The Power Meter Handbook: A User’s Guide for Cyclists and Triathletes

including the following:
    • Setting specific goals that relate directly to your desired race performances
    • Using personal power zones to train effectively
    • Measuring performance progress
    • Peaking for races with a plan for coming into “form” at the right times
    • Quantifying fatigue and understanding how to manage it
    • Knowing how many calories you expend in a workout or race so that you can focus on nutritional recovery
    • Improving your efficiency by comparing power and heart rate
    • Communicating better with your coach regarding what you’ve done in workouts and races
    • Motivating you to train harder (I sometimes have to hold back the athletes I coach who become overly excited about what they see happening when first using a power meter)
    • Achieving peak race performances
    The bottom line is that learning how to train with power will improve your training and your racing. But the benefits won’t come if you are unwilling to change the way you train. If you’ve been training by “feel” for a long time and are stuck in one way of doing it, you are unlikely to tap the many benefits of power-based training. There is no growth without change, and what you’re about to learn will certainly require you to change your training perceptions. If you are unwilling to do that, then a power meter is not going to do you any good.
    In contrast, I’ve seen significant and at times astounding changes in performance in the many athletes whom I’ve coached over the past decade since I started requiring them to have power meters. All of them improved. Some went from finishing well behind the leaders to standing at podiums in a short time. This never happened before they got power meters installed on their bikes and started using them as I’ll describe in the following chapters. I’m sure doing so can make a big difference for you, also.
WHY NOT HEART RATE, SPEED, OR FEEL?
    Why use a power meter? You’ve spent a wad of money to get one, and all you have to show for it so far are a fluctuating number on your handlebars and some software that looks pretty confusing. And, even worse, you apparently are going to have to change the way you train because of it. Why not just keep using heart rate, as you’ve been doing for years? You’ve come a long way in the sport by doing so. Or how about just using speed? What you’re after, obviously, is simply to go faster. Handlebar computers with speedometers are cheap in comparison to both power and heart rate devices. So why not just use one of those? Or perhaps you are really old school and don’t like anything on your bike displaying numbers. You just want to ride and race by feel. I know where you’re coming from, as I’veanswered these questions for years. Let’s take a brief look at why power is better if you want to perform at a higher level.
Heart Rate
    Contrary to what most athletes believe, heart rate is reactive, not proactive. In other words, it responds to what the muscles are doing. It does not cause the muscles to work any harder. It’s not the “engine”—it’s simply the “fuel pump.” When the engine (muscles) works harder going up a hill, the heart responds by pumping more blood to help the muscles keep going. Training based only on heart rate is like using the fuel gauge on your car to determine how fast you’re driving. That can be done, but it’s “bass-ackwards.”
    Now, don’t get me wrong. The fuel pump (your heart) is quite valuable to performance. The engine (your muscles) couldn’t work without it. How hard the pump is working is good information to know as it’s indirectly related to performance. If the engine is demanding lots of fuel, then something hard is probably happening. So the pump had better be capable of delivering. But no race-car driver would use the fuel pump as a way of determining performance. The engine is at the center of fast car racing. The fuel pump is of secondary importance at best.
    In the same way, we as bike racers are better off looking at what the engine is producing rather than at how hard the pump is working. In fact, your training should be focused on building the engine—your muscles. Contrary to what athletes who use heart rate monitors believe, muscle is where nearly all fitness changes take place. Focusing only on the rate at which blood is pumped to the muscles is not the most effective way to train.
    More than likely you have been using a heart rate monitor ever since you