My Triathlon Training Maximum Power Test (MP)

Enter power measurements

Date

duration min sec Elevation m Distance (without decimal separators) m Complete bike weight (bottles, tools, etc.) kg Full dressed weight( helmet, gloves, glasses, etc.) kg Comments

map4

The Maximum Power Test (MP) serves to establish your maximum performance over the times of 20 seconds, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 und 32 minutes (MP 0.3 until MP 32) and draw your personal performance evolution graph. Ideally you will perform the test rested after a recovery period.

When do I do a MP-test? 2PEAK will schedule your tests in your training plan when appropriate. It will also define the right type of test depending on your goals. Fundamentally a MP test of over 4 minutes (better 8 min) can be used to define the training zones and review them. In general: short tests are used to review the anaerobic capacity (sprinting, criteriums) while longer tests are suited to review the climbing and TT aptitude.

The MP test is performed on climbs with an average gradient of 7% or more, in order to establish your power output based on the hoist capacity. You will need an exact altimeter, a stop watch and a speedometer to measure the distance to ride. Please choose the length of the climb in order to correspond with the splits defined above. 2PEAK will adjust smaller variances mathematically. Please choose and mark prominent way points to use as the start and finish line ahead of the test. To define your aerobic capacity the duration should be of at least 4 min. better 8 minutes. As a reference, you need a climb of 230-460 feet (70-140 m) in elevation depending on your fitness to perform a 4 min test.

Warm up: 20 minutes at the higher end of your base endurance zone. Test: after the warm up you cross the imaginary start line on the fly. Ride in a regular pace and as fast as you can. To inure to remain steady throughout the ride you need to hold yourself back some at the beginning! Your speedometer might help gauge this if the gradient is steady. Clock your ride as you pass your imaginary finish line. A helper might be handy when you are testing your sprint abilities in the faster splits.

Based on the difference of the altitude at start and finish, your exact total weight (everything you wear on the test as well as the complete bike with all tools bottle content, etc.), as well as the total time and the total distance, your power output can be determined pretty accurately. The accuracy increases with the gradient of the climb or in other words the slower the ride is (wind resistance becomes an negligible parameter).

My Triathlon Training Philosophy

Introduction

Periodization

The Triathlon Training Plan runs the training based on the well-known principle of periodization developed in training physiology. This means that specific forms of load and relief follow each other in a continuous sequence. For enthusiasts and competitive athletes a ratio of 3:1 has been determined as most effective. This means that after 3 days of load, one day of relief is given (this may be an easy day or a complete day off). Usually the duration increases within a block while the intensity declines. Normally two blocks of this nature build a Micro cycle lasting one week.

Several Micro cycles in turn build a Macro cycle. Such a cycle lasts around 3 to 4 weeks on 2PEAK and is refered to as a "Period". The season consists of a preparation (or base) period and one or several race (or peak) periods as well as a transition period and slow down period.

2PEAK's periodization is divided into 3 basic phases: Recovery, Endurance and Intensity. Your periodization is calculated taking into consideration your main races as well as the available time budget that you have defined. The spread of the available training time is directly determined by the sequence of the phases previously discussed. Specifically, volume intensive, and therefore time consuming, endurance blocks are planned in such a way as to ideally use blocks of free days that have been determined in advance. 2PEAK's approach to periodization will always analyze all of the available options and determine the optimal path in which to achieve the predetermined goal. Moving important training days around can therefore substantially influence the basics of your Triathlon Training Plan.

2PEAK Triathlon Training Philosophy

Recovery leads to Strength - DYNAMIC Triathlon Training

Triathlon Training tires the body. Not until the break in between two training sessions will the adaptation occur, improving the athlete's fitness. If someone trains too much or too hard they will not improve, but rather deteriorate. However; if you do not set enough stimulus, you will stagnate. Only if the stimulus and rest are in the right ratio will the form increase as a result. This process is usually called super compensation.

The 2PEAK training program developed by Georg Ladig is based on the principle of super compensation, but goes further in the details. His "DYNAMIC Triathlon Training" distinguishes between a variety of states of fatigue (muscular, cardiopulmonal, neural, etc.) and focuses on a subtly differentiated recovery. A new intensive training stimulus is only given when the body is ready to bear it. Its readiness depends on the kind and intensity of the previous fatigue. To answer this question, 2PEAK uses a sophisticated predator-pray model, which is an evolution of the super compensation model. Similar to biological models, the predator-pray model describes the interdependence of stimulus and recovery:

REST IS AN IMPORTANT TRAINING SESSION

Intensive training consumes the ability to recover. Recovery is robbed by the predator (the training). As a consequence the training cannot continue on a high intensity. The predator becomes weaker because they have nothing left to eat. Only when the body has recovered again, meaning it has developed its regeneration capacity, can fresh "pray" become available for the next peak load. Important: recovery is better stimulated if the training stimulus ahead of it was important. This is valid for small (mycrocycles=one week) cycles as well as for larger (macrocycles=3-5 weeks) cycles. This is why training sessions are consolidated into blocks and are not distributed evenly over time. The emphasis on such cycles causes a succession of up- and down-swings that lead to improving form step by step until a peak is reached (that ideally coincides with the main race of the season). This peak period can be held for a few days, up to 3 weeks. This process is also called periodisation. Preparation that leads to two main race periods is a periodisation with two peaks.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

