The PowerTap Doesn't Lie

Well, today I was all ready to test myself and establish new, higher, levels of power producing ability. Unfortunately, it was not to be. My legs were tired and I found it tough to maintain any level of power above a moderate pace.

Test Time

Today was very hot and humid so I decided to ride inside and test my FTP (Functional Threshold Power). I hadn’t done a test in a few months and I have felt myself getting stronger over the last month or two so I thought it would be a slam dunk. The test protocol I use is straight out of Training And Racing With A Power Meter, the “bible” of power training. It involves a 30 minute warm up with a couple of “spin ups” of 1 minute each. After the warm up you do an “all-out” 5 minute effort. Then you spin easy for 10 minutes before doing a 20 minute time trial. After all of that you cool down for 10-15 minutes. All told it’s about 75 minutes, with 25 minutes at what could be described as a “very uncomfortable” level of work.

Watts Don’t Lie

As soon as I started the warm up I noticed that my legs felt a little heavy but I figured they would improve over the 30 minute warm up. Well, 27 minutes into the warm up my legs still felt heavy. I tried to psyche myself up for the 5 minute interval and when it came time to start it I gave my best but it was not to be. One minute into the effort I found myself struggling to maintain anything over 300 watts. Not Good. Especially since I have averaged closer to 330 watts for many a 5 minute interval in the past. Here is a copy of the WKO+ power file showing my workout (click on the image to open it up then click on it again to zoom in):

Basically I ran out of gas at one minute into the 5 minute effort. I tried to recover but it was no use. I just finished up by riding easy until 45 minutes was up and called it a day. Compare today’s test to the last one I did in March:

This one was a textbook test. Notice how my 5 and 20 minute efforts were consistent and at a good level. This was what I was hoping to better today. Oh, well.

The Rest Of The Week

Well, the “failed” workout today told me that I need to take it easy for a couple of days at least. My body is definitely tired. So, I will ride the rest of the week at a moderate level or less. I have a big week planned for next week with a lot of climbing so I want to be ready to go for that.

Training with power allows you to see exactly how you are performing and compare that to previous workouts in an objective way. For better (most of the time) or worse (every once in a while) you know how you are doing. Today was one of those “worse” times but I still got some valuable insight into how my body is doing, and that is always a good thing.