Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Power test confusion

I'm perplexed. I did a 30 minute power test yesterday, and got mixed results. While I'm somewhat satisfied with my power output, 258 Watts versus 265 Watts in April 2007, I'm confused about my average heart rate. In April 2007, while riding on the same course doing the same power test, my average heart rate was 163. Yesterday it was only 152 and, I raced last Saturday for 1 hour 17 minutes with an average of 166! When I look at my Cycling Peaks data, the yellow line that tells me whether I'm overtraining shows a plus value which indicates I'm rested. The only thing I can figure is it was hot yesterday, upper 80's versus mid 50's in 2007, I didn't eat a carbo rich lunch, and I may have been a little on the dehydrated side since I didn't drink a lot water during the day. I tried to have a positive attitude and block out negative thoughts, but staying psyched and motivated was quite a struggle. I haven't been training with a purpose for the last six weeks, but the XC races I've been in I have turned out real well and I have felt strong.

If anybody reading this has any thoughts, throw them at me. I am really curious to see how well I do in the Iron Horse Classic this weekend and will report on my results along with power and heart rate numbers compared to last year.

6 comments:

Genericyclist said...

Ahhhh, training with a purpose. You know I would give you a rash of sh_t at the store for that one! Just ride dude. You have so much enthusiasm for our sport that you need to let that be enough when the "data" suggests things aren't right. Now go do 5 Bobsled repeats without any digital devices. You will be all the better for it.

Genericyclist said...

PS. If you need a squishier bike for those repeats let me know...I will put you on something big, dumb and fun.

Anonymous said...

2nd what generic says. Throw it all away and ride. I havent used a heart rate monitor in 9 months and am having the time of my life.

Brad Mullen said...

I think there's something to be said about that. I put tape over my HRM on the last 3 races and had a blast. I think I need therapy on the data collection front. I'm big time OCD on data. What if I miss something ;-) Just ride - how novel. I hear ya.

Dave Harris said...

Keep the faith Brad, these gizmos can help you learn a ton about yourself, current issue included.

So, you tested on a Tue after a race weekend? It's no wonder you didn't have a high HR. Almost certainly your fast twitch muscle fibers are still recovering from the race effort. TSB is a great metric, but it falls down for big efforts at times - especially races. There is often a disconnect between TSB and reality after a race.

What day do you normally fire on all cyclinders after a race weekend? Wed, Thur? Actually, I wouldn't test the week following a race...

Are you doing Adam's TWC?

Brad Mullen said...

Thanks Dave. Maybe 3 XC races in 10 days is a little much before a test. Sicnce I aged up this year, I was thinking those 1 hour races were not as damaging as the 2 hour ones like last year, but that's probably not correct. It gets back to rest, doesn't it. That thought is encouraging and easy to deal with, and I can keep collecting data :-)

I haven't dicided about TWC yet. I'm training (LW's 100 PR) for Leadville in August so I'm not sure. What would you suggest?