New to training with power something’s to keep in mind.

cgres123

A lot of new folks are starting to say I want to train with power. I have seen comments on the Dashboard as well as in the forums. EN three year plans here are to one complete your first year and race with what you got. That may be a road bike or some have Tri bars mounted on a road bike and you are training with heart rate. You can do a very nice job with those gadgets.

 

Year two, as you move along and have PR’d every race and continue to see your growth and development the higher end toys come into play. Tri bikes, wheels and power taps.

 

Tri bikes are king in this sport as you may have spent a season racing with a road bike and perhaps clipped on tri bars to get that aero dynamic effect. Besides you do a few races and it is easy to see the kool kids with all the toys and you want to play that game too. 

 

Wheels nowadays are an eye catcher too better cuts, lighter and the 404s to 808s with a discs it just gets crazy expensive. They all have their place in your racing as it is all about grams and even special expensive tires.

 

The post is about the Mack Daddy of the game however Power!

 

As you can browse the forums there is some awesome advice about how to get started with power via Coach R or EBay or hit up John Withrow. If he is not the EN buyer for bikes and power he should be as he knows lots on the subject.

My point is so now you have power and there are books, podcasts and a team of coaches that will get you up to speed real quick.

The little yellow computer (LYC) thingy or whatever version you will be looking at that displays your numbers. There a few things to keep in mind on the display. Watts can be displayed as real time or average watts. Set your display to watts as you want to see in real time your effort level. Speed can also be displayed as real time or an average, keep you setting to real time too. The reason is because at about 30 MPH on a nice hill you can stop pedaling and enjoy the ride.

There are numerous other settings that can be displayed too and I suggest cadence is the one you should be concerned about.

For whatever MS or Race you are training for at the time keep your cadence up to 85 – 95. Even If you have to drop a gear to keep up your cadence/watts ratio do so.

 

In my N1 that watts / cadence ratio is the most important thing to keep in consideration for after the bike comes the run.

 

And your thoughts are?

dkennedy

Great advice David! I have only been training with power for the past year and a half. Besides all of the other stuff you can spend money on in this sport, the power meter I feel is the most important piece of equipment to own. Especially if you plan on racing for years. I still haven't bought an expensive Tri bike and will be competing in my second IM this summer. I wouldn't trade my Power Tap for a new bike!! When I do my bike wko's, I only view the data of "time" and "watts" in real time. Speed and cadence can be viewed later when you are reviewing your wko data. I only change up my display if I need to focus on cadence based upon the scheduled wko.
Trust me, you will learn to love and hate your Power Meter, because it doesn't lie!!

Enjoy!!

Carolyn Yeo

Thank you. I have not given any thought to cadence. I will see if there is a setting to display this on Garmin from power meter. Very new!!!! is 85-95 easy(fast) medium or hard(grinding)?

Brenda Ross

I ride between 80-85. Always have and always will.

cgres123

@ Carolyn

is 85-95 easy(fast) medium or hard(grinding)?

, I find that is all about the type muscle fibers you have the most of. For example some are very comfortable was a cadence of 95 and can hang there all day, others struggle to maintain 85. Some folks have a bunch of fast twitch muscle fibers while others have slow twitch muscle fibers. Since the goal is between 85 - 95 and this is the OS, it is a good time to convert some your muscle fibers to be able to allow you to keep your cadence at 85 -95.

Having said that, nothing is easy and medium should be the goal with grinding as something you want to avoid which will just tear up your legs.

Jess Withrow

I think I've been conditioned to try to keep my cadence at 88+. Why? Because a previous coach made me REPEAT my FTP test when my average cadence for the first test fell below 88rpms.

The upside to maintaining a higher cadence, however, is less wear and tear on your knees.

There's a good article on Beginner Triathlete that elaborates on David's point that higher cadence can set you up for a stronger run: http://tinyurl.com/azoyr

Great info to reinforce, David!

Brenda Ross

I know that this has been the norm, but if you follow Miranda Cs rise to fame, you will hear that she used to ride in the 70s and I think we can all agree that she had no problem ripping off an amazing marathon. I am told that I should be riding 165mm cranks and not 172.5 which I am sure would bring my cadence up. My run does not seem to be affected by riding at 80-85, but I have never done an IM. I do find that once I get outside my cadence seems to go upward toward 90, so I never worry about it on the trainer. I do however never allow my cadence to drop below 80.

cgres123

B, My last IM coach P evaluated my bike ride. I was AVG 82. He said it would be to my benefit to improve my cadence for the sake of a better bike translating to the run. I have learned , in working with my cadence, it takes a lot of time to develop the muscle fibers to handle a higher cadence. In working to that end , that has helped me be a better runner.
You operate in the lower cadence your mashing yourself / the gears to SOME extent. You work with him ask him. As I put it out there written above keep your eye on your watts and cadence forget speed, HR and TSS.