Modeling the perfect training plan needs the athlete's continuous feedback to correct and adjust the plan. The 2PEAK-training plan does not just follow a pattern, but adjusts constantly in a DYNAMIC way directly from the athlete's feedback. In this way, 2PEAK is superior to the entire known static plan - whether it be from a coach or text book. This means much more efficient and flexible training with superior results. 2PEAK compares "Actual" to "Plan" after EACH log entry and changes future training units at once if it determines a deviation that could put a risk to the long-term training or race objective. With this, 2PEAK offers a strategy to react individually to unexpected occurrences such as last minute change of plans, sickness or time restraints.

Certain aspects of 2PEAK's plan can be placed under the scrutiny of an experienced, professional, coach to be fine tuned in order to stimulate the athlete to surpass themselves.

12 years of development and optimization are contained in the formula of "DYNAMIC Triathlon Training". Eight nine of deployment as Tour Magazine's (Germany) training plans and the experience of thousands of online users prove that it's an outstanding concept. More about Georg Ladig the creator of "Recovery led Triathlon Training" can be seen here.

Make more of your potential. Let 2PEAK help you discover what you have hidden within.

2PEAK - High Tech Triathlon Training

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My Triathlon Training Triathlon Training zones calculator

Cycling

You can calculate your Triathlon Training Zones based on your Max. Heart Rate, or the heart rate at the Aerobic/Anaerobic Threshold (LT). Alternatively you can enter them manually, for example when you have established them in a lab test.

2PEAK will use the Zones you saved to analyze the Power- or Heart Rate data you upload.

This are the zones that are currently saved for you:

Calculate new Triathlon Training Zones

based on Heart Rate: for Max for LT bpm
based on Power: for MP for LT Watt (min:sec)
Watt

Enter Triathlon Training Zones Manually:

load('crit_power', 'time', '', 'notime', new Array('0'),'', '1');

My Triathlon Training Triathlon Training zones calculator

Running

Calculate new Triathlon Training Zones

based on Heart Rate: for Max bpm
based on Speed: for MAS km/h

My Triathlon Training Coach gallery

2PEAK is proud to be associated with the following world class coaches which are at your disopsal:

Olivier Bernhard

to the training plan of the coach >> - 5 x Ironman Switzerland Champion
- 8 x Powerman Zofingen Champion
- 3 x Duathlon World Champion
Languages:
English
German
Sports:
Cycling
Running
Triathlon

Benoit Nave

Benoit probably best embodies 2PEAK's wholistic approach not only to training but to life and wellbeing in general. Benoit is an experienced osteopath and physiologist who lives in Annecy, France. Benoit knows both sides of the sport: experiences as an athlete as well as coach form the base for his innovative training and nutrition approach. After 8 years as an elite road cyclist, he was selected in 1992 for the French national Olympic team. 1998 Benoit joined the Volvo/Cannondale team, the winnigest team in mountain bike history as its coach and amassed with them an unprecedented 76 World Cup victories, 15 Overall World Cup Titles, 10 World Championships and 2 Olympic medals. Dr. Nave has treated Armstrong for his back injuries following his bad crash in the Dauphin� Liber� in 2003. Benoit, has worked with top athletes like mountain bikers like 2004 World Cup champ Christophe Sauser, 2PEAK diarist Kashi Leuchs, Athens Olympics dual gold medalist Hicham El-Guerrouj and Australian cyclist Cadel Evans. Languages:
English
French
Sports:
Cycling
Running
Triathlon

Urban Schumacher

Phys Ed. Teacher ETH
IT specialist UniZH
Sports diagnostic specialist Sport Clinic Z�rich
Former coach of the Swiss Tri federation.
Expert for Respeiration-/ Altitude simulation (IHT) - Winner 7-Days Gigathlon
- Winner 1-Day Gigathlon
- Winner Trans Swiss Triathlon
- Several IronMan top placings Languages:
English
German
Sports:
Cycling
Running
Triathlon
Gigathlon

Richard Umberg

Swiss Olympic Coach dipl. I+II. Former coach of the Swiss athletic track and field federation. Member of the expert group endurance sports within Swiss Olympic. Former Swiss record holder in the maarthon with a time of 2:13:37 Coach of the late Franziska Rochat-Moser, winner of the NYC marathon 1997 and runner up at the Boston marathon 1999. Languages:
German
Sports:
Running

Philippe Martin

Swiss Olympic Coach dipl. I+II 12 years experience as a coach in the service of the Swiss Traithlon Federation Expert Swimmcoach Languages:
English
German
French
Sports:
Triathlon
To the personal training packages >>To the personal training packages >>To the personal training packages >>To the personal training packages >>To the personal training packages >>

My Triathlon Training 2PEAK.com - Nutrition

EAT 2 PEAK: Planned Nutrition

Nutrition matters, as we learned that "you are what you eat". The truth of this ancient saying becomes even more significant as every cell in our body is replaced every six months! This means that the quality of your food will determine the quality of your body's "construction". Or in other words: eat junk and your body will be made of junk!

