I was beyond exhausted last night. I tried to watch Christmas Vacation with my son, but had to cry uncle at 8:30 when I simply couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I kissed him goodnight, went upstairs and set out my workout clothes for the next day. Testing Day. Ouch.
I slept like a corpse and when my alarm went off I silently prayed for the ability to turn back the clock another couple of hours. After staring at the clock for a few minutes to only watch it mock me by continuing to move ahead in time, I reluctantly got up and got changed. It was Testing Day. Ouch.
While I've been training regularly, I have primarily been on a strength training kick so my bike fitness is not where it was back in the good old days when I was tri tri tri all the time. As a result, my cycling associated body parts aren't either. Meaning, certain more "delicate" areas are feeling the effects of the last few days on the bike. When I hopped on this morning there was protesting. "Again? Seriously woman????" Thankfully after the warm up I felt surprisingly settled in, and after the first lead in set I was actually feeling hopeful about my numbers for the test.
Test? What is this test I keep mentioning, you ask? For those who aren't Spinervals or cycling training freaks, we need to regularly perform a Time Trial (TT) test to compute our training zones. Some days are easier, aerobic days. Some days Coach Troy makes us feel like we are going to vomit. Other days we question our sanity and plot ways to kill Troy in his sleep. We need to know what it means to work in those zones - what numbers to target, either heart rate, or power. I have a power meter and am ALL about training with power - it is a huge motivator to lock in on that power number and either hold it, or try to beat it during these workouts. It's such a powerful number for me personally (pun intended!) - a direct measure of how much power I am applying to those pedals to make that wheel spin. From MY legs. It's not artificially elevated because I got a lousy night's sleep or am on the verge of a cold (as can happen with heart rate). It doesn't take time to build as you start to work and time to drop as you rest. It's a direct measure of instantaneous power, pure and simple. And when you retest and your average power for the TT is higher than it was last month? Yeah, that's money right there. Fitness improvements, in your face, in black and white. Your body had changed, whether you feel it or not. Truly priceless.
The downside of this is that the test hurts, and hurts bad. Troy thoroughly warms us up, then we start a HARD 20 minute TT effort. You dial it in, then you hold on for dear life. For 20 minutes. There is a skill here to knowing how hard to start out as you do NOT want to go out too hard and fade over the course of those 20 minutes. You also don't want to hold too much back and finish thinking that you could have gone a little harder. The way I describe it to first timers is that when you hit the 10 minute mark, you should be struggling mentally. Your legs should be burning and you should be VERY uncomfortable. Not yet dying (or praying for death, that comes later), but you should be struggling. Mightily. You should be thinking "I'm REALLY not sure I can hold this for another 10 minutes." If that's how you feel at the 1/2 way point, you are on track for perfect pacing. Then you mentally break it into 2x5' sets. You make it through the first 5' (come on, it's only 5 minutes, you can do this, just keep spinning those legs and do NOT let off...), and are REALLY hurting. Now you are thinking that there is NO WAY you'll make it another 5'. So you mentally break it into 5x1' sets. You can do anything for 1', right? Right. So go do it 5x (this is when you might start to pray for death). :)
That's how I handle these tests. That last minute hurts like nothing you've ever felt, you really feel like you might throw up, but you keep pushing. I stare at my power number on my bike computer and try to increase it, even if only by 1W to make sure I don't let myself fade. Sweat is literally pouring off of me, but I just let it. There is nothing else but my legs and the pedals and that power number - I'm in a weird robot-like state.
And then you here those glorious words "Three, Two, Oooooooonnnnnnneeeeeee!" as Troy announces that you are done. WOO HOO!!!!! The good news is that my numbers didn't suck as much as I was expecting!!!! I am a far cry from where I was when I was in top cycling shape, but not by as much as I was expecting. That's good. Very good! I can't wait to see how they improve over the course of winter training.
I've also been having a BLAST keeping up with the other Spinervals Members on our FB page. There are a LOT of us doing the Challenge and it is such a great motivator to know there are people out there suffering like you are, and who are expecting to see your daily check-in posts. There can't be slacking when people are watching!!!! It's a great group of people who are extremely welcoming and fun. And some seriously talented athletes - very inspiring. If you are interested, I highly recommend joining - they have a variety of options and all are very reasonable, and you get fantastic discounts on DVDs, training camps and training plans. And access to the FB page where all the coolest kids hang out! Membership Information
After finishing the workout (it's an hour total - the TT is the main brutality, but he's got a few other sets worked in to make it a solid stand alone workout) I wrapped it up by doing my squats/plank for the day (today was 35 squats followed by 1:00 plank - my legs were a tad wobbly toward the end of the squat count, that's for sure!).
A great way to start the morning!
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