Training Level Calculator: Coggan

This post accompanies a post on the Coggan training levels. Below is a training calculator based on these levels, applied to rowing on the Concept II ergometer. Some caveats are in order. First, Coggan calculated his levels paced on empirical cycling data, not from Concept II ergometer rowing data. The Concept II ergometer may not measure all power (watts) applied during an effort (i.e., the ergometer may miss the power employed on the recovery). Finally, the basis for Coggan's levels is threshold power, which is optimally derived from an hour-long effort (see his discussion here). We use a derivation based on a 20-minute effort; it is assumed that threshold power is 94% of 20-minute power. Read the above article for more discussion of this.


The calculator below is actually my first attempt and it displays the watts associated with pace. I thought some folks might find this second calculator more confusing because as watts increase, the splits decrease (and vice versa). Also, we rowers are more accustomed to using 500m splits instead of watts.

Watts are the basis of both calculators. Both calculators take the 20-min pace and convert it to power (watts). Then the training levels are calculated using percentages of power which are subsequently converted to pace. The calculator below more clearly shows the relationship between pace and power.

The relationship between rowing ergometer pace and power is discussed in many places, e.g., the Physics of Rowing; it is a non-linear relationship such that you must apply 8 times as much power to go twice as fast. So, for example, rowing at 4:00 pace uses about 25 watts on a Concept II machine, while rowing at 2:00 pace uses about 200 watts.