Second Annual Functional Test

Once again, Coach Alessandro wanted me to run a Functional Test to see where my threshold is, so that he can make me ride painfully close to it for extended periods of time.

Last year, my second ever post was a description of that test. I thought it'd be nice to post the results again, if for no reason other than periodicity.

Note that I ran a different protocol this time. While last year I steadily increased my speed, then looked for a plateau in the heart rate recording, this year was simple. For 20 minutes, I rode as hard as I could.


So there you have it. For about 20 minutes, my heart rate hovered around the high 170s. I know that I couldn't have gone any harder, because if you look closely at the last 5 minutes, you'll see a tell-tale increase in the heart rate... I cracked like an egg.

While the heart rate shows that I was working hard, it really doesn't tell how fit (or unfit) I am. Since I don't have a fancy-shmancy power meter, you'll just have to trust me when I tell you that I averaged 700 Watts for those 20 minutes. Hooray for me!

I finished the interval with dead legs, burning lungs, and a pool of sweat under me. My nose and cheeks had gone numb. It was a good workout.