Best analytical software to get the best from a power meter?
daniel_b
Posts: 12,043
Morning all,
so I have some shiny new, and hopefully reliable (Some of the threads on the garmin forum scare me I must be honest) Garmin Vector 2's fitted on my bike - yet to go out on them though.
I'm currently using a 500, though have asked for a 1000 for my birthday, so not sure if that will appear at the end of the month or not, but I had best assume not!
Having invested what I deem to be a large amount of cash on these, I want to make sure I get the best out of them, partly the reason for asking for a 1000 (Aside from the fact my 500 has started dropping satellites without telling me in the past few weeks) and also why I want to figure out how to use the data properly.
I am going to start time trialling soon, and want to try my hand at finishing at the back of the field in some races next year!
So anyway, I currently use Strava and Garmin connect, oh and also Training Centre for my data, but am aware there is some other good programs out there, so wondered if anyone on here could recommend one that they use for analysing their data.
I have heard of both Golden Cheetah and Sporttracks - the first one being free I think?
And finally (for the moment) what fields do people tend to display on their device, ie what do you find most useful whilst on a ride.
Some of the options I see are 3s, 10s, 30s power, power average, power, Power TSS, and then there are the normalized power display options.
i have bought two books on training with power, but have yet to complete them, so that may well give me the asnwer, but thought there was no harm to ask on here for actual experience.
Cheers
Dan
so I have some shiny new, and hopefully reliable (Some of the threads on the garmin forum scare me I must be honest) Garmin Vector 2's fitted on my bike - yet to go out on them though.
I'm currently using a 500, though have asked for a 1000 for my birthday, so not sure if that will appear at the end of the month or not, but I had best assume not!
Having invested what I deem to be a large amount of cash on these, I want to make sure I get the best out of them, partly the reason for asking for a 1000 (Aside from the fact my 500 has started dropping satellites without telling me in the past few weeks) and also why I want to figure out how to use the data properly.
I am going to start time trialling soon, and want to try my hand at finishing at the back of the field in some races next year!
So anyway, I currently use Strava and Garmin connect, oh and also Training Centre for my data, but am aware there is some other good programs out there, so wondered if anyone on here could recommend one that they use for analysing their data.
I have heard of both Golden Cheetah and Sporttracks - the first one being free I think?
And finally (for the moment) what fields do people tend to display on their device, ie what do you find most useful whilst on a ride.
Some of the options I see are 3s, 10s, 30s power, power average, power, Power TSS, and then there are the normalized power display options.
i have bought two books on training with power, but have yet to complete them, so that may well give me the asnwer, but thought there was no harm to ask on here for actual experience.
Cheers
Dan
Felt F70 05 (Turbo)
Marin Palisades Trail 91 and 06
Scott CR1 SL 12
Cannondale Synapse Adventure 15 & 16 Di2
Scott Foil 18
Marin Palisades Trail 91 and 06
Scott CR1 SL 12
Cannondale Synapse Adventure 15 & 16 Di2
Scott Foil 18
0
Comments
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I'm lazy (power readings to prove) and use Strava Pro and interested in hearing what others are doing.
Pro: The fitness and freshness and power charts are handy, easy and give me enough information as an overview; same for the single ride outputs.
Cons: It massively falls down on recording historical changes in FTP and weight.
Adjust FTP/weight and this will reflect when looking at old rides. It maybe lacks the extra level of detail some people want.
What you need to do first though is go out and ride; ideally building up around 3 months data. Maybe throw in a FTP test sooner if you want to set a benchmark.
As for readings, 3 second power is king.0 -
Trainingpeaks for a good snapshot and planning ahead. WKO+ for analysing in finer detail.Insta: ATEnduranceCoaching
ABCC Cycling Coach0 -
Using Vectors for the last 6 months and have logged with Training Peaks/Golden Cheetah for over 3 seasons now.
Building up a long term picture with ride data... 6 months + can be useful for tracking variances.
Understanding the numbers helps with explanations from the types of these..
http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/applying-the-numbers-part-3-training-stress-balance
Without guidance just looking at stress scores... balance ... acute load.. can be more of a distraction than assistance.
I would save up for a Training Peaks sub as opposed to Strava.. if you want to get serious that is.
TP has gone through a re vamp recently... but the challenge of Golden Cheetah is to discover its many difficult to find feature set... also being freeware.
I use a freebie excel spreadsheet to predict training balance/fitness which GC does not support and is a premium feature of TP... this based on a training schedule I should stick to.
Of course there is an older method:
I'm knckered / I wont train
I'm feeling keyed up/ I ought to race
and also if you have a talent for it, it usually comes to the surface whatever.0 -
Using
I use a freebie excel spreadsheet to predict training balance/fitness
Would you be able to link this please?0 -
Using
I use a freebie excel spreadsheet to predict training balance/fitness
Would you be able to link this please?
the link is a bit down the page
http://www.coachcox.co.uk/2012/03/30/how-to-plan-a-season-using-the-performance-management-chart/
The TSB score tracks very well when compared to GC.0 -
Using
I use a freebie excel spreadsheet to predict training balance/fitness
Would you be able to link this please?
the link is a bit down the page
http://www.coachcox.co.uk/2012/03/30/how-to-plan-a-season-using-the-performance-management-chart/
The TSB score tracks very well when compared to GC.
Great, thanks!
Are there any metrics or info that people would like to see that current analysis software doesn't provide?0
