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I hate power meters!

GSAstuto

Maximum Pace
Oct 11, 2009
974
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What can I say? I'm more of an SOP rider and the Power meters nag at you like a Japanese Judo coach or you-know-what. This is all "stuff we all know". But honestly, the more I use them, the more I hate them (in a good way). So, now I can discriminate my rides into various categories like:

1) No worries. I'll ride at whatever pace (or not) strikes my fancy.
2) Who says recovery? My heart IS beating, right? So that's recovery in itself.
3) Ugh. The day after a harder ride - but I still want some reasonable effort.
4) Sh*t. Ok - so we'll go up into the 'tempo zone' - which for me is more like the Twilight Zone.
5) Sh*tf$ckDam! - It's only positive that a pocket AED will fit... into my pocket!


But realistically these units are pretty cool. Ever since I made strain gauge 'hooks' for helicopters in the 80's I've been somewhat enamoured by data acquisition / monitors. in a Heli - if you lift too heavy a load (and you can) you will increase the ToT (Turbine Outlet Temp) and Transmission Torque above rated levels. Do it for too long a period and it means you get to tear down and inspect - or worse - an overhaul costing many thousands of dollars!

Well, almost the same applies to riders. If you 'over torque' you have the piper to pay. And the older you get, the dearer the payment! The SRM device like PowerTaps, etc - let you train in context and also keep the Piper at bay.

In old school riding, you just 'know' these levels inherently by how much you are puckering and paining. With the strain gauge data - you can put a number to it.

Pretty cool. Anyway, I'm having fun (or what you call it) -- and the correlation between functional training and non functional intervals is quite interesting.
 
Power Meter

It is the best unit for measurement

nuff said

The real question is are you willing to truly use this tool or just stare at it like a deer in the headlights.

Enough information is out there to understand it.

But it does take it past the fun level and to the podium level.

The choice is yours!
 
Power Meter

It is the best unit for measurement

nuff said

The real question is are you willing to truly use this tool or just stare at it like a deer in the headlights.

Enough information is out there to understand it.

But it does take it past the fun level and to the podium level.

The choice is yours!

Agreed,

This is one of the main reasons that I decided to do the new training program for a few times and see how I like and more importantly can perceive my progress. If I'm going to spend 2k on a power meter then I'd better use it, so HR is ok for my uses at the early stages I'm at.
 
What draws me to using power is being able to quantify how many kilo joules you use taking the guess work out of replenishment. If you know how much you kilo Jules you use, you know how much to eat, or not eat! I may be getting a new power meter for weight loss and also to accuratly gauge Time Trial and hill climb efforts.
 
What draws me to using power is being able to quantify how many kilo joules you use taking the guess work out of replenishment. If you know how much you kilo Jules you use, you know how much to eat, or not eat! I may be getting a new power meter for weight loss and also to accuratly gauge Time Trial and hill climb efforts.

Indeed.
 
Sorry but weight loss is based around biometrics, expenditure and consumption , obviously you get a very accurate reading regarding consumption of fuel with a power meter, however if you are over weight with a high visceral fat rating and piling on the kcals that you think you burnt when riding you are never going to lose the weight.
 
My idea is to lose weight by creating a caloric deficit and ride at high intensities. I farm, teach English and I am a father, so while losing weight is important I also need to fuel my energy system to get through the day. I have noticed if I create too large of a caloric deficit I get very tired and at night I have trouble teaching my students and weaken my immune system, very dangerouse as a teacher and being around farm animals. Last year I was hospitalized with phnumonia and the last thing I want is to be sick again.

I want to keep the deficit to a minimal to maintain my ability to handle life's tasks but still gradually lose weight. If I do a big ride in the afternoon I want to know how many calories I burned so I can replenish and still maintain a deficit.

I have subcutaneous fat and viscral fat, so on top of the caloric deficit I will be also doing high intensity work outs.

Other factors will be included to my training plan like rest, timing of food, life stress, events and, what was that called again... hmmm. oh yeah, FUN :)


Chuck
 
Bizarrely, I am now able to validly comment on weight loss from personal experience.

I have gone from around 80kg, to floating around 71/2kg with a view to continue into the sub 70kg range in a month or so.

No doubt the way I did it probably conforms to some currently accepted theory, but practically speaking I did it like this;

Food; cut out stuff that makes people fat, converted my energy source from
sugary stuff to fats.

Exercise; more, planned and continued.

