Training Log No1

I said I would put my training for the New Zealand Round the Mountain road race up on the blog so here it is. Why you may ask? Well I spend so much time mulling over hundreds of files and feedback reports from my clients that I find it hard to spend the time to fully plan my own training. A couple of good results in my last two MTB races has revived my enthusiasm for hard training, but that doesn't mean I am in any good shape or form. I'm not - in fact it was only my technical skills and my ability to suffer that has allowed me to be competitive in the last couple of races. I have a lot of work to do if I am to get good road speed in time for the New Zealand race at the end of January.

It all started today, with my power profile to establish strengths of each energy system. Maximal values are taken for 5 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes and for power at the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA). These values give a reasonably valid, but more importantly, an easily repeatable indication of the strength of the neuromuscular system, anaerobic ability, aerobic capacity and muscular endurance. The results of the power profile are as follows.


5 seconds. 1400 watts
1 minute. 615 watts
5 minutes. 410 watts
OBLA. 320 watts


These values are divided by my body mass (80 kg), giving a power to weight value in watts per kilo (w/kg) which are then plotted on the power profile shown below.

Click on the image for larger view

As you can see, I'm not in good shape. To maintain a good all round cycling ability I need to raise my anaerobic power (1 minute mean maximal power) as this is clearly lacking behind the other energy systems and is a key component in road racing and mountain bike racing.

As this table is relative to my body mass one of the key areas I need to improve is my body composition, dropping some unwanted body fat will push all the power profile values up, improving my speed on climbs, my ability to accelerate and reduce my frontal area for flat terrain speed.

Click on image for lager view

The body composition values are taken three times from each skinfold site then the average is noted. The values don't look that bad on paper, but I am 6 feet 4 inches tall and 12mm of fat spread over quite a sizable abdomen adds a fair amount of dead weight and the same goes for the rest of my body. I know I am overweight by about 3-4 kg and am very healthy at this weight, but the speed increase on climbs is very noticeable at 76 kg, so that has to be my target.

That's some of the initial and very basic testing done, there is much more that I need to test, such as my efficiency, core strength and flexibility, but that can be done later. Field testing using the SRM power meter during longer training rides can be very valid and there is nothing stopping me conducting a full blood lactate profile after each training phase. The next phase is to evaluate the demands of the Round the Mountain race against the strength of each of my energy systems and set some goals, but that's a job for tomorrow.