Improve your Cycling 5 minute LAT power by 20.2% in 8 weeks

The results are in. We tested one of the people on our remote coaching program over 8 weeks and got a 20.2% increase in power out put over a five  minute LAT test ... And that's not all that improved..

Being one for measuring a lot of things I though I would put our Remote Coaching Program to the test.

Armed with a simple Time trial test and a power meter we tested the result of eight weeks general road race training on a healthy and seasoned cyclist who has been racing. Specialist Cycling Time Trialing training was not targeted. 

The training was made up of predominantly anaerobic exercise sessions plus a small amount of aerobic riding. The anaerobic exercise sessions used our specific interval training techniques. The athlete was a full time working professional with a family so there was a heavy emphasis on ensuring very efficient use of training time. A large amount of the training was performed indoors.

Over the eight weeks there was a 20.2% improvement of average power over a five minute LAT (Lactate Threshold) test and a 13.81% average power improvement for a one minute LAT test.

There was also a 17.61% improvement of average power at while riding in E1 heart rate zone over a 50 minutes session. This final improvement indicates that at some level there is a probable correlation between high intensity anaerobic interval training and improvements to rider efficiency in the aerobic heart rate zones.     

So what does this all mean?

Higher power output at LAT translated to faster riding speed not only for events which involve riding at sustained LAT intensities; like cycling time trialing and triathlons but also rides that are performed in an aerobic zone; like most recreational rides.

This means that there are clear improvements to average speed of time trial and recreations rides without any increase in perceived effort. In that; the athlete is now riding faster and easier.