Any thoughts???

I think in terms of CP60, and have the following rough ranges in mind based on what I've done and what others have reported some success with.

Sprint (<30k bike with <=5k run): 95-100%

Oly: 90-95%

Half: 85-90%

IM: 75-80%

The ranges depend on the individual and their overall state of fitness. If I'm in cracking good run shape, I'd be at the upper end of these ranges; otherwise sticking to the lower end. Also, the faster you are in general, the more you can push the bike because it's over quicker.

I don't know of anyone that has done a successful IM at 80% of an honest CP30. That's a bit too hard, IMO.

YMMV.

Depends on how you define "LT." By the true technical definition, most experienced triathletes (AG and pro) race an Oly at well above LT on the bike and run.

By any other definition -- well, you have to give a definition first. People have all sorts of different effort levels in mind when they say "LT."

I prefer to ignore any terms having the words "lactate" or "aerobic" in them and stick with duration-effort terms such as Daniels' "T" and Coggan's "FT." These are defined in terms of best effort over a 1-hour period, and I think help eliminate some of the confusion surrounding the 15 different ways people use the terms "lactate threshold" and "aerobic threshold" and "anaerobic threshold."

Besides -- none of us carry a lactate measuring kit or a metabolic cart around with us. But we can all carry a stopwatch (or a powermeter).

I've found similar power ranges for sprint and Olympic tris.

For Olympic distance I work up to about 95% of CP60 (takes me 10 minutes to get there with the swim still in my legs).

For Sprints I have the same problem with not being able to hammer right away, so I usually start about 90% for 5-10 minutes(just like olympic), and work up to 100% of CP60 on a good day. I found if I started pushing 100% cp60 right from the transition area, my legs burn up fairly quickly and I need to back off.

You know, I had that exact experience in a sprint this morning. I had planned on dialing up P60 watts right away, but I couldn't hold it. After about 15 minutes of riding, I all of a sudden found that gear and sat on target wattage the rest of the way.

Good reminder.

I like Ashburn's numbers for an elite or very good AGer. I think 95% for an oly where the bike will be a bit over an hour is fast - also 90% for a half IM I think is a bit high for anybody. I'm not sure where these numbers came from but here is a list I had written down:

Sprint -100%, oly - 93%, half - 86%, and IM - 79% of FT (1 hour best watts). I think this also is a bit high for most and definitely too high for 75% of us.....knock of 5-10% for MOP'ers and back....

Dave

I know what you mean. My olympic distance power hasn't averaged much lower than my sprints distance bikes because of the "warm-up" period- although I am pushing 5% higher watts the second half of the sprints compared to the olympics.

I've also found that I can get darn near my p60 wattage during the 2nd half of olympic distance bikes, but hold back to avoid sabotaging my run.

Curious if anybody else out there has power data for short course tris.