weight loss and time trialling
vermooten
Posts: 2,697
Hi,
I feel the need to lose 3-5kg (using my full-length mirror as the trigger for this feeling) and wonder what extent, if any, weight loss can influence performance in a flat 10- or 25-mile time trial. All the evidence I'v e seen so far (web, books, chat) suggests that it's not crucial, but common sense suggests otherwise.
See, if my performance would improve, that might help with my motivation to eat less.
What do you think?
Cheers,
Andy
I feel the need to lose 3-5kg (using my full-length mirror as the trigger for this feeling) and wonder what extent, if any, weight loss can influence performance in a flat 10- or 25-mile time trial. All the evidence I'v e seen so far (web, books, chat) suggests that it's not crucial, but common sense suggests otherwise.
See, if my performance would improve, that might help with my motivation to eat less.
What do you think?
Cheers,
Andy
0
Comments
-
Littleeffect on flat courses - loads on hilly stuff. But you must ensure you don't lose power/fitness while struggling to lose teh pounds or kilos.0
-
It will help on the flat because your body size will reduce, so you push less air out of the way. It'll help more on hillys, of course.
I think the performance predictor on a flat course scales with power/weight^0.67 whereas on hilly courses it goes with power/weight (all other things being equal)Jeff Jones
Product manager, Sports0 -
hardly any impact at all on a flat course.
As was mentioned recently in an article in the comic, working on power will show you bigger improvment on hilly courses than losing weight.0 -
The Powertap hub i just got has shown me some amazing things already, can work on them rather than fretting over my weight which just pisses me off.Ramanujan wrote:hardly any impact at all on a flat course.
As was mentioned recently in an article in the comic, working on power will show you bigger improvment on hilly courses than losing weight.
Thanks all, I'm getting a clearer picture now!0 -
Good question, i may know the answer in reverse. I am currently about 1 - 1.5 stone heavier than at the end of last season (not planned it just happened) and going about 1' to1'30" slower in our evening 10's (it's not a flat course though). There are other factors (sick for 2 weeks at Easter and currently have knee problem) which may account for both overweight and undertraining - its all sort of linked. No panic - yet!0
-
This must be so marginal - I know a guy who has a real belly on him (think "swallowed Space Hopper" and you get the idea) - he is/was a classy rider (former Elite roadman) and can still whoop my butt in the flat TT's, but on the hillys....................he can still whoop my butt, but not by such a big margin.Jeff Jones wrote:It will help on the flat because your body size will reduce, so you push less air out of the way.0 -
I just did some quick calculations of different power:weight values. It looks like it's much easier from my base to improve my ratio by working on power than the small gains from losing a sh*toad of weight.
Shame that, I really need to lose a stone or so.0 -
-
-
Yep, spot on.vermooten wrote:I just did some quick calculations of different power:weight values. It looks like it's much easier from my base to improve my ratio by working on power than the small gains from losing a sh*toad of weight.
Think of it this way: it's easier to lose weight when you're fitter because you can produce more power, ie you burn more calories per hour.Shame that, I really need to lose a stone or so.Jeff Jones
Product manager, Sports0 -
I think either Ric or Alex posted a while back that unless you could lose more than 5 or 6 kg, you'd get the best performance improvement (in general) by increasing your power. Above 5 or 6 kg you should be looking to lose some weight as well to improve performance.
I'm waiting for Alex or Ric to jump in and tell me I'm imagining things, but I'm sure I recall this!Le Blaireau (1)0 -
I'd agree, once you start to get down to the last 5kg, the savings on a flat course get smaller. But it all helps, being lighter does help, so long as you lose bodyfat and not muscle. You will save a few seconds just from the start and the halfway turn. Also you will boost your VO2 Max too.0
-
focus on improving power
eat well and rest well to enable you to train hard
do the above and weight will generally take care of itself
no point losing weight if you can't train well
the balance of impact between aerodynamics and weight in Time Trial performance is not straight forward and depends a lot on the nature of the course.
steady vs highly variable gradients;
flat v ascending v descending;
techical vs straightforward;
headwind/tailwind;
point to point vs out n back vs loop.
which means in some circumstances it is better to get more aero and sacrifice some power and at other times get less aero in order to develop more power.0 -
What with aerodynamics being so important, and seeing this model where the crotch area is shown accounting for a lot of drag ... (now work with me here) ... could a bit of a belly shielding that area actually be helpful in a time trial?
Anyone got a wind tunnel to test the effect of a few pies?
Cheers,
Ed.0 -
edeverett wrote:What with aerodynamics being so important, and seeing this model where the crotch area is shown accounting for a lot of drag ... (now work with me here) ... could a bit of a belly shielding that area actually be helpful in a time trial?
Anyone got a wind tunnel to test the effect of a few pies?
Cheers,
Ed.
I would have thought that a belly would hang in front of areas that would block the airflow anyway so i dont know that it would have much effect? Although if you are that fat that your belly is stopping your legs going up and down in an otherwise aerodynamic position then i suppose some weight loss may be in order?0 -
Cumulonimbus wrote:edeverett wrote:What with aerodynamics being so important, and seeing this model where the crotch area is shown accounting for a lot of drag ... (now work with me here) ... could a bit of a belly shielding that area actually be helpful in a time trial?
Anyone got a wind tunnel to test the effect of a few pies?
Cheers,
Ed.
I would have thought that a belly would hang in front of areas that would block the airflow anyway so i dont know that it would have much effect? Although if you are that fat that your belly is stopping your legs going up and down in an otherwise aerodynamic position then i suppose some weight loss may be in order?
Yep it does
0 -
Well I'm 17.5 kg lighter than when I last TT'ed and I'm roughly 10% slower so every 1.7kg of weight you put on equals 1% improvemnet in speed :roll:0
