Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Pithy Power Proverbs

OK - I know there's a bit of tautology in the title but it sounded good, OK?

I was trying to recall all the pithy power training statements that have emerged over the years on power training forums. Last month I started a thread on the Wattage Forum with the aim of collating all those pithy little sayings.

I thought it would be a bit of fun to collect them all. Here's the result, listed in no particular order:

"It's an aerobic sport, dammit!" - Andy Coggan

"Training is testing, testing is training." - Andy Coggan

"The best predictor of performance is performance itself." - Andy Coggan

"The more you train, the more you can train." - Andy Coggan

"FTP = how fast you can go. CTL = how long you can go fast." - Rick Murphy

"The Anaerobic Threshold is neither." - unknown

"Hmmm." - Robert Chung :)

"Alls you can do is alls you can do." - Andy Coggan

"Cadence is a red herring." - Robert Chung

"If you're on the bike and the wheels are turning, you're riding" - Andy Coggan

"Specificity, specificity, specificity . . ." - Andy Coggan

"Lydiard got it right" - Andy Coggan

"All watts are not created equal." - Dave Harris

"The body responds like a Swiss watch. You just have to figure out how to wind it." - Dave Harris

"Toss that HR monitor strap!" - Charles Howe

"Power calibrates PE, PE modulates power." - Charles Howe

"It's all about the pedal force." - Tom Anhalt

"Training with a Power Meter, does it work? No, you work!" - Hunter Allen

"waaaaah my powermeter doesn't work" - first time poster ;-)

"more is more ... until it isn't" - Rick Murphy

"The best thing about a power-meter? It tells you where you are. The worst thing about a power-meter? It tells you where you are" - Bob Tobin?

"Fitness is an integral" - Rick Murphy

"For riders of every level, power is limited but speed is precious" - John E Cobb

"The less power you have the more gearing you need" - Steve Davidson?

"In God we trust, all others bring data" - W. Edwards Demings

"The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data.'" - Frank Kotsonis

"(The) most successful riders spend the most time at zero cadence during races." - Andy Birko

"At some point, you have to increase the power" - Andy Coggan

"If it *feels* hard, it *is* hard" - Andy Coggan

"If you're wondering whether you've underestimated your functional threshold power, you probably have." - Rick Murphy

"Train, don't strain" - Arthur Lydiard

"The PowerTap is a tool, not a bolt on motor :) " - Chris Mayhew

"The PM chart is a one picture summary of the truth, as useful and brutal as honesty can be." - Alex Simmons

"Wow, I need to train more!" - Frank Overton (after looking at his previous season's Performance Manager chart)

"The (power) training levels are descriptive, not prescriptive, guidelines." - Andy Coggan

"!!!" - Hunter Allen

3 comments:

LaSerpe said...

"waaaaah my powermeter doesn't work" has been my first reaction too! :-) or maybe :-(

Seby said...

Awesome!

zjec said...

thanks for this, now I'm happily reminded of those good ol' wattage days at topica :-)