So far, nutrition and sports nutrition have kept to a strictly quantitative approach, assuming that if only the exact quantities needed of each nutritional element are provided, the organism will function perfectly. Only focusing on what the food brings to the body, without taking into consideration its further assimilation, is an insufficient approach to nutrition. This "approach error" in sports nutrition, causes a great number of athletes to continue to suffer from deficiencies, disease, chronic wounds or over-training, in spite of a very rational training program.

A qualitative approach to sports nutrition helps the organism to optimize the assimilation of different vital elements and nutrients, reducing the digestive time, sparing your organism an important supplementary fatigue. It may considerably diminish fermentation and putrefaction, possible sources of slow and progressive intoxication of the purifying systems.

From hunter and gatherer to athlete

The ambivalent � luxury � of eating many different types of food during the same meal is a relatively new habit, typically introduced as little as just 200 years ago. However, the human stomach has adapted over millions of years to digest according to our ancestor's lifestyle. As they were hunters and gatherers their diet consisted of berries or roots (carbohydrates) for most days until they were able to hunt some meat (proteins). This, of course, resulted in a very dissociated digestion. Our digestion has become much more complicated, not just because of the sheer volume, but also because we often mix carbs with proteins during a meal. Carbo digestion requires acids, while proteins get digested with bases, which as you know are two substances that neutralize each other. The result - a much longer and more complex digestion process. Many nutritionists refer to our digestion system as in a state of � shock � due to a deficit in digestive juice. Worse still, we live with inadequate digestion sometimes from our early childhood! Athletes cannot afford to waste lots of precious energy with a lengthy inefficient digestive process, one that does not allow for proper assimilation of important nutrients and, especially important, one that does not allow for detoxification of the intestine.

You can't cheat your digestive system

The practical approach consists in providing the right nutritional combination at the most useful moment for the body. This is a guarantee for keeping the energy, hormonal and immune systems balanced. Wanting to restore one of these three without taking into account the others would be totally illusory. This approach seeks to respect the reality of our digestive - that is enzymatic - potential, which is plainly the result of 3 million years of adapting, or formatting. Only the food having constituted the formatting base can be transformed into useful sub-products for our cells (try to make your PC read a diskette formatted for MAC).

Organizing and timing nutrients, supplements, sport drinks and gels is one of the keys to optimizing the main body balances (energetic, immune, hormonal). Some important windows have to be respected so that these balances won't be affected on the short and long terms. Imbalances would allow injuries, illness and fatigue to happen, like it often does to expert or pro athletes. In fact this "chrono-nutrition" will help the body to stay healthy instead of desperately trying to stay "border line" like many athletes do.

The 2PEAK Nutrition Plan is a practical manual that specifies when, what kind and which amount of nutrients are needed to keep the body in balance and ideally fueled while allowing for optimum recovery. You will find your 2PEAK Nutrition Plan inserted into the day view of your Triathlon Training Plan specifying exactly when and how much of which nutrient to eat. Your goals (races), the volume and intensity of your work outs will generate your individual diet. The Nutrition Plan is part of the Gold Package or is an option with the Silver Package.

Make the most out of your potential. Discover the extra push that the specific 2PEAK fuel program will give you.

2PEAK - Your Personal Trainer

My Triathlon Training Race nutrition and hydration, carboloading

PROPER RACE NUTRITION & HYDRATION

THE PURPOSE

The first one is to get to the start line with the optimal storage of glycogen in your muscles and liver. The second is to prevent hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar level) during the effort.
In two steps we need first to optimize our potential to store, and to then to release stored energy effectively.

I. STORE (or loading)

Super Compensation

Over the past decades, Scandinavians have used a method, which consisted in a weeklong special regimen. It starts with an exhaustive training session one week before the race, while athletes consume a low-carbohydrate diet, yet continued exercising, to totally deplete muscle glycogen stores. Then, 3 days before competition, athletes rest and eat a high-carbohydrate diet to promote glycogen super compensation.

This regimen has many drawbacks:

the long training sessions necessary to reach a complete depletion of stores, while at the same time the athlete is already in a carbohydrate-low phase, can hardly be done with a pace close to that of the competition, therefore a sufficiently selective depletion of muscle fibers can not necessarily be obtained. considerable side effects such as nervous tiredness, hormonal disturbances, muscular breakage, can prejudice a successful race.

This has led to the insight that the super compensation of glycogen reserves can be obtained by limiting the diet to the carbohydrate-rich phase and still gets an optimal performance.

We know today, that endurance training is the primary stimulus for increased muscle glycogen synthesis. Endurance training increases the activity of the glycogen synthesis, and the enzyme responsible for glycogen storage. But timing is equally important! Today we know to have some very specific body adaptations, some metabolic windows.

