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Hard work is the key, not training aids.
I dunno why you think it's either/or. No-one's saying training aids are a substitute for hard work. What I'm saying is that training aids AND hard work are better than unfocused hard work. Put another way, you have to know how to use training aids to get an advantage.
If you just look at your power and heart rate and think "oh, look at that" then that is a big fat waste of money, yes. I use a power meter for more than that tho. I get a blood lactate test every now and then, and that tells me at what levels of exertion certain things happen in my body. So I know that for instance, to train my fat burning metabolism and increase endurance (base training) I need to be sat around 210W. I could just go on a long ride at any old pace, but I wouldnt get as much endurance benefit.
I do base rides, I also do general rides and speed rides. Some I enjoy more than others, but there's no doubt that the power meter has helped me but ONLY because I am a scientific geek and that's how I want to do my training. Most people probably wouldn't be happy doing what I'm doing, and that's fine.
I'm still a fairly rubbish racer tho, but that's a different issue. I suffer from temporary motivational black spots which means training doens't get done. So yes, that messes things up a bit. But the challenge of training to get fast is for me about more than just pushing the pedals.
Take a look at this [url= http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=serious+training&btnG=Google+Search&meta= ]book[/url]- I've found it very usefull - for the last 33 weeks have based my training on the principles
I understand the attraction of 'sports science', and I see the undoubted advantages of training in a measurable and scientific way, but the fact remains, and you have indicated it yourself, that hard work is what counts, not the tools or the measurements.
In the days I used to go out training with the local chain gang, the people ripping it up at the front after 60-70-80 miles were the old ex-pros, the guys who were out at every opportunity, the fellas who always rode hard, and who never bothered with anything that didn't make them faster.
So many cyclists look for the magic beans, look for the Holy Grail, and ignore the obvious; it's a hard sport, and the people who do best are the hard ones.
There's this lad I know very vaguely. He rides a huge amount, and does 5 hour rides at his tempo pace, which is a lot faster than my tempo pace and I can ony manage 2.5 hours. He sets off on 24 hour solo races and streaks into the lead but a good 75% of the time completely blows up after about 14 hours or so and retires. If he manages to stay in, he wins or gets a podium. If he trained a bit smarter with that much time commitment and natural talent, he'd be unstoppable.
Just because it's mostly hard work doesn't mean that science doesn't help. So don't knock it! And besides, some people like to understand their bodies.
I concur about the Rob Sleamaker book, its an excellent training book , there is also a website where you can get a excel spreadsheet that automatically works out the figures for you here <www.geocities.com/kenbhart/train.xls>