My Power Profile is Embarrassing

john979

Thanks for the comment regarding my health -- anyone know a good cardiologist with a sports medicine background in New York?

I am not a closed-mined person and I am not trolling here. I has also following's Paul's post regarding La Marmotte and from that, I know his FTP is 290 watts and current weight 68 kg or 4.26 w/kg.

Given a peak 5-sec power of 1215 watts and 68 kg, Paul does not have the power-profile of a pure "slow-twitcher." In fact, his comparative 5-sec power is greater than his FTP, indicating someone with "all-around" potential.

PaulMD

Hi John, I know that you are not trolling, neither am I. I now start too realise that I am maybe not a pure slowtwitcher.

But I only question my FTP right now. My 20mp is now more than 332 watts, because during the second interval of a 2x20min training I managed to do 332 watts (that was on last sunday and the last interval was all out at the end).

I hope I can still do 1215w at 68-69kg but I am afraid my 5s power has dropped by stopping with the squat training. The 1215w is done at 73kg. Hmmz, I have to re-test my FTP and 5s power.

Maybe I am not the right person for a n=1 test. But I still think that with dedicated sprint training every slowtwitcher can improve a lot. But when the sprint is already trained for a long period, then improvements will be minimal. The same as a sprinter can improve FTP, but improve it less when he has trained it for a long period.

I read your mitral valve problem and wish you all the best. I hope you will find a good cardiologist soon. Did they find a course that caused the leakage? Can you still cycle or do you have also symptoms during normal activities or breathing problems when lying flat in bed?

__________________
My latest power profile: 5SP: 16.3w/kg | 1MP: 7.7w/kg | 5MP 5.8w/kg | FTP 4.7w/kg
Cycling Forum.info

john979

Paul;

It would be very interesting to see what your 5-sec power is right now. It is probably a bit lower due to your focus on FTP but I bet still above 1100. Nevertheless, your power profile does indicate more fast-twitch ability than either Dr. Coggan or myself and Dr. Coggan did not see significant improvement when intentionally trying to increase his neuromuscular power and I don't see significant improvement in my 30-second power when I do 30-second interval training. I actually use these intervals to help peak my FTP. So now we have N=3.

Data is important and as my personal knowledge evolves, I become more and more sensitive to science-based conclusions as opposed to belief or observational based ones, as much "conventional wisdom" is quite incorrect. For example, regarding VO2 Max, a very large study indicated that to a given controlled training program, there actually are responders and non-responders, the latter coming as a surprise to myself. More interesting is that there was nor correlation to initial VO2 Max and response, indicating that the genes that dictate VO2 Max are different from those which dictate VO2 Max response to training.

Currently, I am very interest in muscle fiber types and their influence on performance, IMHO an overlooked aspect which greatly influences limiters and is another reason why "anyone" can't do "anything".

Regarding my situation, I am actually glad I finally understand what is wrong with me and what has been wrong with me going back to 2005. 2003 was my first year with a PM and in 2003 and 2004 I saw a quite normal response to training. In 2005 things began to sputter a bit and I thought that was due to a new job and job-related stress. By the end of 2006 the job stress diminished and I refocused my training efforts, including purchasing a PT300 Pro. For three months I saw a steady FTP increase under a controlled TSS ramp with a CTL that was not particularly high, then out of nowhere my FTP dropped 10-15% and did not recover even with rest. I first thought my PT300 was defective but this was not the case.

The exact same scenario happened this year, almost to the day. This year I decided on full medical testing which revealed the MVR. There appears to be an acute side to it, exercise induced due to LVH. For now, I am going to completely back off on training, then determining if a medical solution is possible.

Thanks,

John

Steve_B

Neither do I. I tend to get more improvement in 30sec-3minutes from large doses of L5/VO2 training, actually.Can you explain what you mean by that? Do you mean in the sense of traditional peaking strategies, a lot of sprints and AWC work, etc?

PaulMD

Yesterday I did two sprints. My best 5s power was 1115 watts, i will try to do some more sprints at the next easy L2 ride. Difference between the "winter" sprints and the sprints I did yesterday is: 1.) outdoor vs indoor and 2.) my weight dropped from approx 73kg to approx 68.5kg now. A drop from 16.6w/kg to 16.3 w/kg Hmmm, not bad. Last squat training en sprint training was in March this year.

I have never trained my 30s power. Last summer mostly endurance rides. And this winter: 2-3x/week cycling on my pro 300PT with L3/SST/L4 plus 3x/week weight training (2x upperbody and 1x squat plus sprints, max 5-10s). Now I am doing more specific work for improving my FTP. I will do L6 after La Marmotte. After La Marmotte I am going to focus on my timetrial performance. I don't need sprint power

That's a big suprise for me too. Do you have a link or a name of the first author and journal?
I wish you all the best and I hope there is a solution.

__________________
My latest power profile: 5SP: 16.3w/kg | 1MP: 7.7w/kg | 5MP 5.8w/kg | FTP 4.7w/kg
Cycling Forum.info

john979

Steve;

Yes. I found I could do 8-12 30-second intevals after an L4 or L5 workout without compromising my recovery. Give limited time train midweek, it was all I could do to increase CTL during peaking.

john979

See, you have more FT fiber than you think!


I have been looking for the paper for over an hour and i still can't find it...

Thanks for the kind comment.

john

john979

Found it:

http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/conte...tract/87/3/1003

PaulMD

Thanks!
When I start road racing, I hope my 30s power is trainable :-)

My power profile is now:
5s power: 16.3w/kg (based on two sprints on last Tuesday)
60s power: 7.7w/kg (only two times I had to go all out for 60s this year)
5min power: 5.4w/kg (Begining of May, Cote de La Redoute after 90kms of riding, it's also my 6MP)
20min power: 4.8w/kg (based on second 20min interval during last Sunday 2x20min)
60min power: 4.5w/kg (based on 60min NP during yesterday's 2x30min@L4+6.5min break)

__________________
My latest power profile: 5SP: 16.3w/kg | 1MP: 7.7w/kg | 5MP 5.8w/kg | FTP 4.7w/kg
Cycling Forum.info

Steve_B

Oh, CTL. OK, I understand. You wrote "FTP" before. I was trying to understand how 30-sec intervals was helping your FTP. (Though I have seen research studies that suggest a benefit.)

john979

Also with the benefit of increasing FTP. This is consistant with the theory that adaptations are more intensity driven than duration driven.

velomanct

More proof that I am not a natural sprinter:

My lazy, unathletic, fairly overweight(20-30lbs) friends can sprint(running) just as fast as me, and they both kicked my butt in a sprint (swimming) for a short 10 second burst.

I'm just a slow twitcher that loves sprinting. If you don't like sprinting, of course you won't make much improvement. It requires drive, focus and immense motivation.

Oh, and I was bench pressing 115lbs today. It hasn't improved because I hate doing it. I'm actually a little embarrassed at the gym, my arms are like toothpicks compared to most guys there.

There's nothing naturally fast-twitch about me.

__________________
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john979

Have you charted your power profile like PaulMD?