The Window

It should be known that the starchy foods and leguminous plants (principal sources of carbohydrates in our food) can be stored in a greater proportion, in the form of muscular glycogen, after a significant depletion of stores. In the few hours (there is a 4 to 6 hours optimal window after the end of the effort) following a long and/or intense effort, which will have drawn largely from the muscular glycogen reserves, the conditions are thus favorable. When the glycogen reserves under these preconditions are exhausted, the muscular cells will then much more easily restore glycogen.

The Solution: 2PEAK Loading

Assuming race day is a Sunday. ( road race, 10k run, X-C ski , marathon, triathlon or whatever endurance sport) here is how we should proceed in detail:

Wednesday: a long workout (one to three-or more- hours, depending on your sport, try to include 1-3 intervals at competition pace). Make sure to avoid starchy foods (carbohydrates) the night before in order to maximize the drain of your glycogen stores. As soon as you are back from your long workout, a recovery drink will enable you to start to replenish glycogen while re-hydrating the muscle cells. Then, the first solid food will be introduced, between 1 and 2 hours after the end of the effort* This meal will have to be also rich in carbohydrates and possibly alkaline (in order to bind the acids, dried fruits or bananas for example). The following meal or two will have to be carbohydrate dominant, potatoes (very alkaline food) and leguminous plants (rich in fiber and mineral) will be very welcome.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be used to relax in every sense. After each, even recovery workouts, athletes will consume a light carbohydrate meal. All meals will still be carbo predominant. But, during these last three days we will avoid too many fiber-rich foods to prevent any digestive disorder.

Hint: lots of pasta on Saturday evening (pasta party etc.) would be at the same time useless and prejudicial for the performance on the following day. Especially for well-trained athletes who have exceptional and specific body adaptations. Your were pasta-partying since Wednesday, on Saturday evening you are too late for the dance!! We explain: indeed, not having carried out long and/or intense training this day, you would store only a small proportion of your starchy foods or other carbohydrates in the form of glycogen, but, in addition, the carbohydrates would be transformed then into fat, causing a long and arduous work to your digestive system. On top of this, because every gram of carbohydrate carries 2.7 grams of water with it, you will perturb the venous and lymphatic pressures and thus all the extra cellular circulation of your body, by modifying the oncotic pressure. Not only you would get to the start line the next morning with a few more grams of fat but also with one or two kilos of additional dead weight, retained in the form of water in the extra-cellular tissues because of the sudden modification of these famous venous and lymphatic pressures. Cyclists know this phenomenon perfectly when they get up in the morning feeling to have "two posts" in the place of the legs.

*It takes sometime before enough of the blood volume gets back to the digestive territory. Before getting a carbo meal after any kind of hard/long effort, you have to wait for about 1 hour after the end of hard effort itself. If you finish a hard training and then slow-down for 15�, then you can start your meal 45� after the end of the slow-down.

The Last Meal

Athletes know it, there is a minimal time to respect between the last meal and the beginning of the race. This time is obviously variable according to the individuals and especially of their anxiety level, but also variable depending on the intensity of the effort at the start and during competition. For some of us, nothing seems to pass on race day morning. For others, two hours after the end of the meal, the stomach feels totally empty. If the start of the race is very early morning it will then be necessary to choose more or less specific types of food according to whether you belong to one or the other of the categories. For those individuals with a tied stomach, a liquid food will be perhaps most suitable. For the others, a low glycemic index starchy food (to prevent any hypoglycemia) plus a slight protein contribution approximately three to four hours before the departure is most appropriate.

If the athlete does not compete at a very high level or if the early part of the race does not require a high output or if the race starts in the evening, then the athlete should get a normal breakfast and a pre-race meal, like those below, 3-4 hours before the start. This will be followed by a pre-race drink which the athlete will absorb at a rate of a mouthful approximately every twenty minutes.

These strategies will enable everyone in every situation to approach the departure with a light stomach and the hepatic glycogen (which ensures the maintenance of the blood sugar level, which thus warns you of hypoglycemia) at its best level.

The last meal: 2 solutions

1) A traditional meal: cereals like millet, spelt, cooked amaranth or just soaked in some soy milk, rice- or any other non dairy drink , and slightly sweetened with fructose, will make the deal perfect. You might choose to prepare cereals the day before and to consume them at ambient temperature.

2)A specific pre-race drink

II. RELEASE (race fueling)

The Purpose

Blood glucose level have to be extremely consistent for an important reason. Glucose is the fuel for the nervous system including the brain. That�s why hypoglycemia leads to dizziness! For an athlete a small decrease in the blood glucose level and the brain turns down all the �racing functions� and installs a safety system to protect the main organ: itself.

The goals of fueling during the effort is, first and foremost, to prevent hypoglycemia (decrease of the blood sugar rate by depletion of the hepatic and muscular glycogen) and re-hydration, and then to delay the reduction in stores of muscular glycogen and also to prevent a sharp reduction of branched chained amino acids in the blood. A significant modification of these parameters automatically involves a reduction in the physical capacity and thus in the intensity which the athlete can support, and also on the easiness of his recovery. The contribution of a well conceived combination of pre-race supplements and energy drink and/or gel must satisfy the various needs enumerated above thus insuring an optimum effort until the very end of the race.

