![]() ![]() This year’s data might be a good “holding pattern”-a level of fitness you can sustain, that can be bumped up to racing form in a couple weeks should the opportunity arise next year. And if you start out fast, slow in the middle, and finish fast again, maybe you need to work on pacing.”įinally, while December benchmarks would normally show the effects of a long racing season, this bout of tests are more a picture of steady state fitness. ![]() “Starting out slow and getting faster throughout may be a confidence issue. You may need to work on fitness,” Golich said. “If your pace decreases over the course of the assessment, that shows fatigue. Testing can provide more granular feedback, too. So an increase in Lactate Threshold Heart Rate, for example, means you can bike further at a sustainable level: You’ll complete a 5K run in less time. There are loads of metrics one can use to measure fitness but regardless of whether you use Functional Power Threshold or Heart Rate, improvement is being able to do more work in a given time with the same perceived effort, Golich said. If you did the 30-minute run on a treadmill in March, use the same treadmill in June, October, and December. For the sake of accurate comparison from one benchmark to the next, eliminate variables by biking on the same stretch of road, at the same time of day, using the same nutrition, same preparation and execution. Whether you conduct the assessments outdoors or in, consistency is key. “Field testing is an excellent substitute for racing,” Golich said. She suggested undertaking benchmark testing every eight weeks, especially when there are few, if any, races that in pre-pandemic times provided additional feedback. “Those are back-to-back hard days, but the duration of these high-intensity efforts is short compared to overall training volume, so they won’t require that much recovery on the back end,” Golich said. In general, she recommended completing the bike, run, and swim tests within a week “to capture fitness across the board.” She said to take a few easy days, then the bike trial on Tuesday and the run on Wednesday or Thursday. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, ran down the latest testing protocols. Lindsay Golich, sport physiologist with the U.S. If we’ve learned anything in 2020, it’s to take validation wherever you can get it! In the absence of races, not only will field assessments provide a snapshot of your current fitness, help you evaluate your training, and identify areas to work on, but they might also be your only reward for the past months of effort. This year, benchmark testing might serve even more purposes than usual. Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! ![]()
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