Training and Racing with a Power Meter [Paperback]

If you presently train with a power meter on your bike or are thinking of getting one, this is a must-read book. Authors Hunter Allen and Dr. Andy Coggan are eminently qualified to write this book which is the first full-length book devoted solely to the subject of training (and racing) with an on-bike power meter. Hunter allen is a full time coach of cyclists and triathletes who uses the power meter as a key element in his training approach. Dr. Coggan is renowned as a widely published exercise physiologist and is also an avid master's cyclist.

The authors have presented much of the material in the book at seminars around the country. I attended one of those in 2005 in Sacramento, CA, so I was already familiar with much of the material in the book even before reading it. Also, much of the material has been presented and discussed in the Wattage discussion list on topica (lists.topica.com/lists/wattage/). The beauty of the book is that it collects all this valuable information, and much more, and presents it in a well organized manner in one place.

An early chapter describes each of the four major presently available commercial power meters (SRM, PowerTap, Polar and ergomo). It covers their relative advantages and disadvantages. The same chapter covers the software that is included with each power meter plus other standalone software offerings including CyclingPeaks which was developed by the coauthors along with Kevin Williams. Many examples from the book include screen shots and examples from CyclingPeaks but the ideas they convey are explained in the text so no prior knowledge of CyclingPeaks is necessary. If you are contemplating buying a power meter, this chapter alone is worth the price of the book.

The starting point to train using a power meter is to determine your Functional Threshold Power (FTP). The book explains several alternative methods to do this. Once FTP is known, the authors present a system of seven defined training levels. The explanation of why seven levels are chosen, what the purpose of each is and power and heart rate ranges (where those are appropriate) for each level are given. The power ranges are expressed for each level as a percentage of FTP. For example, level 4 is the lactate threshold level with power range of 95-105% of FTP. The justification for selecting these seven levels (sometimes called "zones" in other books on training) is the clearest I've ever read on the subject. The rationale for and benefits of training at each of the levels would be valuable information even to a cyclist who wasn't training with a power meter.

Many novel concepts are introduced in the book. The concept of "power profile" is one example. This involves measuring the maximum power that you can sustain for four selected time intervals - 5 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes and FTP. These are then converted to watts per kilogram. A table in the book (separate for men and women) allows you to see where you stand on a scale ranging from untrained to world class level. By determining your own profile and monitoring it over the course of time, you can see better your strengths and weaknesses as a cyclist.

There is simply too much novel material in the book to do it justice in a review of reasonable length. Just to mention, in the most cursory way, other novel concepts introduced and covered in detail the book are Normalized Power (NP), Intensity Factor (IF), Training Stress Score (TSS), "sweet spot" training and Quadrant Analysis. NP and IF are introduced to define TSS. TSS is proposed as a method to quantify and monitor the total training load that a cyclist carries.

Other chapters in the book tell how to develop a training plan based on power. Sample workouts and sample multi-week training blocks are given.

If you've gone to the trouble and expense of putting a power meter on your bike, you owe it to yourself to get this book and read it.

To understand where I am coming from: I am a licensed cycling coach and serious cyclist. I've been using a bicycle power meter (PowerTap) for years, and training with an indoor power-based trainer for even longer. For full disclosure, I have also met both authors in-person, and I know one of the authors quite well.

I highly recommend this book for any serious cyclist. I gobbled it down once, and I am now on my second reading. I have learned quite a bit on the subject by reading the book, despite my prior experience and training.

I enjoyed and appreciated the book because:

(1) COMPREHENSIVE!! This is perhaps the book's best feature--nothing seems to be missing. Every subject of which I am aware, as it relates to training with a power meter, is in there. Plus, I found information about which I was previously unaware. Joe Friel (renowned cycling coach and author) writes an introduction, and as he said, no other book even compares, at this time, in terms of content.

(2) AUTHORITATIVE. The authors are recognized in cycling circles as two of the most knowledgeable persons in the United States on using a power meter for cycling training. The authors' combination of an experienced cycling coach and former professional cyclist (Allen) and an exercise physiologist / scientist (Coggan) is not available in any other cycling training book, to my knowledge.

(3) EASY TO USE. The chapters are organized logically and, on my second reading, it has been easy to go back to subjects that interest me more than others.

(4) NOT TOO COMPLEX. The authors touch every subject thoroughly and comprehensively, but do so in a way that is not too difficult to understand or grasp. Admittedly, I was already very familiar with the basic terminology of training with power prior to my first reading. Even so, it seems to me that someone with very little prior exposure to training with power would grasp, and benefit from, much of the content on first reading.

Despite my five star rating (which I give without hesitation), I felt that the book had a couple of distractions:

(1) The writing style is a bit choppy and sometimes lacks flow and sophistication. Occasionally, the style is a bit colloquial or informal. Then again, cycling coaches and scientists are not usually known for English professor type of writing, so the style was almost expected and happily tolerated.

(2) The authors sometimes toot their own horns a bit too much. Besides writing this book, the authors developed one of the first (and in my view, one of the best) third-party software programs used to analyze power meter computer files. In the book, at times, the authors did not hesitate to give full accolades for their own software product, while giving not so generous treatment of other products. The bottom line, however, is that their products probably deserve such high treatment. But, it was a bit of a distraction.

Overall, I felt that this type of book should have been published years ago. Now that it is here, I expect to refer to it again and again. It's one of those books that you can read several times and learn something new each time. But, I never seemed overwhelmed by it. I highly recommend this book for any serious cyclist.

I am an experienced racer in triathlon and MTB ultra-distance events. This book, coupled with my new power measuring tools and my long-time use of a heart rate monitor, has taken my training to new levels. I am a detail-oriented, technical person, and the book satisfied my need for insights into how and why things are recommended or advocated. I found the advice and techniques to be absolutely useful in helping me improve my knowledge and my performance. I am wasting less time training wrong and getting more back from my sessions in the few months since I began reading this book-- but it will take me years to master the material inside, which tells me that I've got a real reference as opposed to an owner's manual here. If you're going to train with power, don't do it without this book.

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