Here is 2 screenshots from some studies ISM did, one I think the same one from the graph above. Basically every year ISM does lactate testing in the UAE January training camp and publishes the results in a way thats very hard to pertain much info from. For the most part they discuss a lot of advanced things to do with metabolites and such that even cyclists with somewhat interest will be more than confused.
Because the x axis is w/kg not watts, we can kind of see the best climbers curves at the bottom. Mcnulty is likely one of the best climbers at UAE (especially when this was taken maybe two years ago, and some of the older guys would be more old school show up relatively unfit in January. Id have to try find the full thing again and get a date) so we can assume he is on of those with a first inflection point around 4.5wkg. Mcnulty is approx 68kg (maybe slightly heavier in January but also inflection may be a bit below 4.5)which would lead us to 306w. So I agree with @sryke estimation of 300-310.
Remember this is taken in January, same as the training above. More likely Kung would discuss his best ever values which may come later in the season.
I am still not sure if I agree, although I see arguments for the other side. I use LT1 definition as increase of 0.5mmol over baseline levels which might be on the higher side as 0.3mmol over baseline are also often used. The first shared graph from visual inspection could potentially indicate two athletes with LT1 around 5wkg, the second definitely not.
I just looked over podcast notes on Petter Attia’s episode (the 2nd, longer and more recent episode) with ISM and then listened for specific part that starts around 09:15. ISM states that common climbing tempo in Tour is around 5wkg and that is easy to see who will struggle based on their lactate curves since those who have 6mmol are experiencing high amount of stress on their systems, while some will be at resting levels. Now McNulty is currently very much a case of prospect rather than someone who showed that they can be a high level GC competitor or at least climber. Last year started off well, but after Dauphine there was nothing to write home about except one exceptionally solid day domestiqueing for Pogacar in Tour.
I guess I am a bit high on him and then find it difficult to believe that his level of climber/aerobic enclined athlete would only have LT1 at only 4.3-4.5 range. Good to have this discussion and see different viewpoints.
including long-duration LIT sessions (>4 h) in a fasted state, and days with two MIT sessions on a regular basis. In the 2019-2020 season, the participant performed almost all first sessions of the day in a fasted state and ∼10 days (∼20 sessions) with two MIT sessions during a ∼3-month period in the preparation period . However, in the subsequent 2020-2021 season, the participant performed less days with two MIT sessions and less LIT sessions with low CHO but increased the number of LIT sessions >4 h in a fasted state.
Oh boy. That sounds miserable and almost more like an eating disorder than anything else. Especially given the other issues they identified included:
lack of systematic technique training and follow-up by coaches on a daily basis
The data set has fairly wide sd to make many conclusion about one of the best in the world
The metabolic strain to train at lt1 so often doesnt really make sense, especially when we see the other numbers that put his fitness well above 400 watts for ftp,
This training seems very unconventional by today’s standards. And conventional by traditional standards. I guess he will get his intensity in races, starting in San Juan
He rides a lot at around 2500m, which translates to a 10-15% drop compared to see level (to throw out a rough ballpark figure). So for low intensity stuff not too much. However, the ability to recover is affected as well. Given his high volume he may have to pay attention to keeping it fairly easy.
Makes it all very difficult to compare it to others.
Nice numbers but it only shows how high WT level really is, half of these guys could not be seen in any of higher level races last year and I do not expect it to change this year. Would be very interesting to see their number after some kjs, how much would they be able to retain of fresh numbers. Or are these already after some work?
Hoping for even better season for De Lie and classics (more like semi classic) win for Campenaerts.
My apologies for bringing up old news, but as a fairly new cyclist (one year of free riding and just recently got on TrainerRoad and structured training) I don’t really have great insight in cyclists capacity, what is “normal” and what is exceptional etc.
In an interview with Dr Stephen Seiler, the Swedish skater Nils Van der Poel mentions he did 90 minutes at 404 watts during his training for the Olympics, - in one consecutive go. And he regularity did the same wattage at 60+ minutes.
To me, those numbers just seem totally insane! 90 straight minutes at 400?
My question is, how would those numbers compare to professional cyclists? Do we know?
Holding ~5w/kg for 90min is basically world class. Not many people can do that. Many Tour de France riders have hour-powers approaching or exceeding the 6w/kg threshold though.
However, he is also heavier than your typical TdF athlete, so it might be better to compare to a cyclist specializing in something like 1h TT, where absolute power is more important than w/kg.
For context, a prior 1h TT world record holder held 510w for an hour at 81kg (6.3w/kg):
