Power Measurement

Recently I decided to have a look at other methods of measuring power - specifically the Velocomp Newton and Powerpod, as opposed to the "traditional" strain-gauge systems that an increasing number of cyclists are using. I hope to write more on the Velocomp system, but the thought inspired me to have a look at a variety of ways (both realistic and less-so) of measuring power in cycling.

Combining Zwift with Sufferfest/PerfPro (or TrainerRoad)

Zwift is new and exciting, but I still reckon the last two reps of Sufferfest Revolver are as close as I'll get to a religious experience, and I'm a big fan of Perfpro's easy customisation and ability to display live graphs of geeky accessories like my Moxy SmO2 monitor. Is it possible to get the best of all worlds?

Zwift on a Budget

In the last month or so I've found myself getting into Zwift, the online cycling game. Last night I attended one of their events, where I ended up demonstrating racing in front of a large crowd (who were mostly looking the other way), and showed conclusively that turning up late to the race start with no wifi isn't a brilliant idea! (Much respect to the colleague who managed to build his computer for me in the 4 minutes before the race started and managed to get me starting only 15 seconds behind the main pack!)
A few people have been concerned about how much it might cost to run Zwift, particularly if you're going to end up leaving the computer in the garage for ease of access. So I thought I'd document my setup to show you can run it on fairly old kit.

Interval types

PPO, Pmax, FTP, VO2max: Reading the literature, and even blogs, on interval training can prove a nightmare as authors demonstrate that their chosen training method produces wonderful results - but leave you with the nightmare of working out how to carry out out in your garage.

I'm hoping in this post to go through a few terms I've seen and how they relate to each other so it's possible to use studies in your own training. This will assume you have a power meter (or software allowing you to use your turbo as a virtual power meter, eg PerfPro or Trainerroad).

I'll be describing intensities in terms of FTP; not because I agree with FTP as a concept, but because it's the main metric used by power-geeks and their software.

Four By Four

I'm often asked for turbo sessions so I thought I'd detail one of my favourites - the Four By Four. If I had to choose just one session it'd be this one. It's a total of 25 minutes plus warmup, but it can be so hard I have to get a friend in for moral support.

Simply put:

• Warm up (I usually take about 15 minutes, with some bursts)
• 4 minutes on
• 3 minutes off (some people take 4 but I find it's too much)
• Repeat for a total of 4