𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐈 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐏𝐃𝐂?
Your PDC is individual to you, your fitness, and your abilities.
It changes as you train (or detrain).
If you’re training for an event, it should move up (higher power for same duration), to the right (longer duration for same power), or both.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧?
You can use your PDC to:
✅ identify the power you should be able to maintain for every duration modelled on your PDC – your current capability
✅ estimate how well you might perform for a shorter event, where you’ll be running at an effort where the fast component dominates
✅ estimate how well you might perform for a longer event, where you’ll be running at an effort where the slow component dominates
✅ estimate your threshold, although your PDC isn’t usually used for that. Your threshold lies approximately where the two curves meet – the vertical blue line in the image
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐏𝐃𝐂 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞?
A good question, and one that’s the topic of the final post in this series.
𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?
𝐓𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜: 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫-𝐃𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞
⏩ What are you capable of?
⏩ You fatigue faster at higher intensities
⏩ You fatigue more slowly at lower intensities
⏩ How do I use my PDC?
⏩ Is my PDC accurate?
