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How to Analyze Power Data
By Hunter Allen
First thing to do is to view your power distribution chart on the
"Journal Page". If it is a race, then check out how much time you
spent NOT pedaling. That is interesting because it is important to know if you
pedaled TOO much in a race! The name of the game is saving energy! The
downloaded power distribution charts of road race winners usually has a typical
distribution chart that looks like this:
Power Distribution Chart
(Click to Enlarge)
Lots of time spent under 60% of your Lactate Threshold watts (saving energy
and resting) and then lots of time at your Lactate threshold. For this rider,
lots of time under 175 watts and then lots of time over 275 watts. So, that
means the winners usually pedal the least, but when they pedal they pedal the
hardest!
Now if it is normal training ride, then time not spent pedaling is not as
important. However what is important is how much time you spend in your power
zones and also begin to look for the time drop-off around your LT. Notice in the
graph above that there is a huge drop-off in this rider's time spent from
275-300 watts, to the next bar (300-325 watts). This is a good estimate,
ballpark guess, of this rider's Lactate Threshold. This riders LT is probably
somewhere on the upper end of the 275-300 bar, but doubtful it is over 300watts.
How can we tell this? Well, an athlete can spend plenty of time at or just below
LT, but limited time above it. So, it's easy to make a case for a winning racer
to spend loads of time just at their LT, but not much above it, as they know how
to pace themselves well. Start to look for this trend in your Power meter
download.
The next thing to start looking toward is your Heart Rate Distribution Chart. This
can show you how much time you spent in your Heart rate zones. Not as
interesting, but it gives you a look into how much work your heart did.
By examining the Cadence PIE chart, you can start to see how much time you
spend in different cadence ranges. This can be informative if you are actively
trying to increase or decrease your cadence for a specific workout or for
overall physiological change !!!
From there, move the Mean Maximal Line Graph and "hover" over the
line with your pointer to see how many watts you put out at significant times.
Remember though, if you did a workout with 5-minute efforts, and then look at
the watts you produced at 6 minutes, it will not be a valid comparison to a
previous ride, when you did specific 6 minute efforts. You must compare same
time periods together from workout to workout. Also be aware that if you didn't
do any sprints, then your peak power will not be representative of your true
peak when you do sprints.
Now, let's move onto your GRAPH! Once in the graph, decide how you like to
view your data. Personally, I recommend the stacked view (rows stacked on top of
each other) with no smoothing to start. If it is a road ride, then I prefer to
view the Watts, Heart rate and speed. If it is a trainer ride, then I prefer to
view watts, heart rate and cadence.
Then begin scanning through your ride and remembering areas of interest!
Create a "range" around the specific area of interest so you can
further gain insight into the numbers. Let's say you went over a 20-minute
climb. This should be easy to view, as your Heart rate will be high, your speed
low and your power fairly constant. It might look something like this.
Power Analysis Curve
(Click to Enlarge)
Notice how when the climb begins, the power (yellow) becomes smoother, the
Speed (blue) is lower, and the Heart Rate (Red) goes right to the roof !
Once you have created areas of interest you can then compare these to
previous efforts, to efforts of others, or to look deeper into that specific
area to maybe examine your cadence.
Another way to help you in creating areas of interest is by using the
"Fast Find" feature in CyclingPeaks. Let's say you did a bunch of
3-minute efforts, then 30-second efforts, and a 10 minute effort and then a
bunch of one minute fast pedaling efforts. You can easy find these efforts
automatically, by defining them based on the length of the interval and the
watts that were held during that time. Once found, name them and even
"link" them together, by clicking on the "link" beside the
"eye". Then you don't have to type them over and over and also this
will give you your rest time between each effort in your "summary" on
the Journal page.
Find Fast Selection
Your Graph might look like this when it's all said and done!
Full Ride Analysis Graph
(Click to Enlarge)
After having defined your areas of interest, you can now examine them further
by reviewing the range box and the data contained for each area or by going to
the Summary in the Journal page and reviewing there. Also at this point, you
might want to update your Notes section in the Journal page. Remember that this
section and the Ride Goal are searchable under the Calendar page. So, type in
here things that you might want to search for in the future. From the above
graph, I would type: 3 x 3 minutes, 6 x 30 second bursts, 10 minute effort, one
minute fast pedaling and 20 minutes at LT. This way, this workout will be
included in a "Search" of all 3 minute efforts you have done for the
year.
A few other things to look for:
In race files:
- Use the "Fast Find" feature to pull out all of the times that
you "burned a match". If your LT is 300 watts, then find how many
times you went over 350watts for 60 seconds or more and when those were.
It's likely that, that was a "match" you burned. What is a
"Match"?
- Use "Fast Find" to count the number of laps in a race that you
did and define them.
- Look at your TSS score and IF for the ride and see how they fit into your
entire season so far. Click here for more information on how to use the IF
to help you determine when your LT power has increased or decreased.
<blue link to Andy's Article>
- Look for your "Peaks" and determine where they are in the file.
This will help you to further gain insight into the hardest parts of your
race.
- If you got dropped, find the time before it and begin to "walk
backwards" to see what efforts at how many watts you had to do, and
where your breaking point was. This is particularly useful to examine what
exactly it takes for you to get dropped in a race. You can then use this
information to tailor your training plan.
In Training Rides:
- How many kilojoules of energy did you use during your ride and did you
re-fuel enough?
- What was your normalized power for the ride? For a description of
normalized power, click here.
This will get you started on looking at your data in a more productive manner
and also allow you to get the greatest use out of CyclingPeaks Software.
The Power is in your hands now!
Hunter Allen
Co-Developer of CyclingPeaks Software.
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