Getting fitter: it's more than just watts

You want to get fitter. But what does that mean? How you define getting fitter is important as it will have a direct impact on your training decisions.

At Sans Chaine we would say that there are several ways of getting fitter:

1. The ability to push more wattage

2. The repeatability of your efforts

3. Burning more fat to fuel your riding

The first, pushing more watts, is quite easy to understand. In the cycling world the focus here is typically on maximal efforts at threshold and above. What’s your FTP? What’s your VO2? The tendency to focus on these numbers comes about in part because of the belief that it is efforts in these upper ranges that will make the difference in an event.

Pushing more watts is of course a goal. At Sans Chaine though we would say that to truly be fitter the focus should be on improving the wattage you can push at tempo. A better aerobic/tempo system underpins all of our fitness - both the ability to ride a steady, stable, endurance pace and to punch it when we need to. A stronger tempo ability will make all of your efforts more manageable and plays into our second measure, repeatability.

The second measure, repeatability, is often overlooked. Very rarely in an event or race do we ever actually push our peak wattage for a given time period. More typically we push a bit of a lower wattage than our peak, but we are required to do it over and over again. How repeatable that effort is, and the consistency in maintaining your efforts over time, is a big part of getting fitter. A gravel event, with lots of muddy sections (substitute in hills if you prefer) interspersed by easier sections on the road, is a good example. Through each muddy section you have to push fairly hard, but you will never be doing an all-out 5-minute VO2 time trial effort. The key to doing well will be whether you can keep doing a similar hard effort across muddy section after muddy section, recovering as best you can while staying with your group on the road sections.

How you fuel your riding, our third measure, plays an important role in your repeatability as an event goes on. Are you using carbohydrates or fat to power your wattage? While not a perfect measure, if you are riding at tempo you are typically still burning a mix of fat and carbohydrate (sugar). As you push above tempo the mix becomes more carbohydrate heavy. We can only store, and ingest, a limited amount of carbohydrate. As endurance athletes we need the ability to go longer distances and not end up bonking. To achieve this we need to burn more fat and save our limited carbohydrate resources. To be competitive we need to be able to burn that fat while still doing a relatively decent amount of work, such as riding at tempo.

How burning more fat translates into performance

The more fat you can burn, the more carbohydrate you save. You can achieve this carbohydrate saving by having a strong tempo ability. Take a look at the graphic below. The graphic is a comparison of two riders with the same threshold ability, but different abilities at tempo. Imagine the two riders riding over a series of hills. As the riders go over the hills they push more wattage, and as they do that they change the fuel (fat or carboydrate) used to produce that wattage. Rider A is able to burn "mainly fat" for longer. Rider B spends significant time "burning more sugar". When they get to the end of the hills Rider A will have burned less carbohydrate/sugar than Rider B. With more sugar left in their system Rider A will be able to put out more peak wattage - which requires sugar as a fuel source - to out perform Rider B, who's depleted sugar reserves will limit their peformance. This is when the difference between the riders becomes apparent and a split in the event or race occurs.