Improvement in 12 weeks on the Cycling-Inform Cycle Coaching Program
http://www.cycling-inform.com/articles/631/1/Improvement-in-12-weeks-on-the-Cycling-Inform-Cycle-Coaching-Program/Page1.html
David Heatley
By David Heatley
Published on 14-Sep-09
We put the Cycling-Inform twelve week cycling coaching program to the power test and here are the results.
We put the Cycling-Inform twelve week cycling coaching program to the power test and here are the results. Armed with a power meter we measured the mean maximal power curve between the first two weeks and last two weeks of the program. No special tricks. Just twelve weeks of quality training.
Here are the results:
The dotted line is the first two weeks and the yellow line is the last two weeks.
The following chart is created from extracting the highest average power (sometimes referred to as "critical power") for a particular duration and plotting it on a graph. Each line is plotted from all the data for the period. In this case, the dotted line is the first two weeks and the yellow line the last two weeks of the program. Movement up the graph shows an increase in power output. The gap between the two lines shows the improvement.
In this graph it shows all "critical power" values increasing across the graph for all values in the second sample of data; being the last two weeks of the 12 week block of training; the yellow line, from that of the first two weeks of data; the dotted line.
Mean Maximal Power Curve Graph from Training PeaksSoftware
Notice on this chart that in the dotted line, the athlete was only able to produce a mean maximal power output of around the ~425 watts right up to .28 minute mark. By identifying these power output trends early on we are able to take corrective action to customise our cycling training programs.
Performing this initial analysis takes much of the guess work out of writing cycling training programs. This ensures that the personalised training prescribed is the most efficient use of the athlete's time and quickly addresses their weaknesses.
Here are the results:
The dotted line is the first two weeks and the yellow line is the last two weeks.
The following chart is created from extracting the highest average power (sometimes referred to as "critical power") for a particular duration and plotting it on a graph. Each line is plotted from all the data for the period. In this case, the dotted line is the first two weeks and the yellow line the last two weeks of the program. Movement up the graph shows an increase in power output. The gap between the two lines shows the improvement.
In this graph it shows all "critical power" values increasing across the graph for all values in the second sample of data; being the last two weeks of the 12 week block of training; the yellow line, from that of the first two weeks of data; the dotted line.
Mean Maximal Power Curve Graph from Training PeaksSoftware
Peak .05 minute mean maximal power - Increase from 550w to 817w
Peak 1.21 minute mean maximal power - Increase from 335w to 432w
Peak 5.00 minute mean maximal power - Increase from 203w to 295w
Peak 10.27 minute mean maximal power- Increase from 190 to 224w
Peak 1.21 minute mean maximal power - Increase from 335w to 432w
Peak 5.00 minute mean maximal power - Increase from 203w to 295w
Peak 10.27 minute mean maximal power- Increase from 190 to 224w
Notice on this chart that in the dotted line, the athlete was only able to produce a mean maximal power output of around the ~425 watts right up to .28 minute mark. By identifying these power output trends early on we are able to take corrective action to customise our cycling training programs.
Performing this initial analysis takes much of the guess work out of writing cycling training programs. This ensures that the personalised training prescribed is the most efficient use of the athlete's time and quickly addresses their weaknesses.