Power Profiles of Top 'Cross Racers

[whoawhoa]

Do any of the coaches on this board have the power profiles for elite level cyclocross racers? I'm interested to see what they look like. A lot of people I know compare cyclocross to a criterium, where it seems you need good 5s and 1min power, but I've always though 5min and ft power would be more important. Thoughts?

 

[M. DeKelver]

Do any of the coaches on this board have the power profiles for elite level cyclocross racers? I'm interested to see what they look like. A lot of people I know compare cyclocross to a criterium, where it seems you need good 5s and 1min power, but I've always though 5min and ft power would be more important. Thoughts?

I would think that CX is much different than a criterium. You can hide in a crit (somewhat), but you can't hide in a cross race.

I would liken it to a MTB XC circuit race: Hard 5 min power to sort the field out, and then hold it for an hour (with alot of variance for running, climbing, etc.)

 

[velomanct]

5 second power would very little importance in a cross race, except for the start. 5 minute and threshold power would be the biggest determiners. but I suppose if you are last off the line, that would hurt your result a lot too.

 

[whoawhoa]

5 second power would very little importance in a cross race, except for the start. 5 minute and threshold power would be the biggest determiners. but I suppose if you are last off the line, that would hurt your result a lot too.

Glad you share my opinion! You don't want to be last off the line, but the start of a cross race is usually manic for the first lap or two, or anywhere between 3 and 6 minutes, in my experience. I've heard some coaches say that 'cross training should be similar to criterium training, and this I've always disagreed. Probably because I'm a miserable crit racer, and 'cross is my strongest discipline.

 

[Woofer]

Do any of the coaches on this board have the power profiles for elite level cyclocross racers? I'm interested to see what they look like. A lot of people I know compare cyclocross to a criterium, where it seems you need good 5s and 1min power, but I've always though 5min and ft power would be more important. Thoughts?

Look at Adam Hodges Meyerson's Cycle Smart web pages....

 

[mattv2099]

Do any of the coaches on this board have the power profiles for elite level cyclocross racers? I'm interested to see what they look like. A lot of people I know compare cyclocross to a criterium, where it seems you need good 5s and 1min power, but I've always though 5min and ft power would be more important. Thoughts?

Sorry to dig such an old topic up, but I thought I would comment. I race cat A in the pacific north west

Here's my profile at the moment. 5s and 1m and 5m have no doubt fallen since i have not trained in those intensities in over 4 months. My Ft right now is probably pretty close (if not slightly lower) to what it was last fall. I've only had a power meter for 1 month.


weight: 75 kg (6 feet 4 inches tall)
FT: 318
5 min: 385
1 min: 534
5 s: 960

As you can see my strenghts are obviously FT and 5m powers, both at 'cat 2' level per the coggan chart. Both 5s and 1m powers are huge weeknesses and in the 'cat 5' level according to the coggan chart. Oddly, despite being such a terrible sprinter, starts in cross races were a strength of mine last year.