Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate utilizing power control preambles with closed loop power control techniques in a wireless communication environment. An uplink grant can be transferred over a downlink (e.g., a first uplink grant after uplink inactivity), and a power control preamble can be sent over an uplink in response to the uplink grant. According to an example, transmission of the power control preamble can be explicitly scheduled and/or implicitly scheduled. The power control preamble can be transmitted at a power level determined by an access terminal utilizing an open loop power control mechanism. A base station can analyze the power control preamble and generate a power control command based thereupon to correct the power level employed by the access terminal. The access terminal can thereafter utilize the power control command to adjust the power level for uplink data transmission.