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From Fellrnr.com, Running tips
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* The CP and W' can allow you to pace shorter races (30-60 minutes). An ideal pace will be one in which you deplete W' evenly over the race, reaching near zero at the end. For longer races, other factors beyond W' depletion become the limiting factors, so it's less valuable there. Again, you'll need to know your Running Critical Power.
=Finding Your Critical Power=
The gold standard for measuring CP is to perform multiple tests to define points in the CP/W' curve. You need to perform each test needs while well recovered, so each needs to be on a separate day. After a warmup, you do a fixed power workout that should cause your exhaustion between 3 and 15 minutes (durations less than 3 minutes may give an overestimate of CP<ref name="BishopJenkins2007"/>.) A total of five tests should be performed. Given these results, several online calculators will give CP and W' numbers, though I'd recommend https://shiny.fmattioni.me/CPapp/ which has multiple models, including the 3-parameter model if you have 4 or 5 test results. (One study found that CP occurred at around 83% of [[Maximum Heart Rate| Max HR]] <ref name="MielkeHoush2011"/>).
==The 3AOT Approach==
There's a simpler "3 minute all out test" (3AOT) that can estimate your CP. This test must be "un-paced" where you go all out for the duration of the test. This means that power output will be very high for the first few seconds, then drop off as you deplete your W'. Between 90 and 120 seconds, you should have depleted all your W' and you can only maintain your CP. The limitation of the test is that any pacing, even subconsciously, will overestimate CP and underestimate W'<ref name="Mandell2019"/>. There are several studies that have found the 3AOT gives a good estimate of CP/W'<ref name="BurnleyDoust2006"/><ref name="DekerleVanhatalo2008"/><ref name="VanhataloDoust2007"/>. These studies found that a 3AOT can detect relatively small changes in CP from training, such as increasing CP from 230 to 255w<ref name="VanhataloDoust2008"/>. One validation technique that a study used was to exercise at 15w above and then 15w below the critical power estimate. The study found that athletes could not maintain 15w above their CP for over 10-15 minutes, where 15w below their CP was stable up to 30 minutes. However, one study found the 3AOT did not provide valid results in elite cyclists<ref name="BartramThewlis2017"/>. That study found that the 3AOT estimated an average of 351w compared with 402w with multiple tests. This study found that the underestimated the athletes' W', measuring an average of 15.5 kJ rather than 24.3 Kj.