Without wanting to go into boring details about food, I cut out as many carbs as I could, especially sugary drinks, bread, pasta, rice, etc. Hugely upped my fresh fruit and veg intake, with an eye on focusing on fructose rather than sucrose rich fruits, and dark green veg. Eat a solid breakfast, and just keep topping that up with fruit, veg and lean meats / eggs throughout the day as needed.

Combining this with a regular training plan that I have stuck to, the weight has fallen off to the point where pretty much everyone has commented on it.

When I started it, I will admit that I did feel pretty knackered / weird. I put this down to my body getting over the addiction of sugar / carbs as energy and converting to using fats. I am now over this and feeling better by the day.
 
10kg,
That's great!

My biggest hurdle in reality is what I eat and drink,
not so much the training.

I am giving up drinking for a month to see how that affects me as well.
 
Oh yeah, forgot...

I don't drink alcohol anymore (101 days clean today), which has also played a part in the weight loss; much more focus, nothing holding me back, etc., plus not putting all that excess carbohydrate in me from beer.
 
Weight loss is highly complex and variable. YMMV. Using the PowerMeter to gauge your fueling requirments is not a perfect model -- like FE pointed out - you may know the energy expenditure - but this could come from a variety of sources, and just shoveling back in the same via carbs, fats, etc may not go 100% to replenish. The body is very tricky and does its best to store energy in the fat cells. In fact if you go into starvation mode, you may even gain more fat! One of the things about the powermeter riding that is good is that you can see how much of your ride lies within specific exertion zones. And it also helps for pacing and getting your ride into a more consistent tempo overall. Yeah - the energy consumption factor is cool - it's nice to know that you are burning off some of those stored kcals. I lost most of my accumulated weight pretty much in the same Owen did. Just ride as much as possible and cut out the excessive carbs - and especially cut down on eating them when I don't really need them. (Like at night). 'No white at night' That's my mantra for weight loss. I went from over 85kg or so (can't even remember exactly now) to 65kg-69kg in just about 2yrs. This is just about 5kg over my weight when I was in my 20's and 30's. As I get older, I've lost muscle mass and become a bit shorter - so , in reality, I should be weighing less than I did when I was 25.
 
Oh yeah, forgot...

I don't drink alcohol anymore (101 days clean today), which has also played a part in the weight loss; much more focus, nothing holding me back, etc., plus not putting all that excess carbohydrate in me from beer.

Can't remember my last drink...probably in December sometime...but I'm off the booze as well.

What's the point of buying a power meter if you eat and drink stuff that will slow you down???

I'll get clean and fit and then consider getting a power meter... I'd like one now, but I don't need one yet...
 
Actually eating at night = weight gain is actually myth.

Your body goes in to overdrive and actually raises ytour core temp..... you burn a heap of calories when you sleep as this is when your body repairs itself. One of the reasons why its recommended to have a glass of milk before bed ....your body will use that protien!
 
Yeah, when I was into bench pressing double my body weight in my mid-20's, it was standard procedure on training days to have a protein shake before bed, then another if you wake up in the night for the toilet, then another at breakfast. All of the growing was done during sleep; consuming the right amount of protein, etc, was great, as you could go to bed then wake up bigger.

Didn't put on any fat this way (that came later when I started 'supplementing' more creatively.)
 
Actually for those that are borderline underweight eating before bed is essential if you don't want to start losing muscle mass.
 
Actually for those that are borderline underweight eating before bed is essential if you don't want to start losing muscle mass.

Where is a good place to get info on what is considered underweight?

I think I'm ok, but I am pretty thin.

179cm, 60.9kg
 
Where is a good place to get info on what is considered underweight?

I think I'm ok, but I am pretty thin.

179cm, 60.9kg

That's a BMI of 19, almost the perfect weight for a runway model in the euro-zone. (They have to be at least 18.)

A little make-up, some practice walking, and maybe this could be a new career! ;)
 
That's a BMI of 19, almost the perfect weight for a runway model in the euro-zone. (They have to be at least 18.)

A little make-up, some practice walking, and maybe this could be a new career! ;)

Screw finishing the education, on with that ;)
 
You eating OK?

Yeah I think so, I eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, protein, fats, carbs everyday.

I don't eat wheat so that means no fast food, chips, most sweats, and pizza. I noticed that when I stopped eating wheat that, due to the broad range of foods I can't eat, I started slimming down and lost about 12kg over the last year. And the regular riding.
 
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