USAC Level 1 Coach
National Strength and Conditioning Association
USA Olympic Weightlifting Coach
Training With Power Meters
Most of us have used heart rate monitors for the past years to guide us through training intensities, and to help establish fitness levels. Power meters are becoming more common now, and we’re learning the value of the differences between training with heart rate monitors and training with power meters. One of the most significant advantages is the ability to determine how much work is being produced in any given event.
Training with power meters gives you the ability to monitor workloads, measure real work time, and allows you to improve the efficiency of each workout. With the ability to monitor fatigue you can identify improvement and measure race specific demands.
Rather than just riding and training for a 2-4 hour event, you can now determine how many kilojoules are needed for the event that you’re training for. Planning your rides around the total work needed instead of time and heart rate, you can more specifically plan your workouts to see results.
Fatigue is also easier to monitor especially when doing block training where you do back to back workouts on two given days. When doing intervals with heart rate monitors you will typically see suppressed heart rates on the second day of training. In order to achieve the same given heart rate on the second day the athlete would have to increase their perceived effort. With power meters you have the ability to produce the same amount of power with the same amount of perceived exertion allowing us to apply proper training loads.
Cycling is a sport with many variables that can affect a ride, and contribute to making training difficult to measure. Internal factors such as fatigue, hydration and fuel are commonly measured with the heart rate monitor. These things can be affected by external factors such as wind, temperature, humidity, altitude and gradient. Since power is not affected by the internal or external factors the guesswork associated with the use of heart rate monitors is eliminated.
Coaches and physiologists are learning more and more about analyzing data from power meters. As you learn more about yourself from the use of the power meter you will be able to spot what kind of efforts your body responds well to as well as if you’re feeling of fatigue is due to overtraining.
Power meters are the ultimate training tool. Not only for racers, but for anyone who wants to see their cycling improve.