By Kristin Hilger
As athletes, many of us are aware of the various ideas involving altitude training, “live high, train low,” “live low, train high,” acclimatization, measuring performance predictors and actual performances at different elevations. All of these variations and concepts have support from various athletes, scientists and coaches, but not all of the data is consistent and not everyone agrees on the best approach. There is wide individual variability among athletes and their responses to altitude and acclimatization, benefits of altitude training on sea level performance, and ideal timing of performance in relation to the other factors. In my case, I’ve been able to observe improvements in my training rather immediately this year after descending from my home in Boulder, Colorado (elevation is 5430 ft) and driving to California for some work, housesitting, and warm weather training (elevation is approximately 260 ft where I’m staying). I anticipated seeing a nice boost in my power output and work levels and a decrease in heart rate based on racing experiences at sea level in the past. But, I’d never really collected my own data and reviewed it to verify the circumstances for myself. For the first time I’ve been able to collect data at sea level over the last month using my PowerTap, and I can now draw some comparisons.
While I was still in Boulder, most of my rides were on the trainer because of the cold, snowy weather. In an attempt to eliminate external factors such as the weather, including wind, extreme temperatures, etc., I found two recent rides that I completed on a trainer indoors, only a month apart. Luckily, I’ve ridden my bike on the trainer a couple of times in California, so I was able to find comparable data between Boulder and California. The first was a ride in Boulder on January 19, 2008 on the trainer. My workout included 7-minute hard efforts with 3 minutes of recovery in between after a decent warm up. For the trainer ride in California, which took place on February 20, 2008, my workout instructions were to do 10-minute hard efforts followed by 20 minutes at a moderate effort and then repeat. Below are some statistics from each ride:
Location |
Boulder (5430 ft) |
California (260 ft) |
Date |
1/19/08 |
2/20/08 |
Duration |
2:00:20 |
2:41:19 |
Distance (miles) |
43.22 |
60.04 |
Avg HR (beats/min) |
132 |
125 |
Max HR (beats/min) |
159 |
151 |
Avg Power (watts) |
134 |
176 |
Max Power (watts) |
290 |
346 |
Work (kilojoules) |
966 |
1702 |
Avg Cadence |
83 |
87 |
5 min Peak Power (watts) |
195 |
242 |
The first observation is that the ride in California was more than 25% longer and further than the one in Boulder, but my average data values are improved. I was able to do 43% more work in California at a lower average heart rate and a lower max heart rate, so I was not working even close to my capacity. My average power output was significantly higher in California compared to Boulder. It’s important to keep in mind that I’m in the midst of building my training, so improvements over a month’s time are anticipated. However, when looking at the comparison in more detail, it is apparent that I made quick improvements simply from being able to breathe more easily and more efficiently pump oxygenated blood at sea level. I included my 5-minute peak power values to demonstrate the differences between my hard efforts in each session. In addition to these visible improvements, I compared my training two days prior to each workout. For my ride in Boulder I had two fairly easy days prior to the trainer workout. However, the day prior to my ride in California, I had three moderate to hard workouts that should have left me feeling more tired. In fact, I stated in my training log that my “legs felt pretty bad” for the ride.
Now, you might be wondering to yourself, why do I care about this? Well, maybe you don’t. I’m sharing some of my data with you for comparison sake and to maybe help initiate some assessments of your own data to become more aware of your training progress, set-backs and their causes. At least, I’m hoping to learn more with my own data. Not only is it interesting, but it’s also important to measure improvements to see if your training is working for you. It’s anecdotal evidence, but when I dropped in elevation, I saw immediate changes in my riding. I was able to hold much higher average power outputs than in Boulder, and the work (kilojoules) I did on some of my first rides in California was greater than any ride I did all last year in Boulder. In fact, I broke almost all of my peak power values that had previously been recorded at higher elevations. What can I do with this data? I can enjoy the improvements and reset my training zones, but I also need to be aware that the higher intensity and larger amounts of work are more taxing on my body. So, I need to be smart about recovery and continue to follow my progress closely.
Although all of this is very exciting to me, I’ve really learned a different lesson while doing this comparison, which I think can be helpful to others. In going through my data, comparing rides on PowerAgent and reviewing them with my other workouts on TrainingPeaks.com, I’ve realized the importance of taking notes and writing details about workouts. This is especially true if you want to go back and analyze any of it. It took me a while to find two comparable rides. I wished I had saved my data under more descriptive names rather than just the dates. Also, it would have been easier if I took more detailed notes on how I felt at the time of the rides as well as the other workouts I completed on the same day. If I were to compare two outdoor rides I would really be interested in descriptive weather conditions, what I was facing during the ride that helps determine measured variables as well as how my body and mind were feeling. I do this to an extent already, but not enough. So, my take home message for today (especially to myself) is to record training efforts in full to include data and description. Don’t simply focus on the numbers. Make sure to give value to factors that are out of your control, nutrition, and simply how you feel. Enjoy your training!