Daily Archives: November 22, 2011

Winter Cycling Training – Day 1 of Week 3 (Test Week)

This is my first test week, and my first test was a 20 minute all out sufferfest.

After a 20 minute warm up, the training plan called for a 20 minutes of maximum effort. I was to hold nothing back but pedal as hard as I could. And I did.

For the 20 minute test, my average power was 249 watts which is nine watts better than my best time trial effort. My average heart rate was 157 bpm. At the start of the maximum effort, my heart rate was 129 bpm and rose to 165 bpm at the end. I also lost 1.6 pounds of fluid during the workout.

This effort is better than my expectation. I would hoping for an average of 240 watts, and I thought that goal would be very hard to obtain. But 249 watts! I feel very good (and tired).

Man, was it fun!