FAQ ~ No Power Meter
I don't have a power meter how do I pace my sessions?
All of our training sessions are designed to be short, sharp, intense, challenging and rewarding investments in your cycling development.
Power meters are a fantastic tool to help you set, monitor and improve your performance, but they're not essential.
I love mine to bits and quite honestly wouldn't be without it, it's as much part of my bike as a bottle cage; but Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault didn't seem to do too bad without power meters!
The objective in each of our sessions is to "just" get to the end of each session. If you feel you could do another minute at the end of the drill you're doing, then you've not gone hard enough. If you crash and burn a minute early, you've gone too hard.
If your last effort is 5 kph less than your first, you've got your pacing all wrong. These are all valuable lessons learned; NOT failures. They only become failures if you don't learn from them!
Find The Rhythm
Our sessions are designed to be challenging and time
effective. But they will always leave you with that slight doubt
in your mind.
In week one, you may miss the mark by going too hard, or not hard enough at the start. But you've learnt a valuable lesson.
You can see the car crash that is a SH1TS session above, that was meant to be 7 x 3 minute intervals, all at the same intensity (yellow line).
Started off way too hard, died completely on effort five, recovered slightly for six and seven!
Now I have a reference point of what I can't do. The following week, knowing my limits, I backed off slightly on the early sessions and nailed it.
In week two you'll close in on your abilities and parameters and will be now better placed to understand your limits.
In week three your body will be fatigued and you might just nail it, or just fall short! Nothing is wasted, this is all good information.
Don't beat yourself up, you haven't failed, you've learnt. Use the knowledge you now have to manage your expectations for future sessions.
As long as you get near to the end of each session, pleasantly fatigued, you would of been in the exact right power zone for your abilities on that day at that time. And that's all you can ask.
