Ladies power results...
Hello ladies,
Im a new poster to this forum! Never even noticed there was a women's training spot...great discovery!!!
Anyway, I have a random question for women that train with power. I got my first PT and did my first test with it tonight. Now, all year long I see all these guys post these watt avgs in the mid/upper 200s, some 300s, so I wasnt sure what to expect...but was not expecting as low of a number as I got. So my question is, where are you ladies at? Whats the norm for normal people?? 
Thanks!!
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Welcome to the Women's area. I'm more of a lurker in here.
hmm... I never knew about the watts per kg thing... just did the math.
last year I finished up with 188, I think. I'm 5'4 and was prolly around 133 at the time of my last test. (3.11watts/kg)
I'm way out of shape/heavy for my frame now (sadly, even though my race was in Sept) and my first FTP test put me at 166. Still 5'4 but I think I was about 140 on test day. Which puts me at 2.61 watts/kg. I'm hoping to break 200 and drop to 130 during OS. Now I have a new number to chase... try to get close to 3.5 (I love a challenge).
Oh, and my flat HIM time last year was around 2:50 and I had trouble hitting the power I was supposed to ride at for that race (I was too low even though I was pushing it on a flat but windy course)... and my IMWI ride, including bathroom breaks and a special needs stop was 7 hours even. I was exactly where I wanted to be as far as power zones per the protocol.
Not sure if this will help or not, but I've kept info for all of my tests in a spreadsheet. The yellow highlighted lines are my first test for each season. For reference, I did Kansas 70.3 (fairly hilly) this year with a 2:40 bike split. At Racine (very flat) in 2009, my bike was 2:32.
I started racing at the end of 2005 with my mountain bike. That fall I purchased a tri bike, but most of my workouts were spin classes. The summer of 2007 is when I started structured training with HR, and moved away from doing so many spin classes. I purchased my PowerTap right around Thanksgiving 2007, and have LOVED trainign with power ever since. I had debated between spending the money on race wheels or a PT, and was told I'd get more speed from the PT then the wheels. So glad I made the right choice!
Hey Laydeez!
You'll learn very quickly that your numbers are your numbers and it's not useful, at all, to compare yours to other people. Nearly everyone I ride with locally as powermeter so over the years I've developed a pretty good 6th sense for estimating someone's FTP based on their weight, how they ride relative to me, etc. But it's much more difficult for chicks because, frankly, there are fewer of you cycling with power and the noise by the boyz is comparatively much louder.
As a result, numbers like 225w, 250w, 275w, 300w, 315w at body weights from 135lb to 235lb all mean something to me because that's the range of guys I ride with. I don't have that same sense with women because I only ride with of couple of them.
In fact, I'd say that the this space right here, the Women's Forum, probably has the highest concentration of power training women in the triathlon internet space. I think this is a great opportunity to gather some numbers and develop your own perspective on what those numbers mean, relative to each other.
Jen
My current watts/kg 3.63. My goal is 3.8 watts/kg, and to not add any kg to my watts. I've done a lot of hard riding this year, so I'm entering the OS in good cycling shape. Running, not so much
Plus, try to remember that FTP and w/kg is just a number. I like to think of it like weight, it's a good number to know and it does have its uses, but it doesn't really tell the whole story. And, being at 3.5 w/kg isn't going to mean squat if you booger the bike
you know, with that whole "run" thing after!