Measuring one's power output.

Spinnor

The weather got warm enough for me to go for a bike ride on Saturday on a favorite route. As summer and early fall are long behind me I am not in as good of shape as back then. Riding my bike up a particularly steep hill and trying not to push stupid hard I was a bit depressed at the state of my health as I had to go pretty slow. I'm fairly old but still, I have let myself go so to speak since late summer. Must and will get my heart and lungs stronger.

To test my general level of fitness I set an egg timer for 30 minutes this evening and went up and down my basement steps gradually increasing my pace till I was working up to quite a sweat. I was not trying to set a record but did keep up a steady pace. An itunes pod cast kept me entertained. A pen in my hand made a mark on a sheet of paper when I reached the top of the steps. I took several short breaks for water and to take my pulse. At the halfway point I had a pulse rate of about 114 bpm. I climbed the stairs 96 times, about 8.375 feet vertical, in 30 minutes. Our scale showed I weighed 190 lbs. Weight X distance / time gives power.

My starting power 190X96X8.375/30X60 ≈ 85 ft.lb./sec

One horsepower is 550 ft.lbs./sec so for 30 minutes I was averaging about a 1/6 of a horsepower.

If a healthy 55 year old male took my test what power would they produce or what number should I be shooting for. I'm sure if I had not done this test after dinner I could have done better but I'm sure I have much room for improvement.

Thanks for any thoughts!

Edit, I did use the hand rail going up and down and at times pulled myself up a little bit.

Spinnor

Any old farts out there that are willing to estimate your power so I can see where I stand?

Thanks for your help!