The Limitations

During a race effort, the digestive system gets less blood stream. In addition, it is also necessary to take into account the capacities of the stomach to drain a given quantity of liquids, liquids whose concentrations in nutritive elements and minerals can also be very variable. To solve this equation, we must pay attention to certain principles of digestive physiology. The stomach lets a liquid pass through its wall more quickly if the concentration of mineral element of the liquid is lower than that observed in blood. This principle is governed by the difference in osmotic pressure. A drink intended to be absorbed during the effort must thus be hypo-concentrated compared to the blood concentrations. But we also know that a minimal contribution in carbohydrates is essential to maintain the level of performance. Note that a rising concentration in carbohydrates involves a deceleration of gastric draining as a consequence. A solution of glucose slightly osmolar (139 mmol/L) leaves the stomach in 20 min, whereas the same volume introduced with a osmolarity of 834 mmol/L requires close to 2h! After many studies, we now know that the maltodextrines do not seem to be absorbed more quickly, on the other hand the fructose with reasonable concentrations appears to be absorbed more quickly than glucose. We also know, that a liquid food taken by small regular mouthfuls shouldn�t cause digestive troubles contrary to the solids which, for the efforts above 80 % of VO2max see their assimilation very disturbed. In other words, bars sandwiches etc. are a no go (ask your stomach!) for efforts above 80% of VO2max.

The Solution: 2PEAK Fueling

Where does this leave us? The only way out is a sport drink with little pronounced taste, containing fructose, glucose and maltodextrines, in concentrations from 40 to 80 g/l (depending on the temperature), hypotonic on mineral (especially sodium), absorbed at the rate of 50 to 80 cl./hour**. This quantity of liquid can appear low, however it is still a higher than average quantity of liquid absorbed according to a survey carried out with non-professional endurance athletes. Although this represents only one small mouthful every 10 to 15 minutes it is by drinking it that you fuel your engine, not by carrying it around on your bike or fuel belt�!

** Water can of course be consumed on top of these suggested guidelines, provided it is PLAIN water.

My Triathlon Training Power test

Triathlon Training aims to improve performance. 2PEAK offers you several tools to measure your fitness level that are easy but very effective, they are real life-tests and can be repeated as often as needed.
When you find the icon for the Fitness Test on your plan, 2PEAK wants you to notice the ideal timing to test your form. It is your choice to either do the fitness test using one of the tests we suggest or one from an outside lab, OR do the normal workout with the intervals scheduled within.

Performance by itself is at first an abstract value as it can not be based solely on speed. Wind conditions, the surface, the profile and the aerodynamic (bike AND rider) take a major influence on the speed a rider can achieve with a given performance (or power output). Therefore performance (or power) should be measured directly. The best way to do this is by using power measuring devices such as the SRM crank or the Power Tap hub. An alternative method that does not require an expensive investment is the MP Climbing test as outlined below.

More information related to power measurement >>

MP Maximum Power

The Maximum Power Test (MP) determines your maximum power output on a time range from 20 seconds, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 minutes (MP 0.3 to MP 32) and defines your individual power curve. The MP test is performed on a climb and allows to be repeated during the season to gauge the performance improvement and to compare to other athletes.

to the MP test >>

Measure the climbing power

Define your power measure on a climb and compare your performance with others. The 2PEAK data base contains numerous and renewed climbs.

To the climbing test >>

My Triathlon Training Test your Maximum Aerobic Speed (MAS)

With help of the MAS-Test (Maximum Aerobic Speed) you can establish and periodically adjust your training zones defined in heart rate and speed, as well as estimate your expected times for selected races.

Perform a thorough warmup for at least 20 minutes. Then you clock your time to cover 1200m. This is best done on a 400m track, but can also be done on a flat road stretch provided you can accurately measure and mark 1200m (a bicycle fitted with a speedometer might achieve this). Run the first 2 laps at what you perceive to be 90% of your maximum possible speed and force to 100% on the last lap. Sanity check: you need to be at least as fast on the last lap then on the previous two. Please also note your maximum heart rate at the end of the test, or just read the max data saved by your heart rate monitor and enter it in the field below. The MAS test lets 2PEAK determine the intensities for your intervals. We can also predict your times for longer races. M.A.S. - over 1200m min:sec
Your maximum heart rate at the end of the test: Beats per minute

My Triathlon Training Power led training

Power training

How do you measure your progress and your state of form? A plea for exact power output measurement.

It is very common to hear athletes talk about their fitness using sentences such as " I rode 50 minutes at an average HR of 180, pretty good hey!" Also the average speed of a ride is often an argument: " We recently rode at an average speed of 22 mph ( or 33 km/h)!" Both statements are not really meaningful. A high heart rate, is sure an indication for a strenuous workout, but that's it. Without a context such a statement is worthless. The same is valid for the average speed conversation: was it uphill or slightly downhill, or flat with a tailwind? Alone or in a group ride? Often the average speed we log falls as the season progresses, because our training rides and races become more demanding - but the power output improves. The average speed does not contain any evidence of the real performance if we do not improve the information content.

