Race Versus Practice Efforts

One of the things that is always in question is whether a person's training is preparing one for a race. If you are practicing different power zones or physiological parameters than what is expected in your race then you may need to adjust your training.

The multivariant quadrant analysis tool allows me to check this by comparing the effort in a race with one in practice in terms of circumferential pedal velocity (m/s) versus average effective pedal force (N). I broke down the quadrants in a previous post but here they are again:

Q1=high force and high velocity. At the extreme, this would represented by sprinting, but most any extended supra-threshold effort on level ground (e.g., attack or bridge attempt during a race) would entail "quadrant I pedaling".

Q2=high force but low velocity. Typically, "quadrant II pedaling" occurs when climbing or accelerating, especially from a low speed.

Q3=low force and low velocity. Rides that entail a very large percentage of pedaling that falls into "quadrant III" would typically be those used for recovery or for social purposes (e.g., coffee shop rides), or for recovery in a race after an attack or sitting in.

Q4=low force but high velocity. Racing may also involve a significant amount of such low force, high velocity pedaling, especially during events in which there is a frequent need to accelerate rapidly (e.g., criteriums). (Coggan, Andrew, 2005. http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/power411/quad.asp)

Here is the comparison from a 50.6 minute practice session yesterday to the last race in Marietta which was 47.5 minutes long. These efforts were conductted on two different courses but both reflected largely solo efforts.

A

B

Plot A shows all of the data including zeros and plot B has the zeros removed and reflects pedaling power.

Observations:

• Both plots show that most of the efforts are concentrated in Q2.
  
• The most common power points are concentrated between 250-350W with a significant concentration between 300-350W. Above this value the points get more scattered.
  
• The practice data is more scattered than the race data.
• The practice data shows more points above the 350W curve.
  
• The practice data also shows more Q3 points which reflects low power and more "recovery" efforts.
  

Although not a perfect fit, the practice efforts are mimicking to some degree the efforts of a race. Since my power is split almost 50/50 above and below 300W (ftp) during the race, I feel that the practice session is stressing the same physiologic needs of a race. In terms of precieved exertion and effort, I think that while the race is more stressful overall, the practice sessions are within the realm of race pace difficulty.

Is it Safe?

I felt like the Marathon Man yesterday as I sat in the dentist's chair trying to get my tooth extracted. The plan was for him to pull the tooth and then just place the implant. However, I knew it was going badly when he busted out the hammer and chisel. he eventually told me that it was not coming out and set up a late appointment for me at a oral surgeon.

I got over there and my dentist actually followed me and helped with the procedure. That was pretty cool. They got out a big drill and bored down around the tooth and pulled it out. Now I am left with a sore jaw and some stiches and soon the bone will grow back and heal in time for the implant next March.

Even though it was a tough few hours, it was incredibly interesting. They were going to use cadaver bone as a graft but decided to leave it be.

Analysis of Marietta Cyclocross Race

I felt that the Marietta race was pretty hard and one of the reason was I was off the front with a couple of very strong riders behind that were not going to let up in catching me. That is pretty good motivation to keep going all out.

But, the Marietta course is not flat and did offer places to recover and two significant climbs, one a run and one a ride. The run up was not reflected in the power data, but I can analyze the rest of the race and see how hard I really rode.

My functional threshold power (FTP) right now is 300W. I have not done a critical power test in awhile and without zeros included in the data of the last few races, my FTP has been consistant at that value.

If I look at the data from that race, my power numbers (with zero) show that I am 57% below 300W for the 47 minutes. If I take out the zeros and only consider pedaling power (more accurate of 'cross) I find that I am 50% at or above FTP and 50% below FTP. The mode calculation of the data without zeros indicates the most frequent power value to be 336W.

Most of the zero values come from the downhill part of the course and from cornering, gliding into run-ups, and other changes of pace. Being out on my own with no one to draft, 7% without pedalling is about what might be expected.

I did a quadrant analysis of the race using 300W as the threshold power and 88rpm as my threshold cadence. I did one with (red) and without (black) zeros.

In quadrant analysis,

Q1=high force and high velocity. At the extreme, this would represented by sprinting, but most any extended supra-threshold effort on level ground (e.g., attack or bridge attempt during a race) would entail "quadrant I pedaling".

Q2=high force but low velocity. Typically, "quadrant II pedaling" occurs when climbing or accelerating, especially from a low speed.

Q3=low force and low velocity. Rides that entail a very large percentage of pedaling that falls into "quadrant III" would typically be those used for recovery or for social purposes (e.g., coffee shop rides), or for recovery in a race after an attack or sitting in.

Q4=low force but high velocity. Racing may also involve a significant amount of such low force, high velocity pedaling, especially during events in which there is a frequent need to accelerate rapidly (e.g., criteriums).

(Coggan, Andrew, 2005. http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/power411/quad.asp)

Applied to cyclocross, besides accelerations after dismount, much of the power applied is similar to a criterium. I am surprised to see so many power values in Q3 in the non-zero graph considering I had no place to sit in or draft. However, there are many places in a 'cross race where easy pedaling is needed right before a dismount, turn or run-up where you are still pedaling but not applying too much power. It could also reflect the first two laps when most of us were together and drafting may have occured.

Power has been described by Coggan as "stochastic" meaning that rarely does power act like heart rate in that there is an extreme amount of fluctuation due to both physiological and environmental reasons. In cyclocross, there are a lot of pace changes and many ways that power can be applied during the race so the stochastic nature of power is really displayed.

