Pages

Monday, August 21, 2006

Revising the Power Numbers

The discrepancy between my estimated FTP during my test last Wednesday and the normalized power from my 40K triathon bike leg had me thinking that perhaps my estimated FTP is too low. My thinking is that doing a trainer test makes it difficult to get motivated, and may skew the actual effort put out during the time trial.

On the other hand, a race gets you VERY motivated, and the adrenaline rush may allow a higher output at a lower perceived effort. I've decided, based on my race data, to reset my power training levels based on a FTP of 275 instead of 250, for the following reasons:

  1. lack of motivation for the trainer test
  2. low perceived effort and measured HR for the 40K tri leg versus a high power output
  3. inexperience and willingness to "experiment" to find the proper level

My new power training levels are as follows:

Active recovery:less than 153 watts
Endurance:154-208 watts
Tempo:209-249 watts
Threshold:250-291 watts
Aerobic Power:292-332 watts
Anaerobic capacity:more than 332 watts

No comments:

Post a Comment