Hello,
I am going to participate in my first time trial and I would like to know how much maximum power I should pedal to maintain the effort without exhaustion on a circuit without difficulty. The time trial is 7km and my TP is 212watts.
In fact it is not the maximum but the average watts you are trying to maintain, let’s assume it will take about 15 minutes to do that distance. if so then look at your power duration curve for 15 minutes, it is what Xert thinks you can do to be fully exhausted in that time. So if for instance your 15 minute power were say 240 watts then if you want to take caution then do 105% of TP 223 watts average or something close to your 20 min power from your curve… You should be exhausted at the end if you do it right.
Again it comes down to your PD curve, and what you should be able to sustain for that expected duration. If you blow up then you learn if not you might get a breakthrough if you target it right. Another item is set up, if you are doing it in aero bars and have not trained using them then that will impact you power as well. So do it and learn is how I would approach it.
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Easiest Answer is: “It Depends” 
You might first want to estimate how long the 7k TT will take you and use that as a starting point. If you think the TT will take 15 min, use your 15 min MMP in Xert as the target power. Many coaches/athletes like to negative split (meaning the second half is completed faster than the first half), so you can even aim for ~90% of your 15 MMP at the front half, and start progressing that value up to ~95% at the halfway point, 100% of the 3/4 mark and hopefully hang on for the last short little bit to the finish. However, remember that the highest priority of a time trial is average speed, so you may need to slightly adapt the strategy on hills (generally you should be above target power on a climb & slightly below target power on descents). Hope this helps a bit! Cheers
You can try using the Strava Segment Hunter to help automate the pacing strategy: Quick Start Guide: Xert Segment Hunter – Xert
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Thank you for your answers. I will try to maintain 210 watts on the first half of the course, then 220 wats at the start of the second part of the circuit and at the end I will give everything :). I will keep you posted on the result on Sunday evening.
Hello, it would be fine to have the same Xert segment hunter with Karoo2.
Hello, i have done the max , and have a breakthrough after the time trial: 220w average as expected
Thank you for your advice
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You still have lots of blue and green suggesting you could perhaps average a bit more the 220W with better pacing.
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Excellent work @Nathan44690
@xertedbrain is right on the point here! It depends on the terrain of the TT, but in general, the more consistent you can keep your power output, the better off you’ll be! When’s the next one?
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The next time trial is for Saturday 09/18, 8km with a rolling 1st part and the 2nd part with uneven.
Hello, chrono harder than last time, 229 watts on average. breakthrough again 
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So awesome, Nathan! Are all the reds small climbs and the blues are descents?
The blue areas correspond to descents and cornering. I think I left a little too hard. The red zones for the 1st part correspond to the relaunch and maintenance of the effort. The red zones of the 2nd part correspond to the climbs. The last minute corresponds to the maximum effort given until the finish.
Until April I was a regular TT rider, and my favourite courses were rolling courses with lots of twists and turns rather than pure flat out and back affairs. A couple of tips for you, firstly start off in a relatively easy gear and get the legs spinning comfortably, then after about 30 seconds or so when you are sat in the TT position move into the gear you can put your target power out. This helps you from going too hard too soon, I sometimes used to start off on the inner ring until I got settled into position, better to have a slightly slow start than race entirely on destroyed legs after doing a mega effort in the first 500 metres.
Same on corners, get into an easier gear going into the corner, so it’s less strain on your legs when you come out of the corner. Lastly, I found it much quicker to stand up and pedal on steeper sections than trying to grind out big watts sat in the aero tuck with a closed hip angle, obviously this depends on how steep the hills on the course are, but I regularly passed riders who stayed tucked down on steeper climbs. Once over the top, again, select a slightly easier gear until you get settled back in to your aero position. Time trails are really about managing your effort, which might be consistent if it’s a flat course, or it could be knowing how many times you can dig hard and recover for a lumpy course. If you’re riding a few lumpy courses, it’s well worth doing a few workouts such as 30/15s to help with this.
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The next time trial is for Sunday 08 may, 5km with no difficulty.
Hello,
New breakthrough for this new time trial with 259w average power, demanding circuit all things considered
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Perfectly executed