| Power Cycling Training is probably the best way to | | | | Training beats any other method of training into the |
| train. | | | | ground! |
| Woah! Quite a claim! | | | | Now lets get a little more technical, don't worry! No |
| Here I will discuss why Power Cycling Training is the | | | | need to hire Steven Hawking to help you understand |
| best way to train, and how to train correctly using a | | | | the next part! |
| power meter. | | | | If you have just bought a power meter and are |
| So what is all this hype about power meters, and | | | | wanting to start Power Cycling Training, you need to |
| power training? Why not use a heart rate monitor, or | | | | measure something called your "Functional Threshold |
| go off perceived exertion? | | | | Power" (also known as FTP). Now don't let that |
| A lot of different factors affect your heart rate while | | | | phrase scare you! It is simply the power you are |
| training: Hydration, Nutrition, Wind, Road Surface, | | | | capable of producing for one hour. |
| Gradient, Tread Pattern, Tyre Pressure, Illness, Cardiac | | | | By periodically measuring your functional threshold |
| Drift and Near Death experiences. This makes it | | | | power, you can see yourself progress, which gives a |
| extremely difficult to keep a steady effort, whether for | | | | great boost in motivation. (You will also have a bit of |
| training purposes, or if you are Time Trialling. | | | | an advantage over your competitors who don't do |
| The same thing applies for perceived exertion, if you | | | | Power Cycling Training!). |
| are coming down with an illness, you are in a bad | | | | So how do you find this "magic number"? |
| mood, or you just won the lottery, will all affect how | | | | Ideally you would want to do this on a turbo trainer, |
| you feel whilst training. | | | | however if you don't have one, or just can't stand |
| Power Cycling Training removes those other factors. | | | | indoor training, there is no reason you couldn't do |
| A great example of why a Power Cycling Training is | | | | Power Cycling Training on the road, just find a route |
| so great is when you come to a hill, and want to | | | | where you wont be interrupted often, the countryside |
| maintain a steady effort. | | | | is perfect. |
| If you could be bothered, you could stop, measure the | | | | Get warmed up with 15-20 minutes of easy cycling, |
| gradient of the hill, your average speed, and then use a | | | | then cycle as hard as you can for 1 hour. Make sure |
| formula to calculate the speed you should go up the hill | | | | to pace yourself correctly, so that you don't run out of |
| to keep your effort constant. Obviously this is very | | | | energy, and at the end, your average power output is |
| impractical! | | | | your FTP! |
| With a power meter, you would simply look at how | | | | This will then allow you to pace yourself correctly |
| much power you are outputting, for the sake of this | | | | during time trials and road races, and you can see |
| article, lets say 170W. As you start climbing, simply | | | | yourself progress! This is why Power Cycling Training |
| adjust your gearing and cadence so that you are still | | | | is so great! |
| outputting 170W. Simple! That is why Power Cycling | | | | |