Well, in my workouts, I've gradually seen myself starting to get a little faster. Given that I've got some racing I want to do this year, I wanted to get a baseline of where my wattage output was going to need to be. Given my current wattage output, the fast way to get faster is going to be to get lighter.
The measurement to look for is watts/kg of body weight. Many top coaches have said that in order for a cyclist to win the Tour de France the magic number is 7. Seven watts/kg. While out looking for some more information on this, I came across a great article on it by Druber at True Sport.
Here's a link to the article Druber put up - it's got a great chart that gives some general information on what it takes. http://www.truesport.com/Bike/2007/articles/druber/druber15.html The chart shows that to be competitive at the Cat 5 level I need to be looking at generating 2.81 watts/kg
So where am I currently at? A measely 2.3 (upper end of "untrained") - but that's also for a one-hour effort, not a 20 minute one. I'm thinking that tomorrow, instead of doing my planned interval session, I'm going to do a nice little warm-up for 15-20 minutes, then do a flat-out 20 minute test to see where I'm at. This should fit in well, as today was a recovery ride. (I just rode for 1 hour with my HR around the 145 mark. I did let it climb a bit at the end.)
I also found a pdf book along with some computrainer files that I'm going to download. They're about $21.50 USD. Hopefully this will help in better developing my work-out program.
Diet is still my major issue. I seem to do well all week, but on weekends, specifically on Sundays, I do not do as well. I have managed to keep my 2 pounds/week pace going, but know it should be more like 3 or 4 and eventually this "easy" weight is going to be gone.
I'm writing purely for my own entertainment. Mostly about bikes, but occassionally anything else that's currently on my mind or in my life. "Our bodies are our gardens - our wills are our gardeners." William Shakespeare
About Me
- Rob
- I'm just a guy trying to recapture the athlete I use to be. Right now that means getting this @%#$*& weight off of me.
3 comments:
Rob, Druber knows his stuff when it comes to power. He's a perenial breakaway threat and one of the best time trialists in the midwest. He's podiumed at the US Masters TT a number of times. His average output at the 10k Indoor TT last Sunday was 398 watts (that was 64 watts more than me).
Yes, I'm very much aware of his accomplishments. I also like readying his stuff.
You managed a 334 for 10K, eh? That's impressive. I managed 231 for 20 minutes (almost 12km.) What course do you guys use for the 10km TT? Is it a custom built flat one?
They do four total Indoor TT's and alternate flat, 10k then the CompuTrainer TT course which is a rolling 10k. So if a rider were to do all four they would do two flat events and two rolling events. Your best flat course time is combined with your best rolling course time to get a combined, two event total time and that is how they determine final standings and ABR TT series points.
I don't know why Druber doesn't take bike weight into consideration when he calculates W/kg because you have to consider net weight of rider AND equipment to get an accurate power to weight ratio. I'd have a pretty good ratio if I could deduct the weight of my bike. Right now I'm at about 3.7 W/kg, 4 w/kg if I could do it without a bike ;). I too need to get my weight down for the race season but my body seems to always return to 175-180 and I can never keep it in the mid 160's.
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