Case introduction
Have done a cycling training guided by Swift winter training plan on Sunday.
The plan on that day aims to smooth cadence paddling with high power burst interval with endurance pace(less than Zone 3). the outcome of the traning can be monitored by the heart rate, cadence and power data. (and speed data is not importance in the case)
The training started in the morning, however, the high power burst interval part is considered failure because Zwift thinks maxium power didn't reach based on history record. Hence after some research and refers to some elite athlete data profile, performed another same plan redo training in afternoon. the afternoon's data indicates the result is quite satisfied. Two data comparing is quite interesting.(as in the picture, click to enlarge)
Two chart analysis
Two same purpose efforts, the outcome is dramatic.
morning afternoon (redo)
Max power(Watt): 478 598
Ave Power(Watt): 152 162
Heart Rate(BPM): 151 146
Cadence(RPM): 101 106
--- afternoon's effort successfully reached the Maximum power burst, (598 watt from previous 478 watt) , with improved approach. it requires 1) standing pedaling to reach maximum strength, 2) fast cadence(> 135 PRM) to leverage consistent power transferring, 3) corrected gear ratio to make fact 1) and fact 2) efficiently happen.
--- afternoon's effort gained the 10 Watt HIGHER power with 5 beats LOWER heart Rate, meaning, less physic energy consuming results higher output power. Efficiency works here! Afternoon's chart indicates much smoother cadence, although higher cadence is not the main fact, in this case.
Conclusion
Improved cycling approach results in more efficience, which potentially improves the maximum output power(says FTP),hence the performance. This is the original purpose of cycling method, such as body position, peddling style, comes from. And it's one purpose the the winter training plan as well.
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