rider can improves in several ways.
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1.Increase power.
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2.Decrease mass.
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3.Three increase power and reduce mass.
Most cyclists will find it much easier shed a pound or two then to increase power, though through efficient training both are realistic and the benefit is exponential. There is also a trade off between power and weight, often a rider may become obsessed with weight loss
TRAINING EFFICIENCY
Training with correct effort means and increase in efficiency of workload i.e many cyclist ride junk miles where there body isn’t really adapting to anything. this is fine for a social gathering but in terms of improvement, a waste of time. The latest research has shown that endurance can be built more effectively when athletes train just below threshold with appropriate recovery. Therefore the cyclist can spend less time training, more time recovering (where the body gets stronger), and end up stronger and more efficient.
OVER TRAINING AND ILLNESS EARLY WARNING SYSTEM
Over training is ocmmon in motivated athletes with the desire to improve. When using a power meter with training zones or levels, heart rate can be used as a cross reference. If a cyclist rode a given climb in training at 300 watts in a HR range of 150-155bpm, then one day the HR was 10 beats higher, this would be an early indicator of illness onset over training. Similarly if the rider was beforming ‘top end’ work and the HR was not elevating at it’s normal rate, this could be an indicator of fatigue. Either way the athlete would then now to back off, or rest completely before the onset of chronic fatigue or illness. It is preferable to miss one or two days early on than to train through and miss two or three weeks.
EVERY DAY MEANING
Critics may ask “Data and figures are all well and good in theory but are they any good in reality?” Power meters are becoming increasingly popular among cyclists and, unless they are used meaningfully, are just the latest gimmick. Used correctly they will prove invaluable.
Later articles will follow with uses of training with power.
Ashley Brown - February 2008
