Here is an email I sent to my coach following some analysis of two identical rides. For the non technical out there, please ignore. For those of you that want to read more about this feature in WKO software you can read about it here: http://support.trainingpeaks.com/trainingpeaks-wko/wko-user-guide/workout-data/quadrant-analysis.aspx
Here is my email to my coach - Jennifer Meyer at Tri Smart Training Systems. Again, the goal is to improve and do so efficiently so we have emails go back and forth like this to validate her training plan or see where it need tweaked for my specific needs.
Begin Message:
Since I did the Pierre Marquette climb repeats on Saturday I was curious if what a comparison of the last time I did it would look like. Take this for what it is worth – a neophyte trying to do complex analysis for the first time . In an effort to gauge progress or lack of it I did a quadrant analysis in Training peaks for my peak 60minutes (other below). I don’t know how to send that file to you or I would but this is how interpreted it. Please Please Please point out any errors in my thought process just because I am really new to this. Also, let me know if this is even a little bit helpful. I can see doing this on my “test” rides to look for changes if any since those should be the most alike than any other rides.
Below is my graph the Yellow is my ride on 9/16/2010 basically my peak for IMAZ training (or close to it)
The Red is my ride on Saturday
Based on what I see, obviously both rides were lower cadence high power output based on 69.4% spent in quadrant II. I am not sure how to analyze the graphs but I can look at the averages.
My normalized power for my ride on 1/7 was approx. 22watts higher than when I did it the first time. My max power was higher as well (although meaning very little). My average HR was lower the first time I did it by 4 BPMS making me think that I was in better aerobic shape then (as I should have been). My higher maximum and higher minimum also make me believe this is the case.
In my rudimentary analysis what I was trying to see are power numbers and how they compare. Based on what I have seen, both files look pretty similar except for a couple of things.
1) I had more time in Q1 on Saturday – High Force and High Cadence which I think is good and ultimately the goal.
2) My raw power numbers are higher for my Peak 60 minutes. Not by a lot but still higher. With it being “strength” time I would hope that strength training will continue to help this. I want to do this workout a few more times to compare to see if my strength training is helping at all.
3) All things being equal, I near where I was in the past. My concern is that I have slipped way below what I was. Based on this very small “POWER” focused sampling it doesn’t appear so which is encouraging. I know I have a long way to go for CDA both in time and fitness however, it is not lost on me how bad of a training year last year.
The other thing that I did was look to see how “fresh” I was for each workout. Obviously this could make a big difference if I was fatigued either day. When looking at WKO my TSB on 9/16 was -24 and on Saturday it was -7 so from a fatigue stand point I was pretty fresh both days ruling that out as a significant factor.
Again, I am just thinking outloud here so please don’t waste any time on a deep dive or anything. I am just trying to make sure that my thinking is sound as I compare this run at IMCDA versus IMAZ. I want to do things smarter and these comparisons are helpful to see if what I am doing is making me a better cyclist (and hopefully runner). I do want to do more comparisons as I do similar workouts.
Thanks for humoring me and reading this. Any thoughts are appreciated but not expected. Below I have done the same thing for other ranges. It looks like I am generating more power across all the ranges looked at below. I will keep adding to this as I do these workouts and see if it keeps improving? I will also email you so that I have a log for the next time I do this (If there is a next time)
Tracy
Peak 30 Minutes
Peak 5 Minutes – You can see this is all climbing with very very little out of quadrant II. This climbes takes about 10 minutes to do.
Thanks and have a great week.
Tracy
Here is my email to my coach - Jennifer Meyer at Tri Smart Training Systems. Again, the goal is to improve and do so efficiently so we have emails go back and forth like this to validate her training plan or see where it need tweaked for my specific needs.
Begin Message:
Since I did the Pierre Marquette climb repeats on Saturday I was curious if what a comparison of the last time I did it would look like. Take this for what it is worth – a neophyte trying to do complex analysis for the first time . In an effort to gauge progress or lack of it I did a quadrant analysis in Training peaks for my peak 60minutes (other below). I don’t know how to send that file to you or I would but this is how interpreted it. Please Please Please point out any errors in my thought process just because I am really new to this. Also, let me know if this is even a little bit helpful. I can see doing this on my “test” rides to look for changes if any since those should be the most alike than any other rides.
Below is my graph the Yellow is my ride on 9/16/2010 basically my peak for IMAZ training (or close to it)
The Red is my ride on Saturday
My normalized power for my ride on 1/7 was approx. 22watts higher than when I did it the first time. My max power was higher as well (although meaning very little). My average HR was lower the first time I did it by 4 BPMS making me think that I was in better aerobic shape then (as I should have been). My higher maximum and higher minimum also make me believe this is the case.
In my rudimentary analysis what I was trying to see are power numbers and how they compare. Based on what I have seen, both files look pretty similar except for a couple of things.
1) I had more time in Q1 on Saturday – High Force and High Cadence which I think is good and ultimately the goal.
2) My raw power numbers are higher for my Peak 60 minutes. Not by a lot but still higher. With it being “strength” time I would hope that strength training will continue to help this. I want to do this workout a few more times to compare to see if my strength training is helping at all.
3) All things being equal, I near where I was in the past. My concern is that I have slipped way below what I was. Based on this very small “POWER” focused sampling it doesn’t appear so which is encouraging. I know I have a long way to go for CDA both in time and fitness however, it is not lost on me how bad of a training year last year.
The other thing that I did was look to see how “fresh” I was for each workout. Obviously this could make a big difference if I was fatigued either day. When looking at WKO my TSB on 9/16 was -24 and on Saturday it was -7 so from a fatigue stand point I was pretty fresh both days ruling that out as a significant factor.
Again, I am just thinking outloud here so please don’t waste any time on a deep dive or anything. I am just trying to make sure that my thinking is sound as I compare this run at IMCDA versus IMAZ. I want to do things smarter and these comparisons are helpful to see if what I am doing is making me a better cyclist (and hopefully runner). I do want to do more comparisons as I do similar workouts.
Thanks for humoring me and reading this. Any thoughts are appreciated but not expected. Below I have done the same thing for other ranges. It looks like I am generating more power across all the ranges looked at below. I will keep adding to this as I do these workouts and see if it keeps improving? I will also email you so that I have a log for the next time I do this (If there is a next time)
Tracy
Peak 30 Minutes
Peak 5 Minutes – You can see this is all climbing with very very little out of quadrant II. This climbes takes about 10 minutes to do.
Thanks and have a great week.
Tracy
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