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Power Training Help

Old 09-24-08, 09:04 AM
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Power Training Help

While this isn't strictly racing, I want to improve my racing potential by improving my power and this is where most of you expert power guys seam to hang out. I have been trying to register with

https://www.cyclingforums.com/f88-power-training.html

but they won't accept my registration and I can't post? (If anyone can help me over there I'd appreciate it - same screen name).

Anyway, here is my old power curve from late May just before I broke my collarbone and was out for 8 weeks. (the 26 watt/kg 1 sec is wrong, bad data was corrected).




Now, here is my current power curve:




So, in summary (with two months off for injury in between):

______5/08____9/08
5s ___10.0____ 11.8
1 min _5.4 _____7.7
5 min _4.2_____ 4.4
FT ____________3.6

Is this improvement good, fair, bad? What kind of training should I focus on going into fall/winter? What can I do to improve my abysmal sprint power? Any other feedback/suggestions would be appreciated.

Last edited by ColorChange; 09-24-08 at 10:24 AM.
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Old 09-24-08, 09:32 AM
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It's really tough to "rate" the improvement with no context. If I look at my two peaks this season, I saw a 3.5% improvement from the 1st to the 2nd. If I looked at the improvement from the bottom of the first peak to the top of the 2nd, it's closer to 9%.

I don't think I'll expect to see that much improvement in the future, since I'm still adapting to "proper" training schedules (so I'm seeing bigger gains, for now).
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Old 09-24-08, 10:12 AM
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Your power gains for 1 min look to be pretty significant. I don't train with power, but from what WR has posted in the past, his FTP work raised his sprint power as well without training specifically for sprints. Perhaps a little bit of weight training in the off season will help you increase your sprint power?
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Old 09-24-08, 10:27 AM
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Yeah, I've found that just doing 1m intervals WRI™ style will work your sprint just fine. It seems that 4-6 weeks of 1m intervals once/week toward the top of a fitness peak will bump my 5s and 1m power number significantly.

It's tough for me to say how to train that zone since I think a lot of my ability there comes from my parents rather than my training.
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Old 09-24-08, 10:49 AM
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I need a powermeter... this is too cool.
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Old 09-24-08, 02:54 PM
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The answers to your question are extremely broad.

1. Good improvement? Any type of improvement is good and indicates you can expect to see continuing improvement with a solid training plan.

2. Training going into the winter: We hashed this out in another thread quite extensively, I thought. Winter time is the aerobic base training period. It's the period to build the foundation upon which your racing season is built on. However you intend to build your aerobic base (ride lots, SST, trainer intervals, whatever) this is the time to do it. If you have weight to lose that will improve your competitiveness without loss of power (in w/kg), this is also the time to do it. This is a delicate balance in weight/power as you may see a "raw number" decrease in power but an increase in w/kg. On the other hand, when I was at my lightest racing weight and really at peak, my w/kg were almost .3 w/kg less than they are now, but I'm actually 7 lbs heavier. I also fatigue less and my health remains a little more constant now. It has given me raw # top end speed which I hope to take advantage of in a more TT centric schedule next year.

3. Sprint: I'm least qualified to address this question. Mine ain't so hot either. The amount of improvement of 5 second power is a debatable topic depending on muscle fiber makeup.
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