The goal of training is not to develop the ability to work at an increasing heart rate. It is rather to improve the performance in other words the output. The circumstance that HR is often abused as a performance indicator is because the measurement technology is available. Heart rate monitors are relatively inexpensive and therefore relatively spread. On the other hand, the direct measurement of power output can only be achieved using relatively more complex and therefore more expensive equipment, which is in turn relatively rare. But it is given that the muscle work determines the workout intensity and the measured heart rate is only one of several indicators that reflect that intensity more or less accurately.

Fuel

For the muscle to produce a certain amount of power, it needs to be nourished ("fueled") and supplied with oxygen. The transportation system is provided by the blood stream. The quantity of the oxygen that can be made available depends on the number of heart beats (frequency) and the volume of the heart muscle. Then other factors have an influence such as the oxygen saturation of the blood cells (hematocrit), the and others. The real pumping performance of the heart can therefore not be measured alone by the heart rate. In any case does the increased pumping action of the heart reflect the increased muscle work during the exercise but is not its cause. Sounds complex? Yes it is, but it also simple, at the end it is only the output that matters.

Performance can be defined in scientifically exact terms. For a cyclist, this is the product of leg force times leg turnover (cadence) and is expressed in watts (watt = joule/seconds= energy per time unit). A small force times a high cadence can therefore equal a bigger force times a slower cadence. A good example is Lance Armstrongs "spinning"-style. Lance produces a remarkable power output by multiplying a very high cadence with an average force. A rider like Jan Ullrich on the other side produces an identical performance by applying an average cadence to a remarkable force.

Power output is therefore the key to speed. Under the assumption that the external conditions remain unchanged (wind, gradient, riding position, etc.), only an increased power output leads to a faster speed. The best rider does not win, because he has the highest heart rate, the biggest oxygen intake or pushes the biggest gear, but rather because in relation to his total system weight (rider + bike + all other equipment) and/or his systems aerodynamic coefficient he expresses the highest power output. Exceptions to this rule are luckily very common and things such as tactics and other parameters influence a race outcome substantially. Good, then otherwise road racing could end up being pretty boring...

And the equipment also plays a very small part, as the speed calculator shows us.

Relative Power Output

Absolute power output itself misses the point as well. Only when power gets divided by the weight, you really get a relevant measurement, the power to weight ratio. The power to weight ratio defines how fast a cyclist can ride up a climb. The amplitude goes from 1 W/lbs (2 W/kg) to 14 W/lbs (7.2 W/Kg) for pro riders.

If we watch the pros we can easily see how this correlation dictates the way they look: first they train to achieve a maximum of force and then they try to loose as much weight as possible without loosing leg strength. Since loosing weight contributes to increase the ratio. Before Bjarne Rjis succeeded in winning the Tour de France in 1996, he had to loose 11 lbs (5 Kg). Loosing 5 to 10% of body weight is still easier then to increase the power output in the same range, especially when you already are on a very high level.

In analogy to the power to weight ratio for a climber, the power to aerodynamic ratio is what matters most for a time trialist. This is a quotient as well: power divided by cwA. This value expresses how good the "engine" power output is in relation to the "bodywork" quality. Who sits extremely aerodynamically on the bike, rides much faster with the same power output. Riders who have a high power to weight ratio as well a good power to aerodynamic ratio, are equally qualified for the flats as well as for the climbs. Good riders like Armstrong or Ullrich are good examples. But also specialists can be good in both disciplines. The time trial world champion of 2002, Santiago Botero has also already won the climbers polka dot jersey at the Tour de France.

Depending on the age and the level of fitness these power to weight ratios differ significantly. With 2PEAK you can compare your power output with that from other athletes - and of course you can filter age and volume to insure a peer-to-peer comparison. This way you will get to starting line well informed and with realistic expectations.

Measure power

By now it should be clear that power measurement is crucial in the pursuit of determining fitness improvements. How do we do this? The most elegant solution is the use of a power-measuring device such as the Power Tap hub or the SRM crank. These instruments measure the effective power output during the ride. Your bike mutes to a mobile ergo meter. The data can be downloaded on your computer and analyzed. With this an objective analysis of the training intensities is achieved. This data can then be uploaded into the 2PEAK servers for further analysis and integration into your training plan.

These instruments are great to effectively keep an eye on the training progress. Combined with 2PEAK they become even more meaningful. Since 2PEAK not only analyzes the past but also and more importantly defines, based on the acquired knowledge, how the future training needs to be configured such to allow for a further fitness improvement. With 2PEAK the circle of performance improvement can be completed.

The downside is that they are pretty expensive. As an alternative 2PEAK offers what we call the MP-test (Maximum Power), or a climbing test on a longer climb. Both methods are based on the calculation of the hoisting capacity. The data that is needed therefore are: the system weight, the ascension in feet or meters and the time. All of which are relatively easy to be determined.

