by Coach Suzanne | Sep 1, 2024 | Testing
Starting Your Triathlon Season Right: The Importance of Performance Testing
As the new year begins, many triathletes and cyclists are eager to jump back into training. December often marks the start of a focused training period, with a solid three months of winter conditioning and base building. This preparation is crucial for setting yourself up for a successful 6-12 week block in early spring that gets you race-ready. But how do you know where to start, or what you should be focusing on? That’s where performance testing comes in.
Performance testing at the start of your training year helps you understand your current fitness level, set realistic short- and long-term goals, and establish a baseline for future assessments. By knowing exactly where you stand, you can tailor your training to your needs and maximize your potential for the upcoming season.
Field Testing: A Practical Approach for Triathletes
Field testing is a straightforward and accessible way to gauge your fitness. It only requires your training equipment and a suitable location—such as a track for running or a low-traffic road for cycling. The main objective of field testing is to estimate your Functional Threshold, which represents the highest intensity you can sustain for an hour.
Several field testing protocols exist, often involving shorter time trials that are used to estimate your hour-long intensity. Essential tools for field testing include a heart rate monitor, a GPS watch or cycling computer for distance measurement, and, if possible, a power meter for cycling. Field testing is particularly valuable because it can be repeated frequently (every 4-8 weeks) to track your progress without the need for expensive or invasive equipment.
Laboratory Testing: Detailed Insights into Your Physiology
For those looking for more detailed data, laboratory testing offers an in-depth look at your physiology. This type of testing can be invasive or non-invasive. Invasive testing, such as lactate threshold testing, involves taking small blood samples during exercise to measure lactate levels. Non-invasive tests, like VO2 Max and ventilatory threshold testing, use sophisticated equipment to analyze the air you breathe during incremental exercise.
Both lactate and VO2 testing help estimate your exercise threshold—the intensity you can sustain for an extended period. These tests are usually conducted on a treadmill or cycling ergometer, with measurements taken at various stages of increasing intensity. The results provide a comprehensive profile of your aerobic capacity and metabolic efficiency, which can be used to fine-tune your training plan.
Which Testing Method is Right for You?
Field testing is practical, cost-effective, and can be done as often as needed to monitor your progress. It doesn’t require specialized equipment or trained professionals to interpret the data. Even if you opt for laboratory testing, it’s recommended to also perform regular field tests to validate your lab results and track your improvement over time.
Laboratory testing, while more expensive and complex, offers unique insights that can’t be obtained through field testing alone. For instance, lactate testing gives you precise data on how your body metabolizes carbohydrates, which can be invaluable for optimizing your nutrition and pacing strategies. VO2 testing, on the other hand, provides a clear picture of your aerobic capacity and potential as an endurance athlete.
However, it’s important to remember that all tests—whether field or lab-based—are approximations of your current fitness level. The key is to use these tests to establish a baseline and then use that information to guide your training and improve your performance throughout the season.
Further Reading and Resources
- TrainingPeaks: How to Perform an FTP Test – A detailed guide on how to conduct a Functional Threshold Power (FTP) test, which is a common field testing method for cyclists and triathletes.
- Joe Friel: The Importance of VO2 Max Testing – Renowned coach Joe Friel explains the value of VO2 Max testing and how it can be used to enhance your training and racing performance.
by Coach Suzanne | May 2, 2023 | Swimming, Testing, Training
- Change your thinking from strokes per minute to seconds per stroke. Instead of frequency, think period. This allows you to do faster analysis of your swimsperiments. 20 strokes @ .9 sec/stroke = 18 seconds. Vs 20 strokes @ 68spm = ?? (Can’t do that math in the pool quickly)
- You need to test/ train tempo in a measured setting before you can use it in open water since you can’t measure progress very well
- Since pace is the result of stroke rate x Stroke length, paying attention to those 2 variables will help you learn a lot about yoru technique without timing yourself (you can always multiply them to get the time, or look at your watch) But you can’t look at yoru watch until you’re done with a set, so learn to count strokes well.
- Each hand entry counts as a stroke (the watch is inaccurate, except for how variable you are, the actual numbers are not helpful)
Some experiments to start with.
Use a comfortable tempo (70 spm = .86 sec/stroke), and swim 2 sets of 3 x 25. (So 6 x 25 total)
No breath, right breathing only, left breathing only, repeat. Rest for 5-10 beeps between repeats
Count your strokes.
Be sure to start your first stroke underwater after a consistent # of beeps off the way (3-5 find out what’s comfortable, and be consistent so you can compare)
Progress to 50s if you can taking 1 breath per 50 plus 1 at the wall (open turn on all 50s for comparison) Count your strokes.
This is a fun simple experiment that will usually tell you what you may already know…that breathing reduces stroke length, and that one side is better / worse than the other. You may have to practice counting strokes before you can be consistent with yoru experiments. A poolside notepad with a ball point pen is great for tracking different things.
Now with data, you can create a hypothesis…
Example (after warmup)
Tempo .85 sec/stroke
6 x 25 as Breath Right only, breath left only, no breathing, repeat. Rest 5-10 beeps between repeats, 5 beeps off wall before first stroke. count strokes.
