Critical power testing
It is the second half of october, and these days winter training/base training is starting for most cyclists. A common practice for many is to perform some type of test to get a starting point for their training and to see their baseline heading into the winter season.
In the upcoming series of posts, we will go through which tests are common and uncommon, which are simple and necessary, and which are complicated and less essential for cyclists and other endurance athletes to carry out.
In this first post, we will begin by presenting the tests and test batteries that we frequently use in our coaching practice. We can already recommend that D-VELO-P can assist you with test protocols, consultations, and analysis of your test results when you get started with testing.
After the initial test sessions, you will be relatively self-sufficient and able to conduct tests and interpret the results on your own. The tests are performed by yourself at home on your trainer/test bike and do not require a test leader to be present.
The first test we will discuss is critical power.
Critical Power (CP) is something we have recently written a full post about, but here we focus more on how to test and determine your CP rather than how to train based on it or what it is. If you want to read more about training after critical power, I suggest reading our post on that.
In the test protocol offered by D-VELO-P, the test sessions are divided over two different days to get the best results from yourself. What you want to obtain are three to four different power numbers within three to four different time intervals.
During the first test session, you perform two hard intervals. First, you ride 2-3 minutes at full effort. The idea here is that you ride at a power level you know you can sustain for 120 seconds, and then after that increase the power until exhaustion within 60 seconds. The test should therefore last between 120 and 180 seconds.
After a slightly longer rest, it is time for the second part of test one. The setup is the same, but instead of riding 2-3 minutes, you now ride 6-8 minutes. Ride at the highest power you can sustain for six minutes and then gradually increase so that you reach exhaustion within 6-8 minutes.
Then the first test day is done. Now we have two data points: the power output you can sustain for 2-3 minutes and the power output you can sustain for 6-8 minutes.
Day two is time for the next part of the testing protocol. After a day or so of rest (or just a good night's sleep) and proper recovery methods, it’s time to mentally prepare for suffering again. This day is about opening the throttle to your creatine phosphate stores initially. The day begins with performing three maximal sprints lasting about 5-7 seconds each (or roughly 10 full pedal strokes) with ample rest between these sprints.
From low cadence to higher cadence. Try different gears and try not to change between.
The reason we want you to do three sprints is so you can take the one with the best/highest power output. (This sprint will also be used for another test that we will cover later in the series.) After several minutes of rest, it’s time for the final part of the protocol: 14-18 minutes all out. This requires a pacing strategy where you ride “hard but controlled” for just over 7 minutes, then increase power output in the second half if you can. After 14 minutes, continue gradually increasing power so you reach exhaustion within 18 minutes. That’s it.
There you have completed your critical power test. Now we have data points from 5 seconds, 2-3 minutes, 6-8 minutes, and 14-18 minutes. Based on these data points, we can help you calculate your critical power, as well as your W’ (pronounced: watt prime), which represents the size of your “anaerobic” battery, measured in kJ.
D-VELO-P offers test packages to you through, among others, .ZWO (for Zwift) or .FIT (for Garmin/Wahoo, etc.). After completing the tests, we offer a consultation session where we thoroughly analyze the tests and go through examples of how you can train according to your CP. Of course, we can also continue with Personal Coaching in connection with this.
In the video the LIDL-TREK rider and U23 TT world champion Jakob Söderqvist is shown doing the 6-8 minute test at home in his pain cave back in 2023.