The MP test accomplishes the same as a power measurement device as far as being able to monitor the fitness improvements, by simply providing an objective and accurate measurement clocking your effort on your favorite climb. If you want to improve your power output from say, 260 to 300 watts on your favorite climb (you can find out what this would mean in terms of a time gain using our speed calculator in the tools menu), you can easily use the MP test to check your improvements. A systematic training approach with a power-measuring device will however be easier and allow you an ongoing insight into the way your body reacts to training.
Another difficulty around the theme power output measures is its dependence from the time factor. The actual effort that the human body generates is always a function of time: if the time increases the power output decreases. Especially for efforts under one minute, the power that can be generated depends dramatically on the time. This is due to the dominant aerobic component. This is also the zone that has no real correspondent with a heart rate measure (the heart rate lags the effort and can therefore not be used as an accurate indicator for it). This is why 2PEAK defines the last training zone simply as the highest motivation zone. As time increases the aerobic component of the effort gains importance and so the output decreases slower over time: the 4 minute effort is closer to the 1 hour effort in terms of average power output then the one minute power output. The attached chart illustrates this correlation: Leistung als Funktion der Zeit

The curve shows the power output drop of a well trained athlete over time. Starting at the maximum 8 minutes output (MP8) the output drops by 7% with every doubling of the duration (red line). The gradient of the drop depends on the individual and his capacity to hold an effort for an extended period of time.

Targeted workout management with the help of power measurement.

The power demands differ from race to race. A marathon or stage race requires excellent long term endurance but very little anaerobic capacities or speed. This is very different if starting for a XC race, a criterium or a cyclocross race: if you want to be with the lead group, you need to be able to turn quite often in the "red zone" when climbing, cornering or sprinting. The talent required here is to get into a short-term oxygen dept and then recover during a short descent. Sprinters of course need explosive power bursts in order to let the competition in the dust and time trialists need enormous aerobic capacities to be able to ride for long periods at threshold. And then, everyone that can't respond to attacks in the field because he lacks explosiveness will be dropped and can pack up.

These differences in competition, lead to different requirement profiles for training, without, which you'll not going to succeed. 2PEAK's race planning takes these requirements into consideration and with its option to include the race profile into one's training it allows for an efficient and transparent method to systematically train for each one's objectives. Once defined the training zones as well as the intervals will be defined in watts per time units and can then document the training in watts as well. The training can therefore be managed directly from the source and the improvements can be seen instantly.

My Triathlon Training Power led training

Power training

How do you measure your progress and your state of form? A plea for exact power output measurement.

It is very common to hear athletes talk about their fitness using sentences such as " I rode 50 minutes at an average HR of 180, pretty good hey!" Also the average speed of a ride is often an argument: " We recently rode at an average speed of 22 mph ( or 33 km/h)!" Both statements are not really meaningful. A high heart rate, is sure an indication for a strenuous workout, but that`s it. Without a context such a statement is worthless. The same is valid for the average speed conversation: was it uphill or slightly downhill, or flat with a tailwind? Alone or in a group ride? Often the average speed we log falls as the season progresses, because our training rides and races become more demanding - but the power output improves. The average speed does not contain any evidence of the real performance if we do not improve the information content.

The goal of training is not to develop the ability to work at an increasing heart rate. It is rather to improve the performance in other words the output. The circumstance that HR is often abused as a performance indicator is because the measurement technology is available. Heart rate monitors are relatively inexpensive and therefore relatively spread. On the other hand, the direct measurement of power output can only be achieved using relatively more complex and therefore more expensive equipment, which is in turn relatively rare. But it is given that the muscle work determines the workout intensity and the measured heart rate is only one of several indicators that reflect that intensity more or less accurately.

Fuel

For the muscle to produce a certain amount of power, it needs to be nourished ("fueled") and supplied with oxygen. The transportation system is provided by the blood stream. The quantity of the oxygen that can be made available depends on the number of heart beats (frequency) and the volume of the heart muscle. Then other factors have an influence such as the oxygen saturation of the blood cells (hematocrit), the and others. The real pumping performance of the heart can therefore not be measured alone by the heart rate. In any case does the increased pumping action of the heart reflect the increased muscle work during the exercise but is not its cause. Sounds complex? Yes it is, but it also simple, at the end it is only the output that matters.

Performance can be defined in scientifically exact terms. For a cyclist, this is the product of leg force times leg turnover (cadence) and is expressed in watts (watt = joule/seconds= energy per time unit). A small force times a high cadence can therefore equal a bigger force times a slower cadence. A good example is Lance Armstrongs "spinning"-style. Lance produces a remarkable power output by multiplying a very high cadence with an average force. A rider like Jan Ullrich on the other side produces an identical performance by applying an average cadence to a remarkable force.

Power output is therefore the key to speed. Under the assumption that the external conditions remain unchanged (wind, gradient, riding position, etc.), only an increased power output leads to a faster speed. The best rider does not win, because he has the highest heart rate, the biggest oxygen intake or pushes the biggest gear, but rather because in relation to his total system weight (rider + bike + all other equipment) and/or his systems aerodynamic coefficient he expresses the highest power output. Exceptions to this rule are luckily very common and things such as tactics and other parameters influence a race outcome substantially. Good, then otherwise road racing could end up being pretty boring...

And the equipment also plays a very small part, as the speed calculator shows us.

