Getting Started with Power-Based Training
Training with power allows you to track your fitness changes, identify weaknesses, and use quantifiable data to determine if your training is effective. This can all allow you to be more precise and efficient with your training, helping you make the most of your time spent training.
For these reasons, training with a power meter or a smart trainer is a great way to get faster–but only if you use it right. Simply adding a power meter to your bike and looking at pretty graphs and charts will give you little benefit. By pairing a power meter with structured training and some high-level analysis, you can get a lot out of your investment without spending tons of time analyzing data. The following steps will get you started with making the most of your power meter.
Find or Create a Training Plan or Hire a Coach
There is little benefit to having a power meter if you do not plan to follow a structured training plan. Power data really shines and allows you to track progress when you consistently do interval workouts focused on targeting specific zones. If you don’t have a good understanding of power zones and how to design a training plan, it is best to find a power-based training plan, hire a coach, or start reading.
If you prefer to just ride as you feel, you can still use a power meter to track your Training Stress Score and get estimates around fitness and freshness, but you can track that without spending hundreds of dollars on a power meter. You can use heart rate or even just ratings of perceived exertion.
Calibrate Your Power Meter
Before every ride–or as prescribed by your power meter instructions–you will need to calibrate your power meter for the most accurate power numbers. Different power meters have different calibration methods and options, so look at your instructions. This also applies to smart trainers and stationary bikes.
Complete a Power Test
The very first thing you need to do with your power meter is to complete a power test to determine your Functional Threshold Power (FTP). FTP estimates the highest average power you can sustain for one hour, measured in watts. FTP is also used to establish training zones that will guide your training. Without an accurate estimate of your FTP, you will not have data to indicate what training zone you are in, and as a result, your power data will be of little value.
Three common methods to determine your FTP are described below.
20-Minute Test: One 20-minute effort performed at the max power you can sustain over 20 minutes. FTP is 95% of your average power for the interval.
8-Minute Test: Two 8-minute efforts with complete recovery in between—performed at the max power you can sustain over 8 minutes. FTP is 90% of your average power for both intervals.
Ramp Test: After a 5-minute warmup, you ramp up your effort slightly higher each minute until you cannot maintain target power any longer. 75% of the best one-minute power you achieve during the test is used as your FTP.
These are all ways of estimating FTP, so they will all have a margin of error. Just try to be consistent with your method of testing. Read more about the benefits of the different tests and more detailed instructions here.
Ride!
Finally! Now get out there and do your workouts! If you ride multiple bikes, but only have a power meter on one, use your bike with the power meter to do your interval workouts. Power data from these rides will be more useful than power data from endurance or recovery rides.
Review Key Data and Make Adjustments to Your Training
These are very high-level areas to get you started with reviewing your power data. There is certainly more that you can dig into, this is simply a place to start.
Data to review for a single workout
How did you feel?
Did you complete your intervals at the prescribed power levels? Were you in the prescribed power zones for each of your intervals?
How did this workout compare to similar workouts you have done in the past?
Did you complete the goal of the workout?
If not, why not? Was the workout too difficult? Were there too many intervals? Was the intensity too high? Were you tired, hungry, or lacking motivation?
Data to review for one week
Did you complete all of your workouts as prescribed? If not, why not?
How do you feel?
Data to review over time
Is your balance between your chronic training load and your acute training load appropriate for where you currently are in your training plan?
Depending on your answers to these questions, you may need to adjust your training. This ability to use data to make training adjustments is where power data can be really useful. If you aren’t sure what to adjust, consider consulting with a coach. Many coaches will offer a consulting session if you are not ready for the one-on-one commitment.
Be Aware of Extra Metrics and Data Overload
Companies such as Garmin and Whoop are giving more and more data for you to look at as part of your training. For example, days of recovery time after a workout, VO2 Max, daily stress and strain, and more. Keep in mind that this data is extrapolated from basic data such as heart rate and power using a variety of algorithms. While heart rate and power are important and reliable data sources, they are most reliable when they are directly calculating your heart rate and power from a workout or race. When you start using them to calculate metrics like recovery, daily strain, sleep, VO2 max, and more, their accuracy is dependent on the algorithms behind them, and humans are not always accurately depicted in an algorithm. This data can be interesting, but it is not absolute.
Re-Test
Depending on your training schedule, you will want to complete power tests on a regular basis to track your progress. Different software programs can also give you estimates of changes in your FTP. The reliability and accuracy of these estimates will depend on what kind of workouts you are doing and which platform you are using.
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Featured Image Photo by Coen van de Broek