Training With Power

No, I haven't changed the title of my blog. Although that would be a rather witty choice of words...

I finally joined the 21st century this week and got a power meter on my bike. The benefits of power-based training and analyzing the quantitative data a power meter provides for an otherwise subjective activity are well documented and practiced throughout the sport...so I'll just tell you how funky it is :)

I decided to go for a Powertap hub laced into a Shimano training rim. I figured this would be the better setup for me, having a couple bikes I train on so I can just swap rear wheels. And also because unless you're nationally carded an SRM will cost you 5 grand.

The system itself is very clean and simple to use, everything is measured internally from the hub so there are no speed/cadence sensors or wires cluttering my pretty bike. The computer head isn't too complicated but displays everything you need on the fly. I had trained with power through the winter on a Computrainer so I already had a general idea of what I was doing on the bike, but within the first 10 minutes on the road I was a convert and found a power meter to be one of the best investments I've made in the sport.

...I wouldn't recommend a power meter to anyone else though, so I can train better and beat you.

Here's my power data from my ride a few days ago. 20min warmup, 5x 2mins hard/2mins easy, then 10mins steady at ~275 watts.



Averaged 349-387W for each 2min interval, then 283W for the tempo (exactly 4 W/kg) which worked out to 38.8km/h. Then I posted a new sign sprint PB in my cooldown: 1288W, 63.3km/h. Fun stuff!

In other news, I've managed to find the motivation for another week of training and I'm headed to the Montreal Esprit triathlon this weekend (I'll be rocking the Powertap to get some race data). I've had my eye on this race for a couple years now, the course held ITU World Champs in 1999 and is known as an exceptionally well run event. Depending on how the race goes and how I feel it will likely be my last tri of the year, but if I feel up to it I might hop in my hometown race at Lakeside the following week.

After that it'll be a bit of relaxation before starting a run focused training block and hit a few 10k's through the fall. I know I'm in the best running form of my life, having PB'd the run at provincials (with a time that included transition) so I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do in a fresh 10k.