Youngs Road Time Trial

Today I did the Youngs Road Time Trial (YRTT), a 10k out and back TT that I do once every couple of months to gauge my fitness. The first half of the TT has an average grade of 1 or 2 percent, and then after you turn around you climb back up to where you started. I was pretty optimistic about putting out a pretty good time today mainly because I just set a 10 minute power record last Tuesday.

Once I started the TT I realized it wasn't going to be easy. I was hoping for a time of 16:30 or 17 minutes although I didn't know what to expect. I got a time of 17:24, which was a little dissapointing although it was a cold day here in North Carolina, 42 degrees, and cold air is more dense than warm air thus creating more resistance. Also, the actual measure of how good (or bad) I did would only come when I got back home and downloaded my Powermeter.

Suprisingly I averaged 193 watts, and even tied my 10 minute record I set just two days ago. I beat my old record of 187 watts too, but I weigh a little more now so the moment of truth would come when I calculate my watts per Kilogram (WPK). To find out your WPK you take your weight in pounds, divide it by 2.2 to find your weight in Kilograms, then take your average watts and divide them by your weight in Kilogams.

For me, that would be: 193 avg. watts/(87 lb./2.2)= 4.82 WPK .

But what you want to do is calculate your lactate threshold (LT or TH), which is pretty much the pace or power output you can sustain for 1 hour. If you've ever done a hour long Time Trial you know it isn't that fun, but fortunately there is an easier way to calculate LT: times your max ave. power output for 15 to 20 minutes by .95 to find LT power output.

For me that would be: (193 avg. watts x .95)/(87 lb./2.2)=4.64 WPK

Anyways, here are the numbers from the entire ride including the TT:

28.71 miles
1 hour 37 minutes 54 seconds
17.8 avg. mph
116 avg. watts
681 KJ

Peak Power Records:

5 minutes: 206 watts
10 minutes: 198 watts
17 minutes 24 seconds(YRTT time): 193 watts
30 minutes: 159 watts
60 minutes: 132 watts