How much did your power meter help your improvement?

robkit

i had a polar before an srm and to be honest the lack of accuracy and real investment meant that i didnt take the whole power thing very seriously, i hadnt made the effort to study power specific workouts for example. result... no real improvement, power meter was just another metric.

but on getting more serious i started to read about power specific workouts especially wrt intervals, even had a vo2 max test and made efforts to undertand the relation between vo2max, threshold power, etc. result... rapid improvement, noticably stronger (or should i say less death like) experiences in road races.

conclusion...it was the different aproach to training that made the difference. but then you cant change that aproach without the tool itself, so i owe it to this equallly.

and as to speed of improvement and this relative to others...well i find that if and when i get serious i can make significantly faster advances in form than they seem to on the kind of basic apreciation of training methods that i had a few seasons back.

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mises

I've been through a number of significant detraining phases over the years and I can't say PMs have helped me reach a higher % of genetic potential than I did without one. What they have done is keep me from overdoing it when I very likely would have (and did) before and to get from point A to point B in somewhat less training time than without.

However the 28 year old me with an HRM and an iron will would still kick my PM stylin 47 year old ass without breaking a sweat.

donrhummy

Thanks! So...does that mean I can have your power meter?

velomanct

My powertap gave me the feedback I need to keep me motivated and to really see the gains I made. I did sell it however. I will buy another one, once I reach a certain goal of mine...which is quite a loftly goal, but something I believe is attainable. Once I hit that goal, the powermeter I will then get will show some real watts.

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rmur17

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rmur

fergie

As a coach and a rider it has been an amazing asset. I am stoked how I can fine tune training. Only downside is I know exactely how crap I am

GordoKX250

Last year I trained by mostly racing and group rides.
This year I've got an Ergomo and the HunterCoggan book and followed it.

Results:
Road race results were much poorer than last year. Not in the top 10 much.

However TTs show improved times. I have dropped my 26.5m TT time by 1.5mins compared to last year (similar conditions, same bike).

With better pacing strategy I've also become 1 minute faster over a 7 mile circuit.

I believe this is because I've not done group endurance rides and not done hard chain gangs. I've been doing a lot of FTP work instead (less time training). As a result I've got better at TTs but the hill sprints have suffered and there is nothing left in the tank at the end of long races due to lack of endurance.

A better plan/ coach might have solved that issue.

At least I am able to see the Wattage gains, however they have not been significant, perhaps only 5% which I could put down to equipment error/ testing error. I've found it disappointing as there is of course no quick fix to getting faster and I've had to realise that I'm genetically middle of the road.

Billsworld

I just won a track state championsip ( while injured) . Qualified 1st in masters 2nd overall. I live 5 hrs from the track and have only been to the track 3 times this year. BTW , I am 45 and have been riding for 3 years , racing for 2. Have owned a PM for 2

dkrenik

This is a challenging one to answer. I started using an SRM in Feb of this year. When I started my FTP was ~220W and I'd been training (SST, 2x20, etc) regularly since November - mostly on my rollers. My FTP is now ~250W. I had made it to 235W and plateaued for a while. With some of the keen insight of those on this list I was able to break through the plateau. I also found that I was naturally "better" in some areas than others (5 min power for example). Knowing this from my training with a PM I was then able to focus more on my weak spots (FTP).

The PM doesn't make you faster. It's what you do/interpret with the data gathered from using the PM. Everyone has a different learning curve and I believe that ones' improvement strongly correlates to ones' learning curve.

I think that you need to look at this from another angle. A PM won't necessarily make you x% better than training by HR or whatever. If you're already at, or near, your genetic potential via training by HR then a PM isn't going to make you that much better. A PM will help to make the vast majority of us who better more quickly than by training by HR (assuming you and/or your coach know what to do with the data).

I had been using speed as a proxy for power for several years on my trainer so I would say that it's more from working the data from the PM.

Dave

mises

I have been thinking about selling it....