This morning was a big break through for me. Some of my proudest moments occur when I am training on my own rather than in a race. Today I had one of those moments. I woke up at ridiculous o’clock for breakfast and a giant cup of coffee and set up my bike trainer.
It was power test time.
The test is a warm up, a 5 minute effort some recovery spinning and a full on 20 minute all out hardest you can push for the entire test. This test sets “training zones” so that athletes can dial in the time spent riding at various effort levels with precision getting just the right amount of intensity.
Coach Michael calls this my “Power Challenge” instead of my power test to help motivate me and also reduce my pre-test anxiety levels. Those little things matter! This test meant a lot because my last test was on my tri bike and it was 28 watts lower than my road bike. After all kinds of running around questioning this disparity and adjusting my bike fit and panicking in general, it turns out I had not zeroed out (calibrated per Garmin terms) my power meter. That is why it was so low. So this time I really wanted to see what I could do…with a calibrated power meter.
I poured every ounce of effort, balancing on the edge of impossible and came out with a HUGE power PR. I’m really proud of all the work I did this block building to the test and especially of the effort and focus and drive to complete and pace the test so well. I’m so happy! Its going to be a great season.
Tomorrow I go back to Dr. McMahon at Adult and Child Foot and Ankle to see what he thinks about adding running back in. Wish me luck!