Hi guys,
I bought myself a SRM power meter and was wondering if someone could give me some advice. Is there some sort of formula to work out how hard you should be riding of your functional threshold power for any given distance.
For instance, in case I havnt explained that right, if my FTP was 300, and I was riding a half ironman distance race, would I ride at 75% or 50%, like wise if I was doing a olympic distance should I be at 95%???
Thats the first question, and the second one relates to hills, is the aim of the power meter to use exactly the same amount of watts at all times regardless of the terrain or should I say ok, on the flats I need to producing 200 watts and then when i encounter a hill should i aim to produce 300 watts...
I am sure these are fairly straight forward questions but would love some feedback as at the moment, i sort of go out, and arbitarily set myself targets of 18o on the flats 250 on the hills etc...
Would be better if there was some science behind this very scientific product!!
Cheers
Tim
Sheila (kona_expat) would be a good one to answer this, or check over on the [URL=http://www.cruciblefitness.com/forum/default.asp]Crucible Fitness forum[/URL] -- I don't know how many power users we have on Trifuel, but I don't see it too often. Hopefully someday I'll be one, but not yet :)
First, buy the book Training and Racing with a Power Meter by Hunter Allen and Andy Coggan.
First, you establish your FTP using one of the test protocols or else you analyze a bunch of your power files. Next, you begin to structure your training around that FTP and also to raise it.
The book I mentioned is still primarily for cyclists, but the principles are similar for triathletes. There are starting to be more coaches who incorporate power into their training protocols, but one of the first is Rich Strauss, and I'd recommend you head to [url]http://endurancenation.us[/url] and register for the forum where you'll find all sorts of info.
You might also want to purchase a training plan based on power. If nothing else, it will "teach" you how to make effective use of the wonderful tool you've bought.
Thanks for info, much appreciated, am on amazon buying the book as we speak!! Even with my basic knowledge the power meter has improved my riding... no more pedaling like mad at the bottom of a hill only to flag at the top.... makes such a difference doing it properly!!