Relative Power Output

Absolute power output itself misses the point as well. Only when power gets divided by the weight, you really get a relevant measurement, the power to weight ratio. The power to weight ratio defines how fast a cyclist can ride up a climb. The amplitude goes from 1 W/lbs (2 W/kg) to 14 W/lbs (7.2 W/Kg) for pro riders.

If we watch the pros we can easily see how this correlation dictates the way they look: first they train to achieve a maximum of force and then they try to loose as much weight as possible without loosing leg strength. Since loosing weight contributes to increase the ratio. Before Bjarne Rjis succeeded in winning the Tour de France in 1996, he had to loose 11 lbs (5 Kg). Loosing 5 to 10% of body weight is still easier then to increase the power output in the same range, especially when you already are on a very high level.

In analogy to the power to weight ratio for a climber, the power to aerodynamic ratio is what matters most for a time trialist. This is a quotient as well: power divided by cwA. This value expresses how good the "engine" power output is in relation to the "bodywork" quality. Who sits extremely aerodynamically on the bike, rides much faster with the same power output. Riders who have a high power to weight ratio as well a good power to aerodynamic ratio, are equally qualified for the flats as well as for the climbs. Good riders like Armstrong or Ullrich are good examples. But also specialists can be good in both disciplines. The time trial world champion of 2002, Santiago Botero has also already won the climbers polka dot jersey at the Tour de France.

Depending on the age and the level of fitness these power to weight ratios differ significantly. With 2PEAK you can compare your power output with that from other athletes - and of course you can filter age and volume to insure a peer-to-peer comparison. This way you will get to starting line well informed and with realistic expectations.

Measure power

By now it should be clear that power measurement is crucial in the pursuit of determining fitness improvements. How do we do this? The most elegant solution is the use of a power-measuring device such as the Power Tap hub or the SRM crank. These instruments measure the effective power output during the ride. Your bike mutes to a mobile ergo meter. The data can be downloaded on your computer and analyzed. With this an objective analysis of the training intensities is achieved. This data can then be uploaded into the 2PEAK servers for further analysis and integration into your training plan.

These instruments are great to effectively keep an eye on the training progress. Combined with 2PEAK they become even more meaningful. Since 2PEAK not only analyzes the past but also and more importantly defines, based on the acquired knowledge, how the future training needs to be configured such to allow for a further fitness improvement. With 2PEAK the circle of performance improvement can be completed.

The downside is that they are pretty expensive. As an alternative 2PEAK offers what we call the MP-test (Maximum Power), or a climbing test on a longer climb. Both methods are based on the calculation of the hoisting capacity. The data that is needed therefore are: the system weight, the ascension in feet or meters and the time. All of which are relatively easy to be determined.

The MP test accomplishes the same as a power measurement device as far as being able to monitor the fitness improvements, by simply providing an objective and accurate measurement clocking your effort on your favorite climb. If you want to improve your power output from say, 260 to 300 watts on your favorite climb (you can find out what this would mean in terms of a time gain using our speed calculator in the tools menu), you can easily use the MP test to check your improvements. A systematic training approach with a power-measuring device will however be easier and allow you an ongoing insight into the way your body reacts to training.
Another difficulty around the theme power output measures is its dependence from the time factor. The actual effort that the human body generates is always a function of time: if the time increases the power output decreases. Especially for efforts under one minute, the power that can be generated depends dramatically on the time. This is due to the dominant aerobic component. This is also the zone that has no real correspondent with a heart rate measure (the heart rate lags the effort and can therefore not be used as an accurate indicator for it). This is why 2PEAK defines the last training zone simply as the highest motivation zone. As time increases the aerobic component of the effort gains importance and so the output decreases slower over time: the 4 minute effort is closer to the 1 hour effort in terms of average power output then the one minute power output. The attached chart illustrates this correlation: Leistung als Funktion der Zeit

The curve shows the power output drop of a well trained athlete over time. Starting at the maximum 8 minutes output (MP8) the output drops by 7% with every doubling of the duration (red line). The gradient of the drop depends on the individual and his capacity to hold an effort for an extended period of time.

Targeted workout management with the help of power measurement.

The power demands differ from race to race. A marathon or stage race requires excellent long term endurance but very little anaerobic capacities or speed. This is very different if starting for a XC race, a criterium or a cyclocross race: if you want to be with the lead group, you need to be able to turn quite often in the "red zone" when climbing, cornering or sprinting. The talent required here is to get into a short-term oxygen dept and then recover during a short descent. Sprinters of course need explosive power bursts in order to let the competition in the dust and time trialists need enormous aerobic capacities to be able to ride for long periods at threshold. And then, everyone that can`t respond to attacks in the field because he lacks explosiveness will be dropped and can pack up.

These differences in competition, lead to different requirement profiles for training, without, which you`ll not going to succeed. 2PEAK`s race planning takes these requirements into consideration and with its option to include the race profile into one`s training it allows for an efficient and transparent method to systematically train for each one`s objectives. Once defined the training zones as well as the intervals will be defined in watts per time units and can then document the training in watts as well. The training can therefore be managed directly from the source and the improvements can be seen instantly.