Almost all professionals do it. And more and more amateur cyclists are imitating them: they base their training on their wattage values. Some people think that watt-controlled training is complicated, but that's wrong. It is, in fact, impressively simple. In contrast to the heart rate, the wattage measurement directly indicates the values, they show what you are actually doing - regardless of the speed, which is also influenced by factors such as incline or headwind.
PACING IN THE RACE
Hitting the right pace in a competition is not easy. The heart rate is already very high before the start and the subjective feeling of exertion is even more distorted than usual when adrenalin is pumping through the bloodstream. The rush of hormones is part of the thrill of competition. But if you indulge in this rush uncontrollably, you run the risk of starting far too fast and collapsing later. This can be observed in every marathon. In the first mountain, most participants often ride far beyond their true capabilities. And at the end you see a lot of suffering and little speed.
With a power meter and the knowledge of where your personal limits lie, you can set the right pace right from the start and not break down. You usually catch up with the fast starters before the summit and still have the strength to ride at your own pace on the next mountain. Measuring your watts therefore helps you to organise a race realistically. If you still have the energy and strength to increase your pace at the end, you can get the best out of yourself.
BETTER THAN JUST BY FEEL
Realising your full potential - the power meter also helps you to do this during training. While it mainly serves to slow you down in competition, the effect in training is exactly the opposite: the display in front of your eyes encourages you to complete intervals well. Instead of reducing your performance or even cancelling as soon as your muscles protest, looking at the power meter motivates you to push through the required performance when the training plan demands it. This is particularly helpful for longer intervals. With each training session, you can then better assess what performance you can really maintain and for how long, and how much fatigue you experience during certain workouts.
And this is exactly what makes you a better athlete. Tougher stimuli lead to greater adaptation, which means you improve faster. At the same time, your willpower is trained. And once you have learnt to maintain a certain interval performance, this experience gives you the confidence to call on this performance whenever necessary. For example, you can follow up in a controlled manner if you lose the lead in a race instead of pedalling head over heels to your doom.
Over time, you will not only learn to read yourself better and better, but also the sport of cycling as a whole. After all, all riders have similar performance characteristics: initially strong, then quickly weakening. You will be able to tell from the wattage what the slipstream is doing, whether you are in racing form and much more. Pedalling power is the linchpin in the "motor sport" of cycling.
ALIGNMENT WITH THE BODY FEELING
If this doesn't sound passionate enough for you, we recommend that you temporarily remove the watt display, but continue to collect data anyway. This gives you the freedom to ride by feel - and afterwards you can compare your subjective feelings with reality, which can be insightful. In this way, you will be able to see what rhythm you are voluntarily adopting and how it differs from structured training. Feelings can be deceptive. You may have felt strong, but objectively - i.e. looking at the wattage values - you only ever pedalled hard for a short time. Or you were travelling slower than usual, but in reality you were strong because the headwind was slowing you down. You can eliminate these and other uncertainties by measuring your watts and at least become an enlightened athlete who knows what they are doing and where they stand.
WATT OR PULSE MEASUREMENT?
Especially in the intensive training area, watt measurement is the better method for training control
This graph shows an interval training programme with eight rapid changes between peak load and off-load in the basic range (30"/30"). The targeted power output (black curve) of 400 watts is reached quickly after a short start and is then maintained. Without a watt-controlled brake or power meter, you have to make do with speed, resistance level and feel in order to perform this interval training precisely.
This graph shows that the heart rate (red curve) reacts to the load with a delay. During the 5-minute interval, the power output (black curve) is brought right up to the target range at the peak, but the heart rate only gets going after a minute and a half and continues to rise steadily until the end of the interval. Controlling such an interval using only your heart rate requires a lot of experience.
Determine your own training zone and do the performance test on the road bike yourself: Read on to find out where your threshold heart rate and functional threshold power lie. here.
