by Kristin Hilger

Looking back at the first article I wrote for the PowerTap newsletter this year, I finished by saying, “train to race fast and trust your training. Believe in yourself.” I believe that as I’ve entered the second part of the season, those statements are still a work in progress, but they having been growing into a greater reality. I can now start to reflect on some improvements I anticipated during the discussion of my last article.

In my last blog article I wrote about doing higher intensity and shorter efforts on the bike. I have included more short burst efforts, steep, out of the saddle climbs, all-out one minute and five minute efforts, and alternating cadence climbing exertions. Now I’m beginning to feel the improvements in my cycling. My perceived exertion after punching it over short climbs is much lower during moderate rides. I don’t feel exhausted at the top of the climb, but instead feel like I can pedal through and maintain a higher cadence with greater ease.

As an example, in late June I did a challenging rolling hills ride that is plotted in the table below and compared it with a more recent challenging, hilly ride mid-August. Both rides are representative of some of my typical training and were not geared toward hitting new peak values or putting out maximum efforts. Rather, I was simply instructed to challenge myself on some hilly courses.

The two rides were similar in distance, duration, speed, power and my difficulty rating. The significant differences can be seen in the data that I added at the end of the table. My peak 1, 5 and 10 minute efforts increased a lot over the month and a half, which goes hand in hand with my increased percentage of time at or above threshold. To me, this demonstrates that my higher intensity, short efforts are paying off. Since I have been training the whole year, I built a base and continued on my regular regimen, I feel that the results cannot simply be attributed to greater fitness gained over the season.

In my last article I also wrote about how the shorter, higher intensity efforts should translate into great endurance performance. Therefore, I compared the fastest ten minute segment from my last half ironman in Vancouver to two ten minute efforts I did recently on my Scott Contessa tt bike. Below is a table of the data.

My effort during the half ironman included a steep gradient (up to 11%) climb with a total elevation gain of approximately 380 ft, whereas on August 21st, I rode out first and then back for the second segment on a false flat course with small rollers. The return ride had an overall elevation gain of approximately 350 ft and was into a strong headwind. Comparing the Vancouver segment with the second, uphill segment that have similar overall elevation gains, my improvements over the last month are apparent looking at the distance covered and average power. I was able to intermittently punch it over short climbs without slowing down or diminishing my effort on the later ride. This is positive news for me considering the literature states that it is easier to maintain a higher average power output while climbing than on a flatter course.

I included the downhill effort on August 21st for comparison as well because the time, average power and work done are similar to Vancouver. Although the average power is not higher than in Vancouver, the downhill effort still demonstrates an improvement. Having a tailwind and losing elevation over the course caused me to have to work harder to maintain my power output and faster speed. I did this rather than relying on those environmental factors as a boost and therefore easing up on my effort. As anyone can test and see for themselves, trying to maintain a higher power output while descending is difficult to do.

In addition to the raw data, my perceived exertion on similar efforts is decreasing and my confidence is increasing. I trust that what I’m doing with my training is helping me to improve to get faster and more powerful. I’m encouraged by these improvements and am excited for the results during my next half ironman in two weeks in Canada. Keep enjoying the season and believe in yourself!