I can tell that my stroke is still inconsistent -- sometimes I feel like I get a good pull and other times I do not get that feeling -- so there's still a lot to work on. I will also try to talk Stacey into taping me in the pool again this evening to ensure that the changes I feel like I'm making are actually the changes I am making.
FTP TEST
CV had me do an FTP test this weekend. The goal was an hour all out on the Lefthand Canyon climb from Boulder to Ward. I took off pushing 300+ W, thinking I was crushing the test. 10 minutes in, I realized that the test was in fact crushing me. Uh oh, time to switch from an hour test to a 20 minute test. I held on for the last 10 minutes and finished the test at an elevation of 7,500 feet or so thinking my heart was going to jump out of my chest. Result: 297 W at averages of 165 bpm (max 179 bpm) and 80 rpm. Thus, FTP = 280-285 W.
Next time I will start conservatively, circa 275 W. Also, one tough thing about testing on this particular climb is that as the gradient of the climb varies I frequently need to shift between my small and big chainrings. Sometimes I instead opted to pedal in a less than ideal gear knowing that I'd have to shift right back a few hundred feet up the road. My power output is not as consistent as it could be.
MAF TEST
In summary, I did the test with a target HR of 150 bpm but went a bit hard and typically averaged 151-153 bpm. My initial pace was 6:51/mile and I fell to 7:12/mile (when looking at the chart below, look at the actual time and not the pace because the track is likely more accurate than my GPS).
Oh, and for my future reference: the conditions were excellent, 50 degrees or so, little wind, dirt track at South High, quick pee break in the middle with an extra lap to get HR back up before resuming test (note pace improvement post-peeing). PE was pretty low, around 7.
What to take from the test? First, I'll pay attention to my running pace during subsequent tests over the next several weeks as I focus more on swimming and cycling to ensure that I'm not losing too much run speed. I'll do this by comparing my initial speed and average pace throughout the test with future tests. Second, I lost about 20 seconds/mile over the course of the test. I think this is an indication of my base fitness being pretty good but not great, and I want to compare that gap over time to try to minimize it. For shorter than IM distance races, I'm not quite as concerned with the drop off, but for IM it's good to have as little loss as possible (at least that's how I interpret things).
Here are a few earlier test results: Jan. 2010, July 2009, and June 2009. My recent test was better than my only other one at altitude, the Jan. 2010 test. My July 2009 test was pretty awesome -- 7:00/mile or so at 145 bpm -- but that was back in Michigan at a few hundred feet elevation and on what I'd guess is a faster track (being not dirt). In that July test, however, I slowed a bit less throughout the test.
Finally, I recently did a nice 5 hour ride right from my door out to Deer Creek Canyon for some climbing and then back home.
The ride is kind of crappy heading south from Denver, as the bike path travels through an industrial area. After that, however, the scenery gets a bit better:
Continuing south, approaching the Chatfield reservoir:
Just about to enter the mountains via the pass in the distance:
This photo isn't a great example, but the area just south of Chatfield State Park is cool because there are a ton of rocks protruding at about a 45 degree angle from the ground, and many of the homes are built into the rocks:
Much nicer views than my old rides in Michigan offered:
A nice curvy mountain road:
45 minutes or so into the climb there are some nice views:
Here's a shot zoomed in on one of the houses way off in the distance in the photo above:
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