Testing times

In order to get the most out of your training sessions and track your performance gains, it is important to schedule in regular testing. Over a period of time this allows you to zone in on your key training data such as pace, power and heart rate zones.

In the pool we do this regularly in the form of CSS (Critical Swim Speed) tests. We did this 3 weeks ago in our Sunday Squad Swim and it will reappear again very soon! After a bit of calculating you can come up with your CSS (threshold) pace which can then form the backbone of your training and pacing in the pool.

For running we complete regular Time Trials to establish Threshold heart rates and pace, and once again we can use this numbers to calculate our training and racing zones and paces.

Last week was Threshold Testing week in our weekday and weekend Indoor Cycling Classes. We have seen a lot of sweating and grunting going on, or in some cases just a little bit less conversation! More experienced athletes are able to check their performance and zones against previous test results and athletes who are newer to the sport have had a good introduction into learning how to ride and pace a time trial and seeing what sort of results they can achieve.
Once you know your numbers it is possible to work out all your other training zones, ensuring that your following sessions are done at the right intensity to reap the best performance benefits. In short, it makes sure that you make your easy sessions easy enough and your hard sessions enough.

Train Smart everyone and let us know if we can help!!