Training Tips
The numbers can help you improve on the bike, but so can ignoring them
Stop watching your training data
Data. Metrics. Numbers. You, the modern cyclist, are bombarded with information – information about power, speed, training load, your place upon the Strava kom leaderboard, your heart rate, sleep, recovery, weight, and the list goes on. Data can be a very good thing because it’s quantifiable, measurable and meaningful. It can show you the significance of your actions, your decisions and your training. But obsessing about data can be a disaster. Sometimes the best thing you can do is put your cycling computer in your back pocket and simply ride.
You should always record your ride data, but why put it out of sight? Well, without the constant stream of live numbers, you’re free to pay close attention to how you feel. How do your legs feel? How is your respiration? Do you have any aches and pains? Developing this body literacy is a crucial skill for any athlete. It will take time, just like it took time to learn from your power meter (or heart-rate strap) what endurance intensity or threshold intensity is supposed to feel like. If you are always watching your numbers, your perceived exertion – your sense of how hard you are working – might not be all that perceptive.
No matter where you are in your training – whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned pro – here’s what you can gain by putting your cycling computer in your pocket, or by setting its screen to go dark, and only reviewing the numbers after the ride.
No-number endurance ride
An endurance ride is our favourite ride to do with the head unit hidden. You aren’t watching the timer, counting down the final two hours. You also get to feel a direct connection to the intensity (on that day) that you can sustain for a very long time. Push too hard and you might not feel it right away, but you will in 30 minutes. Make that connection between your legs and brain. Appreciate it, and use it to improve your endurance pacing during the next ride.
Tempo ride with tension
Riding tempo without live data is great. The tempo intensity range changes a fair bit from day-to-day, and even within a single ride. Keeping even, constant and forceful pressure on the pedals while feeling for that point at which the legs start to “fill up,” and then backing off slightly will give you a much better workout than staring at your stem trying to keep your average power at exactly 80 per cent of ftp. Think of this as tension not fatigue.
Intervals: Really give’r
For the previous two ride types, you hide the data to keep yourself from working too hard and to let your body guide your efforts. For hard intervals, it is the opposite. Too often staring at the computer during high-intensity intervals holds you back. Let full-gas be full-gas. You’ll be shocked to see what you are really capable of when you don’t let set targets guide you.
Riders often undertrain and overtrain on a micro level when they only use the data. One day, 200 W feels hard; another day, it’s easy. You can do a better job over time if more of your training is informed by feeling. Develop better body literacy, and then look at the data afterward. Having access to power and heart-rate information is super valuable, but developing great body literacy is a crucial skill. One of the best ways to improve this skill is to hit the start button on your gizmo, stuff it into your pocket and ride.