I seem to have a love/hate relationship with this 4 x 10 minute at 80-90% threshold power. However, this workout always tells me where my fitness is at. Around this time of year I can usually only pull about 225 average watts for the 10 minute interval. As you can see from this power file above my pacing was a bit rusty since this was my first 4 x 10 minute effort in about 2-3 months. On the first 10 minute effort I almost blew up at the end of it and had to struggle to maintain my goal power output....then I smartened up gradually as I went along. Most athletes hit the first half of an interval with too much power and then fade out towards the end. What you want is to hold back just a bit during the first half and the gradually build especially in the final half of your goal interval duration. Training with power really helps let the athlete know where they stand when it comes to comparing themselves to previous fitness levels as well as comparing themselves to other athletes. But,,,don't forget the other construct in this equation...which is body weight. Power to weight ratio is king here. Losing weight at the cost of losing muscular strength is self-defeating. You want to find that optimum weight where you have max power and minimum ass drag. For me I never seemed to gain power as I gained weight probably because when I am gaining weight it means I am not biking as much and in turn my power is also going down. I think you just want to be cautious of losing too much weight at the expense of power...which I don't feel has ever happened to me....but is possible if an athlete gets carried away with losing excessive amounts of weight in the belief this will make them even faster. This usually doesn't work over the long run and tends to end a season prematurely due to illness, fatigue, you name it....
