The CTS field test... throw down for 8 minutes... they take the average power so blowing up doesn't help you and niether does playing it safe and ramping it up at the end. Ohhhh and you get 10 minutes of recovery and you do it again. They take the highest one incase you are too conservative on the first one.
The goal... 400 watts. Last year for the final test 393. Craig yells go and click... click... click... down 3 gears and ramp up to 90+ cadence and see what happens. A little over 400 watts, no just hold it. "One minute in," he yells. 'Keep going, cadence is a little low, but just throw down the power,' I think. "Two minutes in... Three minutes in." The legs are starting to get the lactic acid feel, look at the cadence 88... power 394... 'Pick it up Peterson, 400!'. The cadence goes back up and hovers around 91-92... power 400+. "Four minutes... halfway down," Craig and Lindsay yell out. Motivation is not a problem... the burning legs... they are.... "Three minutes to go," the power is fluctuating... 'Gotta hold it.' The next minute is convincing myself it will get easier once he say two minutes. Two minutes is easy right? "Two minutes to go," some other motivation stuff like "This is where it counts" or "every one's hurting" or some crap like that. My legs are on fire, my lungs have shrunken and this hurts like hell. 'Hammer... go...'. "One minute to go," Now my voice is spewing out the crap, 'One minute, you can do it... don't miss 400 cause you quit... don't leave any chance pick it up!' 420 watts... 415... watts... 410... 'Get it back up!' 415 watts... "Time," Craig yells out and I hit the split button on my SRM and sit up. Spots.... tunnel vision... dizzy... I grab the handlebars, 'Don't fall over,' I think to myself. That thought is quickly followed by 'Don't throw up,' this thought stays with me for awhile.
10 minute recovery where you quickly forget the pain you just endured. I have actually done better on the second effort before. I wondered... 'I saw 400+ a lot... but there were long stretches of not looking and you did see some sub 400... crap....' One thing I didn't know was Nick would not be happy with my cadence. Ok... only shift twice and spin harder... 400 watts at a higher cadence.
Effort number two starts... click... click... 'Ok ramp in up... 94 rpms... 96 rpms... 97 rpms... doesn't feel good.' The next minute is spent realizing two things 1) 97 rpms to hold 400+ watts is uncomfortable and 2) My legs are TRASHED... to spare you the profanity I will describe the next seven minutes as hell. I tried shifting up to get my power and then down shifting to trick my legs into thinking it's easier... didn't work. I tried shifting to a easier gear to get the rpms up and then shift back to get my legs use to that cadence and hold it for higher power... didn't work. Suffferfest where Power Interval range turned into Climbing Repeat range... which then fell to Steady State range. I would try to pick it up... anytime Craig or Lindsay would say something, walk by or I hallucinated something I would try to pick it up, but the legs were dead. "Time," Craig mercifully called out. And I am done.
Cool down, some stretching and drive home. I turn on the PC and download the SRM data. 400... please be 400... thoughts of 399 haunted me... the file pops up and I scan the intervals... Interval... Time 8:00.... Cadence... 90.5 (oh Nick will not be happy)... Power... 405.5!
We won't talk about interval number 2... :-)
