Power meters... all hype, but buy one if you want ;)

Stumbled on this one today...

http://www.trifuel.com/training/bike/power-meters-hype-or-hyper-effective

Wow... what a lot of hype!

I have been sucked into this trap before, and have even considered spending a bunch of money to monitoring my power (ok, I HAVE been sucked into this - I own two electronic trainers, both of which support power).

Having now observed a group of elite athletes at work, and seeing not one of them interested in power, during a race or training, I can safely say that this technology is more hype than anything else... so I can now add it to the pile of everything else that I have experienced - including heart rate monitors, swim training tools and whatever other junk I am forgetting about ;)

So why the hype?

As best I can gather, it helps justify most of these coach's existence. Without a power meter, and a bunch of complicated power-focused workouts, they would be out of a job. Ditto for the heart rate - more justification for their crazy complicated workouts.

But, the pundits will say "it works for me!!"

Of course it does, you are training, and training well... most of your workouts are focused and you are putting in the miles and hours. Why wouldn't you improve? You just don't need all that junk hardware.

It's even been proven that HRM's aren't worth a penny when it comes to accuracy when related to exercise effort (Borg RPE is accurate, HR is not - go figure, YOU actually know how hard you are working, better than the HRM).

Yeah... argue if you wish... but I present you the facts - 20 of the best triathletes on earth, one week, no heart rate monitors, no power meters... just hard work, sweat, and smart coaching... from the heart. Awesome stuff. Just awesome!!