How do I use my PDC?

A Power-Duration Curve (with accompanying Mean-Max Power curve)

๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐จ ๐ˆ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐๐ƒ๐‚?

Your PDC is individual to you, your fitness, and your abilities.

It changes as you train (or detrain).

If youโ€™re training for an event, it should move up (higher power for same duration), to the right (longer duration for same power), or both.

๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ž๐š๐ง?

You can use your PDC to:
โœ… identify the power you should be able to maintain for every duration modelled on your PDC โ€“ your current capability
โœ… estimate how well you might perform for a shorter event, where youโ€™ll be running at an effort where the fast component dominates
โœ… estimate how well you might perform for a longer event, where youโ€™ll be running at an effort where the slow component dominates
โœ… estimate your threshold, although your PDC isnโ€™t usually used for that. Your threshold lies approximately where the two curves meet โ€“ the vertical blue line in the image

๐‡๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐จ ๐ˆ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐Ÿ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐๐ƒ๐‚ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š๐œ๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ž?

A good question, and one thatโ€™s the topic of the final post in this series.

๐‘บ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’…๐’’๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’ƒ๐’† ๐‘น๐’–๐’๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ท๐’๐’˜๐’†๐’“?

โ“ Questions?
๐Ÿ“– Getting Started

๐“๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐œ: ๐๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ-๐ƒ๐ฎ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐‚๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฏ๐ž
โฉ What are you capable of?
โฉ You fatigue faster at higher intensities
โฉ You fatigue more slowly at lower intensities
โฉ How do I use my PDC?
โฉ Is my PDC accurate?