Is Your Power Meter Slowing You Down?

Are you focusing too much on power, rather than speed? When it comes to triathlon, it's not necessarily the highest average power that wins. That's why in this video, James and Mark explain how to get the most out of your power meter and all the ways that it might actually be slowing you down rather than speeding you up!

Welcome! 0:00
Is your power meter slowing you down? 0:21
Where does power come from? 1:09
Hills are your friend 2:07
Keep your power output consistent on flats 4:20
The importance of power control 5:26

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What's your experience been like using a power meter? ⚡️

Let us know in the comments! 💬

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[gtn]

Do you use a power meter? ⚡ Let us know how it's changed your training. 🏊🚴🏃

[alexgonzalezMI]

Many people don't use a power meter properly. I think first off they don't know there zones and are afraid of the FTP test. Maybe they don't want to know the truth? Beyond that, most people ride too hard on their slow days and not hard enough on the hard days. Or they look at their AVG power of a ride and get depressed because they compare it to someone else on Strava. For me I only look at power when I'm doing intervals. I use my zones and create intervals for those zones. I only care about my power when I'm in those zones. Otherwise I just try to ride pretty chill. From an overall workout load perspective, I use TSS and KJ's and don't focus on time or distance. I watch my TSS and KJ throughout each workout and I target TSS for each workout. This goes well into the PMC and I can predict my TSB for upcoming events or for certain workouts where I have TSS goals for different levels of intensity.

[bikeanddogtripsvirtualcycling]

Ive recently been enjoying online racing (not Zwift) and for the most part my tactics are as follows.

1. Start off with as much effort as possible (start off as hard as possible just sounds wrong. lol). That way I can get as close to, or at the front and try to control the pace.
2. I can recover pretty quickly for short bursts of power, so as often as possible I will give maybe a 5 second at maybe 90% max effort. The reason for this is to help tire out the less conditioned riders so that they can't benefit from any drafting.
3. Hills. When I see a hill coming up, I go up a gear or two and go flat out until i hit the base - then i can coast a little as i throw the gears back down to a manageable effort and no matter what - when I can see the top of a climb just metres ahead and know that there is a descent coming up, I do my absolute utmost to try and get there first

As for power and numbers etc. I prefer to go by feel when racing. I feel that I should be giving absolutely everything that my body will allow. Tonight's race for example I went dizzy and had to hold on to the window frame for a moment cos my HR went to max level for too long.

[nolp]

Love the non moving tri bar bike position in the tunnel from 0.46 - 0.58 🤣🤣

[laurabaumgras-pearce]

Video suggestion: how to be a good spectator/cheerleader to a racer

[atlantixxz]

Am I the only one wondering what James is doing under the bridge at 0:46? 😅

[coachjohn]

Having a power meter and knowing how to use it are 2 different things. You MUST learn how to use it effectively or as this video started it will slow you down....especially on the run...hummm think about that. Stick to one number and you may burn your legs for the run.😢

[James-zuij]

I thought the fastest win. Fast is directly proportional to power.