CyclingPeaks Question

[pgfourie]

Can one of the Power Guru's (Bruce, BikeMax, ...) tell me what the Pw:HR and Pa:HR in the new WKO+ means? Some rides these percentages are big, some small and some even negative - so how do I interpret them?

 

[bruce]

http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/power411/decoupling.asp

This is a metric the Joe Friel has introduced.  I have tried to understand it, but my numbers seem to be all over the place.  The theory behind it is about assessing when you have completed your base phase and are no longer getting benefits and need to move to build.  Joe puts forward a theory that when your HR drift is lower than a certain percentage (5%) you have reached your peak aerobic fitness and need to move on to anaerobic/VO2Max type training.  Basically the way he works out what the drift is, is by splitting the ride file in half, then comparing the power output/HR for the two halves.  If HR is substantially higher per unit of power in the second half of the ride, you still need to work on your aerobic fitness - i.e. your HR is increasing for the same wattage.

I did a comparison of all my rides and I can't see a proper pattern.  I sent the data to Joe Friel and his response was that this metric is really only valid for low intensity LSD type rides - which I never really do.

But then this morning I did L5 intervals and ended up with a value of 2.86% for the ride - so go figure!!

There is currently no scientific evidence to support this theory, it is more anecdotal.