April 15 — RAMP TEST (GET IT!!!!)
1) Indoor cycling can turn into sprinting between red lights — go ‘fast’ then stop — and REPEAT. Effort should correspond with duration. Balancing intensity and duration is the ultimate test. Your longest sustained watts and heart rate during a ramp test (also called MAXIMAL AEROBIC POWER/VO2 MAX) are quite instructive metrics. The goal is to increase effort (using resistance) each minute until exhaustion. It should take us less than 10 minutes.
2) VO2max is typically thought of as your power over ~3-8 minutes. It is a popular indicator of physical efficiency (especially aerobic efficiency) and a good predictor of your potential as an endurance athlete or even an indicator of future health. (source). Your results can be entered online to generate power zones.
Power Zones from Trainer Road Source
3) Today we conduct a ramp test — it’s the most efficient and least intimidating way to determine Functional Threshold Power (FTP). Expect 4- 8 minutes of hard pedaling Each minute we add 1 mile per hour (for simplicity) until you can no longer maintain your pace.
4) Your watts (top left) before failure should be recorded. 75% of that number (72-77% according to some studies) is the maximum rate of oxygen that your body can absorb and utilize to fuel maximal-effort physical activity. Or said differently, this is where your aerobic effort turns anaerobic.
5) Use this online calculator to generate your power zones. Remember to take 75% of your last sustained watts. We’ll do this for heart rate in a few months.
6) A short video on the ramp test. Next week, I’ll share the playlist and you can revisit this for yourself.