Sports Science – 6 months on…

In April of this year I visited the Endurance Coach people to get some insight into what was going on with me on the bike – you may have read my post about it here.  They gave me a training plan that was essentially about riding nearer to my threshold to avoid gradually getting slower over time.  I was already losing weight at that point in an attempt to make our trip to the Alps in May a bit easier, and since then I have continued to eat carefully and ride harder.  With that in mind I returned this week to take the tests again – to monitor my progression – and to talk about a training plan for the next few months ready for next year.  Here’s the raw data – the figures in brackets are results from the previous test

• Max HR – 191bpm (197 bpm)
• Threshold HR – 185bpm (187 bpm)
• Threshold Power – 350watts (310 watts)
• RQ1 HR – 183bpm (172 bpm)
• RQ1 Power – 350 watts (250 watts)
• VO2 max – 62.33 ml/min/kg (45.2 ml/min/kg)
• Max Aerobic Power – 390 watts (370 watts)
• Aerobic Power/Weight Ratio – 5.65 watts/kg (4.93 watts/kg)
• Max Sprint Power – 1037 watts (1077 watts)
• Anaerobic Power/Weight Ratio – 15.03 watts/kg (14.34 watts/kg)
• Average 10 sec power – 906 watts (862 watts)
• Power/Weight Ratio – 12.49 (12.06 watts/kg)

In reality what has happened is that I have lost around 6kg and managed to pretty much maintain my power output – which means my power-to-weight ratio has increased.  This is very noticeable going up hills!  In addition my RQ1 figure is now 100watts higher – which essentially means that around threshold I am now putting out more power than I used to – which either means I can go faster or be more economical and go further.  Interestingly, whilst I went further from a power perspective on the test, and Jacqui made me do an extra minute, I had to bail at a lower maximum heart-rate.

So the plan for the next 4 months is to improve technique, aerobic base and strength/force.  I’ve started down the technique route by having my bikes fitted properly by Richard at PedalPrecision.  I’ll write about that in a future post when I’ve tried out his changes.

So I now have a some very specific targets in mind , a structured training plan, some new equipment and NO EXCUSES.