Power, Pulse rate and Perception as a telling trinity in training monitoring of endurance athletes. The full video and audio presentation are on www.rowing.chat podcast network. Stephen Seiler received his doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He is past Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation and past Dean of the Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway. Currently, he is working as a full professor at the same institution. His research interests include exercise physiology and training adaptations, particularly to endurance training for cyclists, rowers, XC skiers, orienteers and distance runners.

1. P3: Power, Physiology,
Perception
Integrating this “holy trinity” to monitor and prescribe
training effectively

2. How many times have your
athletes trained this year?
1.0001500≈ 1.05
10 training sessions per week x 50 weeks per year

3. ”…grant me the serenity to accept the things that
cannot be calculated; courage to calculate the things
that can be calculated; and wisdom to know the
difference.”
Rick Nason
Coaching is managing complexity!

4. External
Load
(power x time)
Internal
Load
Molecular signals
for adaptation
Cellular Damage &
Systemic Stress

5. Adaptive Stimulus Stress
(Adjusting training characteristics)
• Bone-tendon-muscle damage
• Inflammatory stress
• Repetitive sympathetic stress
• Immuno-suppression
• Psychological fatigue

6. Seiler & Kjerland. Scand. J. Med. Sci. Sports.
16, 49-56, 2006.

7. 1970-1979 1980-1989 1990-2001
N 9 6 8
Height (cm) 191 192 193
Weight (kg) 89 87 90
VO2 max
(L.min-1)
5.8 6.4 6.5

8. Training Intensity Distribution
International Rowing Medalists
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Traininghrs/month
70s 80s 90s
Basic endurance
High intensity
Fiskerstrand & Seiler, SJMSS 14:303-310, 2004

9. Intensity
Category
Heart rate
[b*min-1]
Blood lactate
[mM*l-1]
% of
Time
(HR)
Compensation < 140 < 2 8 (6)
Extensive
endurance
140-160 < 2 87 (6)
Intensive
endurance
156-168 2-4 2 (1)
Highly intensive
endurance
> 180 4-8 1 (0.4)
Race-specific
velocity-endur.
Max (0.5-2 min) 4-10
2 (0.6)
Rowing Heart Rate distribution-37 weeks
World Class Junior Rowers (n=36)
Gullich A, Seiler S, & Emrich E. Training Methods and Intensity Distribution of Young World Class Rowers.
Int. J. Sports Physiology and Performance. 4(4): 448-460. 2009

10. 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
I-sone 6 I-sone 5 I-sone 4 I-sone 3 I-sone 2 I-sone 1
Endurance training intensity distribution
2-time Gold medal winnerHours

11. Why so much
Green Zone
training?
3 interconnected
mechanisms (?)
Systemic Stress Load
Management
Energy Availability
Management
Optimization of
adaptive signal stream
Intensity x
Duration
Adaptive Signal
Systemic Stress

12. The Physiology Feedback Trinity
Physiological
Responses
Power/Pace
Perceived
Effort/
Exertion
External Work
Internal “Cost”

13. 13Exercise Intensity (%HRpeak)
[La-] Z1 Z3 Z5
55 80 87 100
~2mM
VT1
~4mM
VT2
Z2 Z4
5 iZones?
9372
Z6+

14. 14Exercise Intensity (%HRpeak)
[La-]
55 78 86 100
2mM
VT1
4mM
VT2
3 iZones
Z1 Z2 Z3

15. Yes, I can speak comfortably Yes, I can speak, but not
entirely comfortably No, I cannot speak comfortably
Physiological responses associated with 3 answers to a standardized talk test. Data
re-organized and color coded from original figures in Woltman et al. 2015

16. SESSION
TYPE
HR (%MAX) VO2 (%MAX) BLOOD LACTATE (mM) RPE
(BORG 6-20)
SESSION RPE
(FOSTER 1-10)
BELOW VT1 60MIN 68 ± 7 61 ± 0.7 1.0 ± 0.1 9.7 ± 0.4 2 ± 0
BELOW VT1 120 MIN 68 ± 7 Not measured, ran
outdoors
1.0 ± 0.1 10 ± 0.4 2.4 ± 1.1
THRESHOLD 88 ± 2 84 ± 0.7 2.7 ± 0.4 13.9 ± 0.5 5 ± 0.6
ABOVE VT2
(6 X 3MIN)
95 ± 3 96 ± 0.7 7.1 ± 0.7 17.2 ± 0.8 8.1 ± 1
2007

17. 17Exercise Intensity (%HRpeak)
[La-]
55 78 86 100
2 i-zones that «left-shift» with intensity x time?
LIT HIT
1.4-2.5mM
LOW systemic stress HIGH systemic stress
2.7- 6 mM

18. < LT1
> LT1
NO Cardiac Drift
Cardiac drift = 11% of HRR

20. Even during Zone 1, “Green Zone”
training, there is no such thing as a
true physiological steady-state…..
3.5 hours @ 205 watts
53 year-old semi-fit professor

21. Heart Rate at a given power/pace threshold is stable
even as threshold power/pace increase
155 156
158
200
220
240
260
280
300
320
340
360
380
400
Active Rest Preparation Competition
WattsatLT
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
190
200
Power output
Heart Rate
Data from 13 professional
cyclists, Lucia et al, 2000

22. Max HR- To thine own heart (and sport) be true
DIFFERENCE,
ACTUAL VS
PREDICTED (BPM)
N=102
220-AGE 208-0.7*AGE 211-0.64*AGE
0-3 25 26 40
4-7 35 29 27
8-12 23 24 22
13-19 15 18 10
20-30 4 5 3
AVERAGE DIFFERENCE ACTUAL VS
CALCULATED 5 bpm underestimation 6 bpm underestimation
Estimated and actual
averages were identical
Table 3. Laboratory determined versus estimated maximal heart rate
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate# for references and more information on the development of these age-adjusted maximal heart
rate prediction equations.

24. Feed back

25. How do you feel?
How are you responding
to the training?

26. Photo courtesy of Dag Erik Tvedt

28. Embedded movement sensors (limbs, rackets, bats, boats, teams etc.)
“Real-time” movement analysis
Big (Training & Performance) Data analytics-
hypothesis driven and “hypothesis free” approaches
Home and field based physiological measurements

29. 1.07
1.64
1.03
1.24
2.32
4.18
7.00