Hey folks, i’m new to this whole power wattage output. I’m used to just getting on the bike and mashing gears. I’m interested in training for my next IM (Florida) by focusing on my power output. Out of curiosity, does anyone have any numbers on what kind of wattage they averaged and their times for any of the IM races? Thanks, dave
Power wattage? Ummm, that’s redundant.
-C
have a look at the 2peak site, it has some of the pro’s on there and the pro women, remember esp with the women to look at it in terms of Watts per kilo of body weight.
175-180 lbs – 5’ 11’’
IMCDA – Avg. 175 watts – 5:44
HIM (Flat/Light Wind) – Avg. 210 Watts – 2:30
Oly (Flat/Wind/loop course) – Avg 205 Watts – 1:02
I am only 1 year into using power and feel that I have developed more questions than answers from the data. Be prepared to spent quite a bit of time digging through the data.
Take a look at the Classifieds Forum. Rich Strauss is selling the book “Training and Racing With a Powermeter” for $13.50. Also, try checking out his site; cruciblefitness.com for more info on power training.
Power is so relative to the rider.
I’m about 20-25 watts below XFalcon and ride near the same speeds. Last summer I was near 148lbs.
I’ll second the recommendation of the book “Training and Racing With a Powermeter”
jaretj
Welcome to world of power, you’ll love it. As others have said, power produced per athlete varies a great deal as does the amount of speed you’ll get from that power. Probably the best thing to do is take a look at the Allen and Coggan book and buy cyclingpeaks. Their online information is great. Once you’ve established your Functional Threshold Power (FTP) you can get the whole cyclingpeaks thing rolling. The key question is not really how many watts can people produce but how much of the threshold wattage can be held for the IM. Most folks recommend an average wattage of less than 75 % of your threshold value. Feel free to drop me a line if you’ve got more questions.
Jason
I agree with the others that recommend getting Allen and Cogan’s book “Training and Racing with a Power Meter”. It is a great resource and really explains how to get started training and racing with power. Getting Hunter’s Cyclingpeaks software for data analysis is really great as well.
Taking a fraction of Normalized power is typically a better way to pace than just taking a straight average wattage. Average wattage does not take into consideration the variability of effort as well as normalized power does. Allen and Cogan developed the normalized power algorithm to account for variability of effort and they do a much better job in their book explaining the concept.
Obviously speed has a great deal to with drag and frontal area but here are some figures from a few athlete’s IM power data that I have.
Race Avg power Time
IMCA 215 5:15
IMLP 175 6:05
IMCDA 190 5:30
IMFL 195 5:05
Here is the link to 2peak with some of the pro’s data from Kona.
http://www.2peak.com/tools/hawaii3.php?newLanguage=en
Training with wattage can be a tremendous asset, but it does take some time to set up and use the data effectively, but well worth the effort.
How much did the 195 for a 5:05 split (IMF) person weigh? That doesn’t seem close to what i experienced.
In fact, they all seem about 10-20 watts below what I would expect to put out for similar splits.
Hi j-mo.
your data equates to my real life experience at IM Fl this year, I weigh 180 pounds and did 210w (214 as observed when downloaded) for a 5hr 10 split.
To give you some idea I went onto run 3.26 so I am assuming this power level was about right for me, my threshold power is around 300W and a bit.
yea, it seems off from what i experienced at FL too, but it could be explained by a really light/aero person. its tough to say by just seeing a number.
-FWIW, i rode 240W av for a 4:54 split.
thats interesting I have signed up for next year and want to do 5hrs or quicker, aerodynamics will be key. I think I can get more aero and I can definitely get a bit stronger. To go 240w is a big ask though, I know how much harder it is to ride at 230 when I do most of my riding at 220W av
I use a PT by the way what do you use?
what was your marathon time? off the back of that ride?
Hi j-mo.
your data equates to my real life experience at IM Fl this year, I weigh 180 pounds and did 210w (214 as observed when downloaded) for a 5hr 10 split.
Naturally, it varies a lot. I’ve seen ~5:08-5:10 splits reported with 235 watts and with 180 watts. Knowing my own CdA and Crr, I figure I’d need about 195 watts riding completely alone (not that I can actually hold that wattage). As we all know, real life is often faster due to the crowds.
srm
3.15
.
Although I cant say to be completely alone 100% of the time during the bike ride I was suprised to see few packs this year maybe because of the wind. I think I biked a mostly honest race.
Judging by the joules facility I did around 4000 J and this is consistant with solo IM distance rides I have done
j-mo, your my hero dude, I want to do those splits!!! GREAT RUN, One more question…
What is your threshold power? Has to be around 350, I wont ask you for your swim time as I am not calling myself cantswim24 for nothing
i’m not really sure what TP was. I doubt it was 350 though… probably 320 ish? i never really tested it.
I raced IMCdA this year at 205lbs.
1st lap - 2:52 @ 218 watts (average), 74% of threshold
2nd lap - 3:00 @ 209 watts (average), 71% of threshold
for a combined time of 5:52. Heat was a big factor, so I took it a little easy on the second loop.
TP was at the time 295, right now I’m at 315 so next time hopefully a little faster - E
Thanks for the input. This should be an interesting “off-season” where i learn how to ride a bike power based. I’m so use to just hopping on and mashing the pedals. I’ll pick up the book also. Dave
The 5:05 IMFL split was from a few years ago and he weighed 138.
Here is a screen shot from a program that I use for very rough estimates for bike splits. Gradient and frontal area has a huge influence on the times, but through trial and error I have gotten fairly closes estimates of the major IM bike courses.
While aerodynamics obviously play an important role in performance I have seen quite a few people that look really aero, but they either can’t produce power efficiently in the position or they can’t stay in the position and end up riding on their arm rest pads a lot.