Saturday, April 14, 2007

Power profiling

As Andrew Coggan states in his introduction to power profiling, It's human nature to want to know how you compare to others in your sport. He developed a chart that relates racing category with power-to-weight ratio for 5-second, 1-minute, 5-minute, and FTP (1 hour) intervals. It's interesting to see where my numbers fall on the chart. I don't have accurate numbers for the 1-minute duration because I haven't tested for that time interval, but I will soon. I was pleased to see that my FTP and 5-minute power to weight ratios are good; however, it's clear that I need a lot of work on my sprinting (5 sec and 1 min).

The chart depicts in red my power-to-weight ratios. The upward slope to the right indicates a typical time trialist profile. (Based on the other numbers, I'm guessing my 1-minute number will be in the 7.2 or 7.3 watts/kg range.) A good all around racer would have a flatter profile. A sprinter's profile would slope downward from left to right. Some of it is dictated by genetics (fast twitch vs. slow twitch muscle fiber percentages). But I think I could flatten my curve quite a bit with proper training.

Click the chart to see it better.

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