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Power curve and best efforts: what your curve shows

The power curve shows, for each duration, the highest average power you have ridden. It is your performance profile at a glance: where you are strong, where there is room, and whether you are improving right now.

Updated: October 6, 2026 · 4 min read

What a best effort is

A best effort is the highest average power over a fixed duration, anywhere within a ride. In every ride with a power meter, ZonePit looks for the best section over 5 seconds and 1, 5 and 20 minutes. The best section from all rides in the selected period is your best effort for that duration.

What the durations reveal

• 5 seconds: sprint, pure peak power.
• 1 minute: anaerobic capacity, for example a short, steep ramp.
• 5 minutes: close to your maximal oxygen uptake (VO₂max).
• 20 minutes: the basis for estimating your FTP (best effort × 0.95).

The shape of the curve shows your profile. If it drops only a little to the right, you lean towards endurance. If the left part is high and the right part low, your strength is sprinting.

“New” and the dashed line

• “New” marks a best effort from the last 7 days.
• The dashed line shows your best efforts from the last 42 days only. If it is close to the solid line, you are in good form right now. If it is clearly below, your best efforts come from an earlier phase.

Keeping the values right

• Only sections where power was recorded without gaps count. A power meter dropout does not create a false best effort.
• If the same ride lands in Apple Health twice, for example from Zwift and from Strava, it counts only once.
• A best effort is only as high as what you actually rode. If you never went all out for 20 minutes, the curve underestimates you there.

Keep reading

Sources

• Hunter Allen, Andrew Coggan: Training and Racing with a Power Meter (power profile, mean maximal power curve).
• Andrew Coggan: Power profiling, TrainingPeaks.

ZonePit is a training and wellness app, not a medical device.