Stroke Counts by length:
| 1: 20SPL |
4: 21 SPL |
(Left only) |
| 2: 18 SPL |
5: 19 SPL |
(Right only) |
| 3: 17 SPL |
6: 18 SPL |
(No breathing) |
Results show left side breathing adds 3 strokes every 25 yds compared to no breaths At .85 sec/stroke, you’re adding 2.55 seconds / 25 yards due to the slowing down from breathing left. Over 1 mile that’s 2.5 minutes. Right side is better than left side, saving .85 seconds / 25 yards if you only breathed right.
You’ve learned a lot from this simple experiment.
Hypotheses:
- if I practiced alternate breathing I’ll save 1 stroke / length (as opposed to same side breathing). Test it!
- If I improved my breathing form I’ll save 1-3 strokes per length. Choose a skill, and practice incorporating it into your stroke with and without a breath. Practice without a tempo trainer ,then practice at a slower tempo (since thinking about your skills will take longer). Maybe add .15 – .2 seconds to drill with the TT and practice. You can repeat the test set above at this new tempo and while the stroke cont will / should be different, you can still measure the results and see if you’re improving without having to have a coach, video or time yourself.
This is just 1 test set and 2 ideas that emerge from it. There are infinite numbers of tempo sets you can do as part of improving your technique. Kirsten or I can share more, but try this one if you havn’t yet and see what you can learn.
Affiliate Link:
by Coach Suzanne | Aug 11, 2019 | Testing
Image by skeeze from Pixabay
This is one of several articles describing different testing protocols for running. These tests are appropriate for triathlete as well as for runners. This test is for determining your estimated Threshold Heart Rate. If you’d like to determine your threshold running paces, visit the Running Pace Training Zone Calculator. Or return to our main Training Calculators Page.
20 Minute Protocol for Running Threshold Heart Rate
This is a twenty-minute field test protocol used to determine your “threshold heart rate” and pace. Knowing your threshold heart rate will help you both plan workouts as well as to measure progress in your training.
Field Test Warmup
A good running warmup serves several purposes in both training as well as racing. Your muscles need time to both warm-up physically as well as “wake up” neurologically. When you start an activity, your body recruits only the smallest amount of muscle to get the job done. Why? Because you are an efficient human being! The body only uses as much energy as needed to get a task done without wasting energy. In order to run your best and fastest, you need to keep stimulating the muscles involved in running with a good warmup. Your brain and nervous system will recruit more and more muscle groups in order to spread the workload. By recruiting more muscles you can run faster and determine your true abilities.
Suggested Run Warmup: 5-10 minutes brisk walking with muscle activation drills. 5-10 minutes easy jogging, with three twenty-second strides thrown in, 2-3 minute recovery between strides. Be sure to take a minimum three-minute recovery before beginning the test, so your muscles can recruit the energy systems needed.
- Begin 20-minute effort at the maximum sustainable effort.
- If needed start slightly below what you think you can sustain, but continue increasing effort without going harder than you can sustain for the duration of the test. You should finish knowing you gave it everything you had.
- Your estimated Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (LTHR) is 95% of your 20-minute average heart rate for the test.
- 15 minutes easy cool down with stretching
Now you can do some simple math to determine heart rate training zones, either relative to your LTHR, or as a percentage. These zones are starting points. Each test will have some variation as heart rates can vary from day to day depending on several factors. Taking 95% of your 20-minute average HR is just an estimate for your “true” threshold heart rate which could be determined with a 60-minute time trial.
As long as you maintain the same conditions from test to test, the 20-minute test is excellent for maintaining your current heart rate zones and measuring progress from test to test throughout the season. Record in your training logs your 20-minute heart rate average, the total distance covered for the test and the average speed of the test.
The heart rate is used to determine training zones, and the average speed and distance are used to measure progress from test to test.
Calculating your Heart Rate Zones
| Zone |
% LTHR |
Easy Math |
| Level 1 (Recovery Zone) |
0-68% |
< LTHR – 35 beats |
| Level 2 (Endurance) |
69-83% |
25 – 35 beats below LTHR |
| Level 3 (Tempo) |
84-94% |
15 beats below LTHR up to LTHR |
| Level 4 (Threshold) |
95-105% |
Tested LTHR from time trial |
| Level 5 (VO2) |
>106% |
5-10 beats above LTHR |
Additional Run Testing Resources
5K Running Field Test
A 5k race or field test is a fantastic way to regularly check your current fitness, training paces and heart rate zones. After you test, be sure to use our Running Pace Training Zone Calculator to determine your training zones.
Steel City’s Running Pace Training Zone Calculator
Our own running pace training zone calculator uses well established physiologic principals and a logarithmic regression that accounts for human fatigue rates. What’s that mean? It’s among the most accurate training pace estimators available on the internet.
McMillan Training Zone Calculator
While we enjoy using our own calculator for customized training plans, in a quick pinch the McMillan Training Zone Calculator is one of the best out there. Like ours, Greg McMillan’s calculator is based on human physiology, and also accounts for variations in muscle fiber type (sprinter vs endurance). Have fun with this one!
Running World Pace Calculator
Running World gets our vote for one of the top calculators because they use the same reference material that we do! it’s laid out so that you can enter 2 different previous race times to get your estimated goal race pace. This one is Steel City Approved!
References
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The Triathlete’s Training Bible, Joe Friel
Training and Racing with a Power Meter, