Field Test

Ugg...

So yesterday was the first day of the CTS Trainer Class. This was my 3rd year of it... for those that don't know it's a 8 minute TT where you want to have your highest average power. Start out to hard and you blow... to slow and you left something on the table. The good and the bad is that I have done a dozen of these in my time with CTS I am pretty good at pacing myself. That means maximum power... but also maximum suffering. Ohhh and it's actually 2 X 8 minutes all out with 10 minute recovery... and the coaches love to get you fired up to beat your first test on the second one (I didn't).

It actually went better than I thought. After Ironman (see previous blog entry) I was a little burned. Just haven't been ridding much (or swimming or biking), but trainer class has been a staple of my plan to kick start my season so around 6:20 mountain time Coach Adam said "Go!" and well I dropped into the aerobars on the Saber and started riding. 8 minutes... it's a long time and a short time all at once. It's long that you think 'Ok I gotta pace myself', yet short enough you can think 'one more minute, hang on for one more minute' (and you only have to lie to yourself a few times). But at the end of the first 8 minutes I down sifted and stayed in my aerobars worried I would fall over if I sat up to fast. My power was higher than anticipated (Honestly I was expecting to crack after the lack of riding), and I seemed to be recovering. 'Hell yeah I'm an Ironman I thought'! That last approximately 10 minutes and 30 seconds (Note I said there was 10 minutes of recovery). The second interval started and quickly I realized that the first session would be my best, but surprisingly the last two minutes I threw all my weight into the pedals (and in the off season on my 6'4" frame that is a lot of weight), the bike handled it and the watts went up. Not bad.

So here I am, trying to reignite the fire. 8 Weeks of trainer class (Tuesday and Thursday nights) to get back into it. For those wondering I average 335 watts for 8 minutes on the first test and 329 for the second. The goal is after 16 weeks (two classes) I break 400 watts for 8 minutes... last year I was 405 at the end of classes.

HTFU!