Originally Posted by
hack
So...ordered a Quarq. Price was right and if it fails due to weather I get to try out the highly touted customer service of SRAM/QUARQ. I reckon I get to do some winter reading and make the most of the data collection. I haven't read yet, but is it safe to assume the initial steps for training with a power meter would be do a series of power tests (5s, 1m, 5m, 20m) to establish some kind of baseline?
Give yourself a couple of weeks to just ride/train/race however you normally do so, and start analyzing that data. This will allow you to become familiar with the tools (e.g. GC, WKO, whatever) as well as to start to get an idea of how your perceived efforts and pacing actually related to the data. Unless you're used to doing 20+ minute TTs, properly pacing a longer critical power test (and coming away with an accurate result) can have a bit of a learning curve.