Power Meters / Powermeters (SRM, Powertap, Quarq, Ergomo, Vector, Stages, power2max, P2M, 4iii, InPower, Cinch)

most sprint coaches will prescribe them for their athletes, and all the more experienced people I race/train with do them

It wasn't so long ago that the prescription for testers was huge mileages, quantity over quality. Just because something is, and has long been, ubiquitous, it doesn't make it right. That's why I asked, in a spirit of genuine enquiry, whether there is any evidence base for very high cadence training for sprinters.

Got a stages hollowgram on the way, thought I would see what all this power measurebating is all about! Anything I should watch out for?

Yeah, watch out for the constant scrutiny in personal performance underlying every ride going forward.

Did @Pifko just originate the Lycra dad-joke?

Rep! (Strava Kudos, or a Rapha discount code).

I expect I will find myself not eating to try and get my W/kg higher

Or replacing the battery often in the Stages

There may be - but I couldn't point you towards it. Afaik BC make their top sprinters do it - I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have left that stone unturned.

Doesn't happen in newer units

Watch out for all the people in this thread telling you the thing you just spent £800 on is inaccurate and worthless (its not).

the thing you just spent £800 on is inaccurate and worthless

Fair summary of everything which has been said about Stages so far.

I spent less than half of that, so happy to take punt on it.
It is definitely going to be the most accurate and useful powermeter that I own and can afford!

And it looks nice.
And its light (can take off my garmin cadence sensor)

And it looks nice.

doing it wrong..

What I mean is hollowgrams look nice and the power meter doesn't add any ugly lumps to the drive side.

Though I agree how it looks isn't the primary consideration for a performance measuring device.

Wait, what?

Just leave it...

I'm out in Colorado again, went for an early morning ride into the front range of the Rockies today:
http://tpks.ws/BnfJ

Interestingly I did something very similar last time I was here and the altitude really made itself felt - we're around 1,600m up here.

This time round I was fine - only difference is that this time I have been for a hike (yesterday) to 4,350m, which was very interesting given I came from sea level the day before!

The power/HR/etc from todays ride looks as I would expect in terms of PE.

I wonder if it's psychosomatic, or a biological process?

And even less so since the last update. Been running the same battery since January, roughly 108 hours.

I'm going to find it more difficult than normal to fit training in for the next few weeks. my CTL has been steadily climbing for the past few months, but in previous busy periods the past my CTL has plummeted. This time I want to try to be a bit cleverer about things and I hope to try and maintain my CTL slightly better.

And I correct in thinking that in order to maintain a constant CTL, my average TSS/day needs to equal my CTL?

For example if I wanted to maintain a CTL of 80 then I would need an average TSS of 80/day or 520/week?

Yes. Essentially.

But don't get hung up with CTL chasing.
Just do quality sessions when you can.

Yeah, I know... I'll just do what I can.

It's more as a benchmark so I have a vague target to try and avoid things dropping off too much.

But don't get hung up with CTL chasing.

I've become obsessed with Strava's fitness/freshness and power curve pages...

Strava training >>>>>

Does ctl alone actually mean anything though? Surely you need to read it along with tsb. No point having a massive ctl if you're massively negative for tsb and feel like a sack of shite

In a word, yes.

I finally got around to replacing my stolen p2m with Amey's. Woo hoo!

First workout appears to show I've lost 30W at C20. Need to do a test, but is detraining more likely than a calibration difference between the two units?