I have had the power meter running in most races but I have only used it twice in the races for pacing. In Conyers I used it across the large parade ground grass field, looking back each lap to see my distance away from my persuers and I was able to use the power meter to keep a steady power so I could maintain that split each lap. At Marietta, my weak point has always been the long straight paved section so I used the power meter there to make sure I did not slack off and recover on that section but instead I tried to keep my power consistant at 300W so the more powerful road guys would not make up ground.

There is no safe way to use the monitor all the time in cyclocross and of course it takes away from the experience of racing to be looking at the data output every other second.

Georgia Cyclocross Race #5: Marietta

Today was a race on sort of "home turf" since a bunch of us practice there each week. Daryl always changes the course and today was no different keeping it real with mostly grass, the nice hill climb, famous hill of pain dirt run-up, and the long stretch of pavement. He did not make the weather and it was a chilly 42 degrees or so with the wind whipping and gusting all over the course.

This race is always really fast and the dirt run-up eventually takes its toll. Our start out power was low at around 976W but it was into a wind and as we made it onto the grass the wind picked up. On the first lap we had around 6-7 guys and I was at the front until Chris Wiley, Gerard, and Brad all took small fliers in order to get to the run-up first. I was third in line at that point and after the run-up there were just 3 of us.

On the second lap others had crept back up and leading up the dirt climb on the way to the dirt run-up I was leading and decided to make a small attack at the top. On the first lap I could see why Chris used to be a good runner before cycling, he flew up the climb. So, I tried to get up first and had the gear pre-set and made my small attack.

I soon found myself alone with a small gap of around 10-15 seconds and I rode hard for about 5 minutes almost "a bloc"to see if I could hold it. My surprise grew each lap as I held the lead but Chris and Gerard got closer and with 3 to go they were only behind by about 10 seconds.

At this point I was pretty tired. I really was not sure I could hold the lead because the paved section with the head wind was killing me each lap. I tried to use the power meter to keep the power constant there on each lap and that seemed to help. I felt like I was losing time with 2 to go so I decided to go all out and see what happened. Gerard said that Chris attacked him and he was able to get back on Chris's wheel so Chris pulled up. Chris also said that is what happened. Even still, by the end I only won by about 10-15 seconds.



I really like the Marietta course (as long as it is dry) and was happy to win with Jill and Charlotte there. The team did well too in all categories.

Only 2 weeks left until the state championships and hopefully I can make a good showing of it in Macon.

Today I got a Sierra Nevada IPA for my troubles. Gerard got a NICE bottle of Belgian beer and a cool GA CX pint glass as prizes.

Georgia Cyclocross Race #4: Monroe, GA

I woke up this morning feeling good and it was cold in my house and outside as the thermometer read 39 degrees. I loaded up my car and backed out but did not get far because one of my tires was flat! I wasted 30 minutes changing it and eventually headed out to Monroe. The temperature kept dropping as I got further from the city and by the time I got to Monroe it was around 34 degrees. It was windy too and the ground looked frosted over.

The Monroe venue is always dependable. I think it is free and although it offers little elevation change, it can be manipulated about a hundred ways and this year I think they got it right. In using the lower parking lot, they could use the top one for paved sections and also keep the pavement track around the playground. There is plenty of bumpy grass and two major ditches that are almost unrideable on a 'cross bike. There were also two nicely placed barrier sections that offered no momentum up to them, and a bunch of tricky off-camber sections (one of which I wiped out on in warm-ups, right in front of the officials).

Of the early morning 35+ riders, Brady Rodgers and Brad harper seemed the most dangerous. Gone were Chris Wiley and Dave Irving the ex-pro riders from last week (I'm sure they will be back). Brady is a Cat 1 and Brad is a Cat 3 (I think), and I have ridden against both of them many times.

I tried to make the start as hard as possible and I was able to hit 1170 watts initially and average 970 for 10 seconds which in relection was pretty good. It did not get rid of many riders but I got out in front and soon ended up with Brady, Brad and Jeff Welp (teammate). Jeff went to the front and I thought that he might have a bunch of form so I waited to see what would happen. Soon Brad bolted off the front and opened up a gap but I sat in and waited. Jeff faded a bit and I was able to get up to Brady. Soon we had gapped Brad and I wanted to make it stick so I had to get Brady to stop attacking for a second. Once things calmed down, Brady and I were alone and began to work well together to open up a very large gap.

There were plenty of places on the course to attack another rider. The paved sections were ideal for Brady since he is an excellent road racer. There was one particular section that was uphill and into a head wind that he would gap me about 2 seconds each lap. I thought he would eventually attack me there.We rode together for awhile and Brady missed a turn and almost went through the hard to see course tape. It was pretty funny and I pulled up a bit so he could get back on. I did not want to start anything until we saw how many laps there would be left. So, with 3 laps to go we rode very cautiously and slowed down a bit. Nearing the two to go point, on an uphill barrier section, Brady got over first, looked back and caught me in a momentary lapse of thought. He did not really punch it but he opened up a 15 second gap for the last 2 laps that I did everything except throw up to try to pull back. I had a liberal amount of drool and snot caked on my face on the last 2 laps and I could see him just up ahead but I could not get back.

He eventually won and I came in second, Brad and Jeff finished 3rd and 4th. It was not a bad loss and I really felt that if he had attacked me when I thought he would I could of hung on and sprinted it out with him. I should have not had a brain lapse when I did but I was pretty tired.

Brady later told me that he had done 140 races this year. This was my 7th of the year so in the past two weeks I have been beated by 2 ex-pros and a cat 1 who has done 140 races. I can feel good about that. I also had a nice average power of 299.5 watts which is still pretty good after 4 races.

Next is Marietta where I usually have a good race-hopefully I can do better.

For my efforts today I get a Chimay dubbel, not a triple since I came in second and not first. The "Grand reserve" will have to wait!