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Testing
Testing is essential to determine if your body is adapting to stress you
place upon it while training for an event or race. Doing the actual race is most
often impossible without competition, logistically impractical, and not
desirable because it could lead to overtraining or mental burnout. Athletes
should therefore pick a test to monitor adaptation that best fits their needs.
There are four general criteria to consider:
- Validity. A test must measure what it was designed to measure. This
seems like a simple restatement of the obvious, but it is often misused. These
will be described later.
- Reliability. The test must produce consistent results each time it
is run under consistent conditions and warm up
routine.
- Practicality and Repeatability. Laboratory conditions offer
the best opportunity to produce valid and reliable tests, but most do not have
access to the lab or monetary resources to perform periodic testing to test
for adaptation over time and with respect to different training stimuli.
- Usefulness. Data collected in the test must be something that can
be used to make adjustments, if necessary, to training for a specific goal.
If, for instance, power at threshold is increasing in subsequent tests we know
the athlete is adapting to his training.
Types of Tests
- Threshold. As energy expenditure (exertion) increases, different
energy systems within the body are invoked to provide energy to the working
muscles. Lactic acid is a by-product of all of these energy systems. The cells
process a certain amount of lactic acid and return it to the bloodstream in
the form of lactate, but as effort increases they are not able to keep up with
the production and the muscles become very inefficient. At very high exertion
rates lactic acid production increases exponentially and the effort is
therefore only tolerable for very short periods. This is the burning sensation
in your muscles. The point at which the cells can process the lactic acid as
quickly as it is created is known as the lactate threshold or "LT", sometimes
referred to as the anaerobic threshold or "AT". A well-trained cyclist can
exercise at threshold for approximately one hour so average heart rate (HR)
for a 40K time trial is one of the best tests of threshold. In recent years
LT, rather than maximum HR, has been used to establish HR training zones as
it's much more meaningful for aerobic activities. Threshold does not change
much with training, but power at threshold is very trainable. A threshold test
is more and more commonly used as the fundamental test to determine HR zones for endurance
athletes. There are many ways to test to approximate Threshold, although most
of the shorter tests are difficult to interpret. One of the best is to put
your racing bike on a CompuTrainer and, holding RPM at 90, increase watts
every minute until you can no longer maintain 90RPM for 30 seconds. Time or
power is then plotted against HR to determine a deflection point where
increases in HR are no longer linear with increases in power. This can be very
difficult to interpret with reasonable accuracy so consulting someone who has
experience is highly recommended.
- Anaerobic Power. Measures power for short term efforts. A
power measuring device is necessary. A
typical protocol is a 320M course programmed into the CompuTrainer using a
standing start. Max and average power for the course are recorded during the
testing microcycle to determine adaptation. Scores can also be compared to
cyclists in a similar category to help determine goals and training
objectives.
- VO2 Max. This test measures the maximal rate of oxygen an athlete
can uptake. Oxygen is needed to convert carbohydrates and fat (and protein to
a smaller degree) to energy the muscles can use. It is therefore reasoned that
the higher the VO2 max the higher the performance in a race. Increasing the
resistance in steps for a VO2 max test, however, is a poor approximation of
most road, mountain, running, 'cross, and even velodrome races. VO2 max is a
good indicator of genetic potential, but not necessarily how the athlete has
trained to meet that potential. While nearly all elite athletes have a high
maximum uptake (about 80 ml/kg/min for men and 70 for women), that does not
necessarily mean it will translate to performance. For almost all disciplines
a better test is power at lactate threshold.
- Time Trials. These tests are simply races against the clock for a
given distance. They are very helpful for determining adaptation over specific
length and grade courses. The challenge is to keep the temperature, wind,
equipment, time of day, etc conditions constant. The best way to do this is to
do the tests indoors with your race bike. If that is not possible, use a
velodrome or sheltered road or climb with little traffic and no traffic
signals.
When choosing a test, use the criteria above to determine which are feasible
for your goals or to determine your training objectives if you are having
trouble developing them. If lab equipment is available, threshold and anaerobic
power tests are good. If labs are not practical, threshold, anaerobic power, and
time trial tests can be performed on a CompuTrainer, indoor trainer, velodrome
or sheltered road or hill. meINNOVATIONS
can provide lab assistance and help you determine good tests to assess your
training. Cougar Mountain and Mercer Island are great outdoor benchmark climb
and time trial tests.
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