Power training and discussion Archives - Page 7 of 7

Beginner’s Guide to Training With Power (part 1)
Beginner’s Guide to Training With Power (part 1)

Coaching discussion, Power training and discussion, Training discussion

Beginner’s Guide to Training With Power (part 1)

Training with power is consistently hailed as the next step for any cyclist who is looking to improve their fitness. While that's true, most cyclists who are in the market for a power meter are hesitant to purchase one. The biggest reason I've run into is hesitation on how to actually utilize such an instrument.

But why?

A power meter is wonderful and spits out bucket loads of data, but the one thing that it won't do is make you faster. It will, with some practice and some simple analysis allow you to train to become faster. In this series of articles, we'll look at a few of the basics that beginning power meter users need in order to train smarter.

Click through for some definitions you'll need to know when you start training with power:

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Tags: Coaching, power, training|

Garmin Vector: 2013???

Garmin Vaporware finally condensing?

From Garmin's German website, it appears like the Vector pedal based power meter, which had been grossly delayed several times, may finally see the light of day. While the price has yet to be released, it will likely stay at the $1500 mark as had been reported earlier.

The biggest problem with the Vector is that it has been delayed on numerous occasions. Looking at the screen grab from the German version of Garmin's website, you'll see in bright red print, January 2013.

This is probably good news for those who are still interested, but I can't help thinking the release of the new Red Quarq (and subsequent dropping of the Cinqo Saturn prices) along with the lighter, smaller Powertap G3 have severely cut into the market for the Vector. On top of those releases, the Polar Power Pedals and Power2Max crank based units are starting to become more widely available, further shrinking Garmin's market share before they even have a product on the shelves.

Honestly, if you're in the market for a power meter, don't waste your time on the Vector. It's already been delayed several times for what has been described as “significant problems.” First adopters will have to deal with those bugs and issues, and the last thing anyone wants is a buggy power meter.

Get yourself a Quarq, SRM or Powertap and enjoy it. You'll be glad you did.

Tags: components, news, power|

Coaching: Sweet Spot Training
Coaching: Sweet Spot Training

Coaching discussion, Power training and discussion, Training discussion

Coaching: Sweet Spot Training

Since most of us are in the build phases of our training plans, anticipating early season racing and getting psyched up for our early season goals, you may be wanting to boost your fitness a little more. If you're finding that you're just a little behind the curve, it may be time to consider adding a little “Sweet Spot Training (SST)” in your routine to prod your body up to the next level. But what is SST? How do you do it? How much is too much? How does it actually make you stronger and faster? I'll explain what it is and how you do it after the jump.

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Tags: Coaching, physiology, Recovery, training|

Climbing: Revisiting Position and Physiology

[dc]S[/dc]ince I posted about various climbing positions a couple of weeks ago, there has been some interesting questions and some interesting discussion on the idea of changing your climbing position.

Specifically, some questions were posed as to why we slide backwards on the saddle. Or why do we switch positions (or should we switch positions) regularly on a climb?

Well, let's get a little deeper into that, shall we?

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Tags: climbing, Coaching, physiology|

Analyzing Your Ride: Cycling Websites and Software

To some of us, one of the biggest pleasures, next to the ride itself, is quantifying the vast amount of data available to us about our performance. The prevalence of GPS based and downloadable cycling computers, combined with various websites and programs have made it possible to catalog, view and analyze mountains of data; metrics from average pace to peak wattage vs. peak heart rate are now at your fingertips. Here's a quick overview of a couple of the more common (and interesting) sites/programs out there.

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