The Mighty Watt...!!! (if you don't like numbers, don't read on)

I would say that it is pretty well know that I have a number of what can only be described as 'geeky' or 'nerdy' inclinations. It is for this reason that I love the numbers that my power meter spews at me during and after every ride.

Power, or more specifically the mighty "Watt", has become the focus of my training rides (I still enjoy the scenery and the taste of blood at the back of my throat, don't worry). Watts are the energy required to a move a mass a certain distance in a known time period i.e. me and my bike travelling along or up a road. The number that pops up on my bike computer essentially represents the force and speed at which I am pedalling the pedals on my bike.

Knowing this number, in real time and post-ride, removes most of the guesswork that goes into training and racing. Power meters allow you to test yourself regularly and establish a baseline from which to to focus your training and riding. As you will, hopefully, see below power meters can also provide highly accurate details about how your fitness is changing throughout the season.

See here for a better (and more complete) explanation of why you need a power meter...

But in order to save you from a long and boring post about 'critical power curves', 'functional threshold power', "circumferential velocity" I have tried to set out below my first three (and a bit) months of training this year in graphical format (click on them to make them bigger).

There are obviously a lot of (exciting) numbers behind these graphs, some of which I don't fully understand myself, so I will only briefly try to explain them. I have tried to keep it simple, probably at the expense of accuracy... However, if the graphs/charts are still incomprehensible, the rule of 'line going up = good' and 'line going down = bad' generally holds true. Thankfully the lines generally seem to be going up.... must be doing something right!

Summary in numbers...

Firstly, a brief summary in numbers.

It seems that I have been out for 53 rides totalling 90hrs, covering a distance of 1,990km and gaining 20,000m in elevation. Apparently I was only actually moving for for 77.5hrs of that; so question what I did for the other 12.5hrs?! Clearly my snooze on the beach on Lantau was longer than I thought! An average speed of 25km/h is relatively respectable given the hilly nature of Hong Kong and normalised power (essentially a fancy weighted average) of 199W isn't bad too. All of this was done at an average of 72% 'intensity'...

There appears to have been a large amount of soft pedalling though - almost 38hrs of it spent at 'Active Recovery' levels of intensity or 45% of the time! I guess the frequent descents in Hong Kong have contributed to that. The number I care about most is the time spent at 'Threshold' (that is in the range around the highest average power or speed that I could maintain for one hour) - 11.5hrs or 14% is pretty good but with room to improve over the next few months.

Time and Distance

Still keeping it pretty simple, the above graph doesn't really require too much explanation. You  can see that the majority of my rides have been around an hour in length - pretty much the time it takes to cycle up Mt Butler and the Peak or to do a good turbo session. Vicky and my ten day holiday sticks out too (more on that later). Hopefully these numbers will steadily increase over the next few months.

Power and Speed Trends

The above graph shows the average power and speed of all my individual rides. The larger points representing the 'best 25'. The graph doesn't take into account the length of the ride so the best 25 results for each are likely to represent the shorter, more intense rides with the lower values being the longer endurance rides. Two lines on an upward trend is progress.... in terms of power it represents an improvement from an average of 153W on 1 January to 197W on 11 April - a 29% improvement.

Critical Power Trend

We're moving into more geeky territory here. The above represents the best average power over a 60mins period during each ride, with the larger points representing the best 10. Again, the upward trend shows an improvement (165W to 207W, in fact - a 25% improvement) with the majority of the 'best' rides being the more recent.

Critical Power Curve

I promised it wouldn't get too nerdy and that I wouldn't be talking about 'critical power curves', sorry, this one is important...

The above graph essentially shows the maximum power output I have managed for a given interval of time over the course of 2013. The dashed red line is what I should theoretically be able to maintain for each period based on these results. Why's this helpful and why should I care? Well it helps me to establish just how hard I can pedal for a given period of time. For example, if I wanted to cycle at 333W for 20mins I would know I would have to cycle harder than I have so far this year. Conversely, 240W should be easy to maintain for 20mins (in fact, the curve tells me I have already held 240W for 52 mins this year).

From these you can establish 'zones' (e.g. 'active recovery', 'endurance', 'threshold') - the coloured shading above - and measure your effort over the course of a climb or ride to avoid exhausting yourself and blowing up.

[Note the sharp drop off in power at around 14-16 min - the climbs in Hong Kong take about this time - I basically just run out of road...]

Performace Management Chart

The last one, phew!

In essence the above graph shows my 'fitness' (and predicted fitness) up until 6 July and the start of the Tour de Force. Without too much detail (which I couldn't explain anyway), the green line represents my fitness levels (technically my, 'chronic training load'), the blue line my fatigue levels (or 'accute training load') and the black line represents that nebulous concept, 'form'.

A green line going upwards is a good sign of improving fitness, and we can see that it has been creeping up over the past 3 months. Long may that continue! Periods of intensive training obviously help push up the green line, but will cause a sharp increase in fatigue/blue line and have a negative impact on form/black line. As the Tour de Force approaches it will be important to ensure that I taper my training effectively to reduce the level of fatigue and increase my form, without losing too much of my fitness.

One interesting thing about the graph is the impact a 10 day holiday had on all three of the lines. Clearly a nice rest meant that I was less fatigued and as a result my form went up, but no activity at all meant that I lost almost 4 weeks of fitness - it will take a little while to get back into shape....


There are more, many more, graphs and figures to share but I will spare you for now. In summary though, the training is going well and I am enjoying monitoring it and planning sessions with the help of the power meter -  a geek at heart.

Hopefully a more light hearted blog next time....