Matt Hart is an experienced cycling coach who works with TORQ fitness. TORQ was one of the first Fitness Consultancy companies in the UK to embrace the use of power meters on bikes, specifically the PowerTap. When riders spend a day at their facility, they don’t just get a fitness test, they receive a comprehensive day of ‘education’ on the fundamentals of training theory, the energy systems that an athlete's body uses, performance nutrition, and periodization (how to structure training over the year).
by Matt Hart, cycling coach, Torq Fitness
An idiosyncrasy common to practically every rider we see is that when we gather information from them and find out what kind of training/riding they’re doing, it’s all being performed at what we call ‘mixed pace’. Even if they’re aiming to go out and do low intensity base training, when it comes down to it, their power output is highly variable. It seems to be human nature to drive hard up the climbs, sit up over the top and soft-pedal down the other side and we see it all the time (and I notice it when I’m riding with people).
Does this matter? Yes it does. Without taking you through an entire TORQ seminar, if you want to encourage changes in your aerobic system, you need to keep your base rides at constant power (we call this Zones 2 and 3, but I realize that different coaches use varying systems). If you don’t keep these rides constant, every ride you do becomes a loose interval session, which has a couple of negative implications. Firstly, your anaerobic system gets tired, because it never gets to rest, and secondly you’re constantly switching your aerobic system on and off, so you’re not targeting this either. All your sessions become a poorly targeted mess. Unlike heart rate (HR), power provides instant feedback, so it will tell you straight away if you’re increasing/decreasing your pace. HR has a very sloppy response to changes in pace, which is why so many people train so badly with them. By using a power meter you can fine-tune your base rides, and within a short space of time you’ll be gearing down and spinning gently up the climbs and driving harder on the levels and descents.
If you take a look at the Power/HR trace above, the yellow line represents power during an interval session and the red is HR. Notice how the rider is able to switch immediately from around 100 watts and hold a constant 350 watts, yet there is a very blunt response in HR by comparison. This represents the crux of the matter and why riders who don’t use power meters struggle to hold a constant pace. They think they are, because their HR doesn’t shift much, but in fact the power trace is all over the place.
So finally, back to why keeping ‘constant power’ is such a good thing. You shouldn’t replace all your mixed paced rides with constant power sessions, because you’ll detrain your anaerobic systems, and quite frankly, any romance that cycling has to offer in your life will quickly be lost, because it can be pretty dull. That said, an increased focus on constant power training will develop substantial power from your aerobic system, and you will certainly notice the difference. In the winter months (the off season), you can really get your teeth into prolonged constant power sessions in Zones 2 and 3 to build your aerobic base. Zone 2 sessions tend to be the pace you’d sustain for 4 hours plus and Zone 3 is the more like a 2-3 hour pace – you will need to be fitness tested to get these zones properly established. During race season, providing you’ve done enough in the winter, they’re not so critical, but you should try to maintain one Z2 and one Z3 session per week to keep your aerobic system primed. If this kind of training is alien to you, that’s what you should start with, two sessions per week.
Once you’ve got your base rides in order, you can then structure in some disciplined interval sessions to properly develop your anaerobic system, but more about that next article…
Matt Hart has been cycling since 1993. He currently coaches and advises a number of riders at all levels on the UK Mountain Bike circuit, as well a few a little further a field. He has also written fitness articles for a number of publications including Madformountainbiking.com, Singletrackworld.com, Dirt, FHM Bionic and Men’s Fitness.
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