What is W\u2019?<\/h2>\n

W' is the brain child of Dr. Phil Skiba. \u00a0He describes W' as the amount of work (in joules) that an athlete can perform ABOVE their Critical Power. \u00a0Critical Power, or CP for short, is essentially the power a muscle can provide without fatiguing significantly. \u00a0It is similar to functional threshold power, but there are a few differences on the physiological level. \u00a0For the purpose of this podcast, we'll consider CP and FTP to be the same\u00a0since they are numerically quite similar.<\/p>\n

Essentially, W' is a measure of energy, specifically a measure of Anaerobic Work Capacity, or how much anaerobic effort an athlete can put out before fatiguing to exhaustion. \u00a0If you look at the chart above, you'll see a black line drawn through the power curve. \u00a0Although this represents an effort during a workout, it perfectly illustrates W'. \u00a0Everything below that black line would be considered aerobic work that can go on for a LONG time. \u00a0Everything above that line would represent W'.<\/p>\n

As a clearer description, Dr. Skiba has likened W' to a battery in the past. \u00a0He has suggested that each effort above CP\/FTP causes your battery to drain a little bit. \u00a0Once you let off the gas and drop below your CP\/FTP, your battery begins to recharge. \u00a0Unfortunately, the recharge is slower than you think, especially the harder you work UNDER your CP\/FTP. \u00a0So it follows that if you burn your battery up, and then continue to perform just below your CP\/FTP, your battery will recharge VERY slowly. \u00a0All the energy that would go into recharging your battery is going to power your performance.<\/p>\n

Once you've expended all of your W', it's game over, you blow up and you're done for the time being.<\/p>\n

There are some hypotheses about\u00a0what causes W' to recharge and what happens when we expend all our W'. \u00a0Those are for another podcast, where we'll talk about how to possibly improve W' recharging, but for now, we'll deal with the practical application of W' using Golden Cheetah<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Check out the video podcast for some information on W' and how you can use it to interpret your training (assuming you're training using something like a Stages Power Meter<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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