Test workouts?

What regular test workouts do people do to track changes in/response to training or your current form?

MAF test for running?
Regular bike TT?
Swim timed efforts?

There is the fabled 100km TT that AP has people doing and seems that many have jumped on board as well with it. The intent of the session is more to have you get in the Aero position for 100km and turn on a race face. The actual time really does not matter but is more to release the beast so to speak once a month. We don't race very often as IM focused people so days like this are pretty much there to feed the competitive side of people. I know there are lots of dudes going and and doing these around the shop without actually thinking about why.

I was doing a 17.2km run every couple of weeks at the same heart rate (IM rate) and watching the time come down. I think that while not wasted time, I was confusing the matter when I think I should have been running at the same pace (IM pace). What it meant was that I became very good at running at that heart rate but in reallity come race day that heart rate was too low and I became a slave to the HRM. Like Campbell often posts, "the triathlete was on their way to a pb until their HRM told them to slow down".

Mentioning Campbell again, he put me onto Daniel's running formula and that thing is great for advice on what to do with your TT/Race results. As your base line increases, there is a very specific change to your training paces. You can find a fairly large chunk of it on Google Boooks. The table lives HERE


The constant/TT course concept is why IMOZ and Gold Coast Half shit me. They have never had the same course twice at either so you can't get a true feel for consecutive races. I think that base line and then testing are great for your feedabck.

Swim
400m TT gives a good bench mark
10x100m on set pace, 1:30, 1:35 or 2:00 what ever you need to do

Bike
TT's 20km, 40km get some base line times and chat your improvement.

Run
Test set of 3 reps of 5x400m on a set time repeat.
Possibly should do more reps for long distance racers but this was a good set when i did short course.

Submaximal tests
Swim = 1000m at goal race effort
Bike = 20km, 60km, 80km, 120km up to and including 180km race sim ride.
Run = 8km run test (4x1km @ IMHR, 4x1km @ IMHR +10bpm) This is a continuous 8km run.

I like the sub maximal tests because you can do them more frequently and make adjustments according to how you are progressing. I generally aim to do a swim, bike and run test every 6 to 8 weeks to monitor which discipline shows the least amount of improvement and then that will become my focus for the next 6-8 week block of training

Threshold tests
swim = 400, 1000m or 1.5km
Bike = 40km or the 42minute test (2x20min with a 2min RI).
Run = 10km flat out
Any race = funs runs, Sprint tri's, OLY's ad HIM's

I only do these tests 2-3 times per year as they are quite stressful, but are still useful for setting up early season training zones and then inseason training zones. I usually try and get as many people as I can involved in these tests for motivational purpose.

Daily tests
These are ongoing and usually involve hitting a lap split between point A and point B on a common course, for cycling and running. For example, I have a 4km run marked out that I usually take 1km splits on the way home to check pace against HR. Do this multiple times allows for variations in HR and you can fins clearn patterms in how you are improving against the volume of training you do and the intensity you train at.


fluro

Places names are in Sutherland Shire in Sydney
bike
2 hours TT at Kurnell, see how many kms in two hours.
Waterfall Hill Climb Time
16k TT at Kurnell Time

run
4.5k hilly loop at Loftus - straight time
Lady Carrington in Royal National Park
1km repeat efforts times X 4, ie flat chat 1k X 4, recovery is add one minute in the k back to start, then again, concept is to run the efforts all sub 4 mins and record times - could not do it at moment.

Swim - anywhere
20 x 50mtrs off one minute recording each lap time but really digging deep on every 4th
200/400/1k time in pool - interesting don't really worry about times for longer, feel that takes care of itself by doing 4k squads.

Matt M wrote:Places names are in Sutherland Shire in Sydney


Swim - anywhere
20 x 50mtrs off one minute recording each lap time but really digging deep on every 4th

Hey, that is a good one. When you are swim fit, do you see much fade over the faster efforts (4th) from first to last?

yes, 2 to 5 secs depending on how I'm feeling. Normally find you lift for the twentieth as you know its the last and that is quicker than 16. Big difference sitting on a manageable "fast time for your ability" for twenty laps v's going for it every lap.