Power Output - Computrainer - How bad am i?

Ride more and ride harder. Best way to increase your power.

I haven't done a threshold test but I did a max test and got up to 460w (20, 165lbs, 5'11")

It is what it is. Don't worry about others too much. Keep riding more and keep riding hard. It's how quickly you get there that will matter. When you saw your "max" at over 400, was that just a very quick couple sec spike? Having one is not really unusual when starting off. I get them all the time. You'll get better at testing with practice and these will lessen. More so on the trainer. I still get them outside quite a bit. I'm thinking what you saw is different than what Indiana Cyclist means.

Indiana Cyclist, what did you do for this "max test"? I would think you could go well past 460 in a couple sec spike, which is likely what NeverEnough saw for his reported value.

It was a 20 minute TH test.  There were fans....it was not too hot...I have sweated much more before.  Heart rate was actually where I would have guessed it was, for how I felt.....pretty high.  I was toast when done with the test.

http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/powerprofiling.jpg

There's a W/kg chart to give you an idea of what the numbers mean.  Others mention the books that will help you out.

Awesome chart....should I be looking at the FT column?

AdventureBear.....I do not have a powermeter....I used the computrainer threshold test.

Based on your 209 value, yes.  Can use the 1s/1min/5min/etc. as well to build your power profile.  Some people will have higher values in one category than the others.  

Can use the testing to train where you're weakest... but for tri usually focus on the 20 minute FTP numbers.

http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2010/08/estimating-your-ftp.html

http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2008/01/ftp-and-power.html

http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2009/05/time-trial-pacing.html

There is quite a bit of information here... just use the search for more and start reading

AdventureBear - 2012-04-09 8:40 PM So the first rule of testing is to throw out the first test. Since you won't be training by power, don't worry about what the numbers were. If you were to take this test again in 1 week I guarantee that the numbers will be higher becuase you'll do a better job of taking the test and pacing yourself. All the max tells you is how much you screwed up the test. if your max is teh same as your average..you probalby could have pushed a little harder. With your max being 2x your average, you definately burned matches at the beginning of the test and had less energy for later. This is really good learning for triathlon specific (ie time trial) efforts. What you can learn from this in your upcoming training is what that 20 minute effort felt like...especially the last 5-10 minutes of it...you reach a steady state of effort (also associated with a HR & a power at that effort) but sinc eyou don't have a power meter, you'll have to train by effort and/or HR.

Agree - OP can probably pace better on a second test.  One should never hit 400 watts in a 20 minute test unless their name is Boonen or Cancellara.  And, frankly, I'd test outdoors for a 20 minute ride.  I personally underperform heavily inside on that test. 

This can be simple, but you seem to like learning things, asking a lot of questions. I would highly recommend a book like this as well because of that. It will explain things much better than what you'd get on a forum. The forum can help after finishing the book.

To keep it really simple to start, 2 x 20 is usually done at 95-100% of FTP. FTP is typically ~95% of the number found in the 20 min test, but this depends on the exact test method used. I believe you are rather new to testing, so keep working at pacing for this. Especially evidenced by that spike you had before. You'll learn how to pace it better and improve some right away from that. You don't just want it to be exhausting, but a pretty level effort throughout the time period.