21st February 2009 - Block 1 Fitness Test

Preparation - Week 4 - Block 1

09:30am - Wake Up

• 10 Hours Sleep
• Heart Rate 51 / 72
• Weight 77.6kg

Slept well but feeling dehydrated this morning. Legs feel ok. Good breakfast and cleaned the bikes in the glorious sunshine. Feeling confident about the fitness test today. Breakfast was - x3 peanut butter on toast, x1 large carton of yoghurt, x1 orange juice, x2 glasses of water, x1 coffee. Ate 3 hours before the test.

01:00pm - Block 1 Fitness Test

	Test 1					Test 2
Block	Speed	RPM	Power	HR	Recovery	Speed	RPM	Power	HR	Recovery	Max
0	40.6	92	305	168	139	39.9	90	290	175	134	185
1	42.6	98	346	172	132	41.1	99	312	172	127	182

Turned up to Mick's just before 1pm to get set up ready for the test. Feeling good and no traces of dehydration now. Drank 1 bottle of energy drink an hour before the ride. Had a full warmup this time and used a few FP's to get up to a 150 starting heart rate.

Started out in a lower gear this time and spinning at 350W+ at 110rpm. Asked to keep cadence lower to match last test for a better comparison. Dropped to 53x14 (?) for the remainder of the test. Pedalled smooth at 97-99 rpm keeping up 350-360W for the first 5-6 minutes. Concentrated on breathing to keep heart rate lower whilst still putting down the power. Last 3 minutes were horrendous, legs burning and power dropping to 320-330W. Rode the full 8 minutes without letting off the gas right to the last second and much smoother than fitness test 1.

HR recovery between tests improved also. Second test started out in same gearing but couldn't maintain the same level of power, struggling around 290-300W. First test had really knocked the shit out of me. Fairly erratic for the first 2-3 minutes but got into a smooth 99 rpm grove and kept power over 310W. Could have pushed it more towards the end but was weary of blowing up completely.

Felt great afterwards, had aimed to average 320-330 on test 1 and completely blew it apart. Great to see the results of a month on the training plan, good diet, lots of sleep, minmal booze.

Have really set the bar now for the next test in a month...

04:00pm - 1 Hr RR

Recovery ride with Dan and Mick. Up to Devils Dyke, Poynings, Bramber, St Botolphs, Shoreham. Warm enough for 1 layer and leg warmers - summer is here! Was cold when the sun went down - it's February still! Felt good on the ride, constantly had the urge to tear it up... must save that for tomorrow...