Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Testing time.... Day One

I spoke to mark a few days ago about the tests. The Swim and Run benchmark tests seem pretty straightforward but I had some questions about what he wanted as far as information on the bike
Here's the workout: in the morning… on trainer… 40 minute all out TT grab avg wattage at 10 15 20 30 and 40 minute marks… WU and CD properly
Because the power meter for my bike trainer is somewhat simplistic, I had to reset the timer for each period and I wasn't sure if Mark wanted the Power Averages from 0-10, 10-15, 15-20 etc. or just total averages at 10, 15, 20, etc. He decided on the first method, with sections from 0-10, 10-20, 20-30 and 30-40. That data leaves the ability to figure out overall averages anyway. he also gave me some advice on how to approach the test...
"start out at your perceived current threshold wattage and after awhile gradually step it up from there; let the fatigue and pain come to you... let it build slowly... don't go looking for it; still feeling good with 10 minutes to go.... start churning"

Well, now the test is done and the results are in:
0-10'00": 167 Watts
10'00" - 20'00": 177 Watts (172 overall average)
20'00" - 30'00": 182 Watts (175.3 overall average)
30'00" - 40'00": 219 Watts (184.75 total average)

I have to say, i'm pretty disappointed with how the test started out. I feel like I should have been at 177 for the first 10'00" and stepping up from there. I had some trouble warming up, I think partly because I'm not used to riding in the morning, I usually ride in the evening. I did some laundry and other chores to try to wake up and loosen up a bit before hopping on the bike to warm up. I thought I was warm and loose enough when i started but when it was over, I didn't feel that way. I think I should have tossed a quick 10 second interval into the middle of the warmup to really loosen up.
The last 10 really was fun and hard and I feel like I gave it everything I had left at that point, which was quite a lot more than I expected to have at that point.
Lesson learned I suppose.
But, now it's done and I get to sit and wait to see what Mark says (hint, hint... I know you read these!) I'm not even sure what to compare the result to. I had my LT test in August and my LT at the time was 175.
Anyhow, swim test tomorrow!

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