"I have always trained with power; it’s just that I never had a power meter.” This was a comment I made today at my coaching seminar and it got a few laughs. Today I still do not have a power meter. Are you reading SRM folks? Training by using power on the bike seems to be the latest thing to do. It is becoming so popular that some athletes now are demanding it from their coaches. Some will not even sign up with us because we would not give them power numbers to train by as we give them heart rate zones.
Power meters are a tool that tells you the amount of force you are applying to the pedals. For triathlons you want to have a steady power output spread fairly evenly over the distance. If you ride an out and back course you can ride a tail wind and go 30 MPH one way and 13 MPH the other way but your power output can still be steady over the distance. Only a power meter would tell you this. In training you can use a power meter to track your progress per given heart rate. So if you start out your training season producing 180 Watts of power at an aerobic heart rate. The main goal in the off season would be to be able to produce more Watts at the same aerobic heart rate.
The mistake that I hope many people do not make would be to force a certain power output as the main goal during a workout session without attention to the other performance measurements. This is particularly true during base work. It is better to follow a certain hear rate zone and see what power output that delivers. During the run this would be the equivalent to your pace per mile per a given heart rate. Only during strength and speed sessions would you want to force a particular power output just like your would attempt a certain pace per mile during a track session.
The coaching seminar has been a good experience so far. The coach in charge of the seminar has made an attempt to encourage dialog between all coaches. It has been kind of fun. I think I have been perhaps a bit more vocal than most. But I was reassured that is was ok.
Thursday morning I did not feel that great. It seems that the lack of sleep and having sick kids in the house finally caught up to me. As soon as I got to Chicago I started to drown whatever I have with fluids, Vitamin C and more Echinacea. It is working as Friday I awoke and I felt much better. I never had a one day cold before. I did sleep for 11 hours so I am sure that helped. Today we actually ran a bit during a demonstration of drills and after the seminar I rode the stationary bike for an hour and lifted weights. Hey that is three things in one day. I’ll try to bring you another seminar story next time.