Even though today was a day off (Yoga doesn’t count), I managed to break my 5-second mean maximal power (MMP)? How? Well, I’ve been looking at my past training diaries analyzing when I had “good” days. As my criteria I used: 1) days I broke a yearly or all-time MMP, 2) days I was “in the zone” when I could put the power down with very little perceived exertion, and 3) good race days.

I knew that I achieved my best 5-second MMP back in 2002. This was odd since it wasn’t one of my better seasons. I didn’t break any other power records that year. So I looked at the ride graph for that workout and noticed that my power never went zero…even when coasting! A telltale sign that my PowerTap wasn’t zeroed that day!! So I fixed the original data file (thank goodness I keep CSV’s of all my workouts), then re-imported it. While the 5-second number was still good, it was no longer an all-time best. That honor went to a day in 2003, at 1,198 watts. But that day back in November when I broke both my max and 12-second MMP, I thought it was odd that I didn’t break the 5-second. Well, I did…by one measly watt at 1,199! Not a significant difference, but I’ll take it!