Out Season: Week 8 – Bike Test!!!

aarmau@gmail.comDecember 17, 201270.3 Ironman, bike test, cycling, endurance nation, ironman training, out season

Wow! Did I ever sweat, drool, drip snot, and test my mental capacities this morning. For some reason I thought I had the run test today until last night when I realized it was the bike.

I got up this morning had a cup of coffee and my AdvoCare products – Spark, Arginine Extreme, and Rehydrate. Around 5 am I was ready to knock out this test.

I loaded up my TR and the old bike test program. I started up with the recommended warm up. As I was warming up I remembered that the custom workout I made did not separate the timed data. I quickly stopped, created a new workout and started back up.

Here is the test workout

Bike Test, for Power Athletes ONLY!

WU: 10′ easy, then 8′ building from 50% FTP to 100% FTP in 2′ increments, 2′ easy. Fine to use estimated FTP if this is your first test. The intent here is to get in a good warmup, so use your best judgement. 

Test 1 — Vo2 Max Test: ride 5′ at the best (hardest) effort you can sustain for the full 5′. A good target is 120% of your estimated FTP.

 Recover 1: 10′ easy spin, stretch, recovery. 

Test 2 — Functional Threshold Power (FTP) Test: time trial for 20′ at the best (hardest) effort you can sustain for the full 20′. 

Recover 2: Minimum 5′ easy spinning

Rides – TrainerRoad http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/129203

The above TR link shows the test results but not the 18 minute warm up I did prior. The Garmin data above shows it all.

By the time it was up for the first VO2 test I was sweating and ready to go. My head was loaded with congestion and my legs were not feeling awesome, but not terrible either. I took off and tried to just hold on to see what I could do.

To give a bit of background during week 5 of the OS I did a bike test as this was when I converted to TR and the virtual power(read post here)

Here is a link to my Week 1 OS Bike Test when I used HR

During week 5 I was at VO2 max of 245
My VO2 max today during the 5 minute test was 270

How awesome is that? In a mere three weeks I jumped up 25 on my VO2 max. I wish I knew where I was during week one with power, but this right here shows that this OS plan works. PERIOD!

Next, moving to my FTP during the 20 minute test was 227. So, 95% of this is around 215.
During week 5 my FTP was 202 so this is also a great sign to see a 13 point increase. I don’t know if this is a normal jump, a great, jump, or not so great jump. However, to see numbers go up is always a great confidence booster that the hard work is paying off. 

What is next?
Well, I will add the new volumes into the bike calculator and see how that changes my training. I know that the result will lead to pushing harder on the bike and that is great as long as the results continue to grow. I think about how hard I had to push on the bike to get to this point and I cannot imagine being the 300 power club. I would love to claim that I could be to that level, but I will be happy with continual improvement. 
As I stated before and is all over EN is that WORK, WORKS! This whole training is so much different from my first season, but I can see changes and a I can see my fitness improve. I cannot wait to get back to healthy eating and proper nutrition after the holidays to really see what my body can do.
This is a great start to my Monday and week. I look forward to rest tomorrow and then testing out my 5K run to see the changes there. I am tired today I won’t lie, but I know it is worth it when I see these results. 
BOO-YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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