JG - Some races in pictures. A quick look at the Critical Power chart in the (free) Golden Cheetah software can give an indication of how hard a race/ride has been. The black line represents the power distribution of the ride in question. When the line goes above coloured zones its a good sign previous limits have been exceeded by a decent margin. However, this does not tell the full story. Sometime the black line is *under* all previous PBs, yet the ride can be the hardest youve ever done. For example, whilst your one off 2 min power might be 400 watts, in the race you may have hit 380 watts, again, and again, and again. To see this accumulated fatigue you have to dig a little deeper. This is where energy expenditure and various stress metrics can also come into play. The examples provided here are from the ACT TT and RR Champs, (1st and 2nd place for me). A raft of PBs for the TT and a massive peak in the RR which was expressed almost exactly in the middle of the race. The final run to the finish line was decidedly average in power output. Factors such as race tactics, terrain, weather and fatigue can all have an effect on how such things pan out. Whilst many may have the notion that the race is ended with a huge sprint sometimes a huge sprint in the middle shakes things up and tilts the racing to a different kind of finish. Analysis such as this is only possible with a power meter, and from such analysis training can then be tailored accordingly. If there are problems - find them and fix them. Strengths - how can they be maintained or improved? This is a continual process. Train. Race. Analyse. Repeat. On to the next race.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 06:34:10 +0000
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