The Danger of Focusing on One Metric: Why Top-End Wattage Matters for Triathletes

by Coach AJ

As an Ironman triathlete the goal during the bike is to put the power down evenly, not to go hard then blow up. This means working on steady output and learning to pace properly. However, if all you do is focus on long steady riding you will eventually plateau, just like I did.

When I first stared using a power meter and WKO+ my vision was fixated on one metric: average power for the entire ride. I reasoned average power was the key to going fast on race day since I would be going steady all day. So that is how I trained, putting out steady watts with no real intervals. The few intervals I did were long, twenty to thirty minutes. The problem was that I wasn’t seeing any improvements. I would go out and try to hold a higher wattage, but it wasn’t there.

So I hired a cycling coach, who instantly told me I needed to work on my top end speed. He told me that by increasing my top end wattage this would give me more overall power to work with, thus increasing my one hour wattage. As a runner I had understood this simple idea. If I could run flat out at a 6:00 per mile pace than at 80% I would be roughly at a 7:00 per mile pace. If I could lower my all out pace to 5:30, than at 80% I would be around a 6:40 pace. As your top end speed increases, so does your speed at a given effort percentage. For some reason I didn’t register the same concept for my bike training.

He then said there is only one way to increase your top end wattage, and that is to go hard, which is true in running too. Since I had plenty of base miles from all of my steady riding, he had me doing intervals and we even did some motorpacing. After one interval session I lamented about how low my average watts were for the entire ride. He asked me why I cared, and I told him that even during interval training, I still looked at my watts for the entire ride.

Being a good coach, he explained that what he cared about was the work being done for each separate interval, not the overall average. He was looking at the Intensity Factor, my one and five second and one minute power outputs, and my heart rate at those intervals. He showed me how high my Training Stress Score was for a ride that lasted under two hours, and how my Intesity Factor showed I was working where I needed to. It dawned on me then that he was right, that I had arbitrarily picked out a metric and a number to gauge my success. I needed to gauge my workout’s effectiveness by my ability to accomplish the goal of the workout, which may have nothing to do with overall average watts.

I had focused on one metric of my training and become stagnant. When I was shown the error of my thinking I was able to use WKO+, and plenty of hard miles, to break through. The beauty of WKO+ is that you can track so many different elements of your training, so look at all of them with a purpose. Before you go out the door, know what you want to accomplish with that ride. If you need to work on your base, then keep it steady and note your overall average wattage. Once you have that base, it’s time to work on that upper end output through hard interval work: even an Ironman athlete benefits from very hard, but very short efforts. Note your average power for each interval, your Intensity Factor and your Normalized Power. Review your average wattage for 30 second and 1 minute. As these values go up, so will your power at longer intervals. Using WKO+, you can make sure that you have all you need to be successful.

Remember to enter in the TrainingPeaks Tour de France Sweepstakes and you could win a free SRM power meter, WKO+ software, and more!

About the author:

A.J. Johnson is a U.S.A. Triathlon and U.S.A. Cycling Certified Coach and works with D3 Multisport to help all athletes reach their goals. He has been an endurance athlete his whole life. While he started with running, he focused on Ironman triathlons for 5 years. During that time he raced 13 Ironmans, including 3 Hawaii Ironmans. After racing professionally in 2007 and 2008 he “retired” to focus on coaching and racing other endurance events.

He lives at 9,000 ft. in the mountains of Colorado and enjoys riding and running the trails that run through his backyard. He can be reached at aj@d3multisport.com.