Power tools

The last couple of days I've been enjoying using my new Powertap. It's been interesting to see the correlation between a given wattage and HR. It was like I was only getting part of the picture before. I tried doing an FTP (Functional Threshold Power) test the other day, and while I put in a good effort (and didn't come up with a totally embarrassing number) the legs didn't have a snap to them.

It's gonna be great being able to gauge my efforts better. One thing that you HAVE to do in training, whether you're using a power meter or HR, is know what a given effort feels like. When I was using HR exclusively, after a while I learned to recognize what my threshold HR felt like, and if I looked down at my monitor, sure enough I was right around my threshold rate. The reason for this, is you can't always be staring at your computer/HR monitor...especially in a mtn bike race. That's a recipe for disaster.
Anyway, back to being able to gauge my efforts better... Since I know what a given HR feels like, I can take a glance at my watts and see how the two compare, and either back off a bit, increase my effort, or perhaps cut the ride short.

Now, one thing you aren't gonna see here is any reference to my actual wattage numbers. They're just numbers, and don't mean much by themselves. The most you'll ever get from me on the subject is whether or not I am pleased with some numbers.

I bet the numbers from tomorrow's group ride will be interesting, to say the least.