In the Beginning ... (Power Distribution Charts)

I am no coaching god, in fact, not even close. I consider a good coach a good student first and foremost. That is why I am always working hard studying my craft, reading research and trying to find new ways to apply science to the athletes real life situations. Over the past decade, one coach has really stood out as a huge influence in my career, Joe Friel. After a decade plus working in the fitness industry as salesman, fitness instructor, personal trainer and then a health club owner I was always learning and applying what I learned. When I decided to take this path as Endurance Coach the standard was already being set and Joe was the guy. Ten years later he still is. I visited Joe's blog today and really loved what I saw. 

I am always looking for ways to communicate my ideas and experience to my athletes and potential athletes. I have found that writing articles has worked very well. I post them in the Resource section of my web site. They are time consuming but important. When I saw Joe's Bog I realized he was touching upon some great subjects and I also realized I had things to add to his discussions. So, rather than add my thoughts on his blog I figured I would do it on my own. I will also be adding ideas and discussions of my own but Joe's stuff is going to give us great things to discuss. So, here we go.

From Joe Friel's Blog dated 7?31/2010:

Tri vs Roadie Peaking Power Distribution

Here you see two charts showing the power distribution by zone for the last 28 days for a half-Ironman triathlete and a road cyclist focused on a criterium and flat road race, both of whom are peaking for events at about the same time.

 

The zones from left to right in each chart are labeled as…

AR (z1) – Active Recovery

E (z2) – Endurance

TE (z3) – Tempo

TH (z4) – Threshold

VM (z5) – VO2max

AC (z6) – Anaerobic Capacity

Notice how the power distribution is almost exactly the opposite for them. Where the triathlete’s chart bulges in the middle zones (2, 3 and 4), the cyclist’s dips. The roadie is focused on anaerobic capacity training in order to be prepared for the surges that occur in a crit and road race (zone 6). Such training demands a lot of recovery (zone 1). The triathlete is preparing for a long, steady effort done mostly in zone 3.

These charts illustrate the point I keep harping on: Training should increasingly take on the specific characteristics of the event you are training for the closer you get to the event.

As I said, Joe makes a great point here. Specificity is the first law of training, if you want to get better at a sport do that sport. 

There is a time in Cyclist Periodic Training Cycle when their distribution chart looks just like the triathlete's distribution chart when peaking (see above) and that is during the time they are building their aerobic base. When cyclist are focusing on building their aerobic efficiency and doing lots of low to middle intensity high volume work their 28 chart looks just like this. 

There is something else that needs to be said about the cyclist chart and that is you don't want that chart looking like that too long. I call the chart Joe is showing as the Cyclist 28 Day Peaking Distribution the Race Recovery Mode. What this chart is saying is that the athlete is doing lots of higher intensity work then recovering from these efforts. This happens when racing. Athletes need to pedal hard but are looking to draft, soft pedal and recover to save as much energy as possible. While this is great for peaking doing it too long will lower your Functional Threshold Power. So, when you see this chart appear hopefully peak fitness is close by but be ready to get back to work and make your chart look like the triathletes as son as possible. That way you can regain your fitness in time to peak again.