Train, test, adjust

Alain has laid out in quite a lot of detail what he has in mind for his campaign whilst I have remained silent. Time is better spent training, eh ;-). More seriously, since I started working with Alan Couzens as my coach in the middle of last year, I have learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses, and what it takes to perform at IM distance. More about that in a future post.

Today I want to look at some of the tests we do to measure progress, and what they tell us. It's pretty much the opposite approach of what Alain does - generate lots of data, analyze it, and draw conclusions from it. It doesn't freak me out very much to use my power meter or heart rate monitor early in the season, quite the opposite in fact - it helps me stick to what I want to do and avoids training too much in that "middle zone" that feels challenging but that doesn't really achieve what I want it to do.

In the past I did a few tests that focused on VO2 max - 400m swim, 5 minute and 20 minute maximum power on the bike, and a ladder running VO2 max test on the track. With Alan we have broadened the tests quite a bit to test different things:

Swim:
Aerobic 400m swim: swimming 400m with a target heart rate of 135 and seeing how fast I finish it. This shows us how my "cruising" speed, or the pace that I can maintain, is evolving

Best average 100s: What best average I can hold over a longer time period when doing repeated 100s - this is a bit easier than an all out 400m swim, since I can focus on the keeping a constant pace more easily.

Bike:
MAF bike power: this test involves doing 2x20min on the home trainer after a warm up - once at heart rate 135, and once at heart rate 145. As I progress towards Ironman fitness my power at both heart rates should increase, meaning that I am finding it easier to hold a given power.

CP5 and CP20: the tests I talked about before - 5 minute and 20 minute critical power, to see how "top end" power is evolving.

2.5 and 5 hour challenge: these are tough tests - ride as hard as possible over 2.5 and 5 hours. The results of these tests show me how my endurance and my fatigue curve are evolving - i.e. if I am getting relatively stronger at longer distances.

Race simulations: towards the Ironman I will be doing simulations that are about 2/3 of the duration of the race, and I will target a certain heart rate and see how much power I am able to maintain - again seeing if my output to effort lines up.

Run:
MAF run: the MAF run is similar to the bike - run 3 miles at heart rate 180-age (so 147), and record the pace. This pace should improve with training.

Yasso 800s: this is a classic running test to test marathon fitness. When you are ready for your marathon, you should be able to run 10x800 in min and sec as you are planning to run your marathon in hours and minutes. So if you are aiming for a 2hour 55 marathon, you should be able to do 10 x 800 in 2min55sec.

Race simulation runs: like on the bike, targeting 2/3 of the Ironman distance, at a target heart rate.

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With all these tests there is plenty of information to understand how training is going, where progress is being made, and where gaps are. It's possible to become even more geeked-out, but I'll keep that for another time :-).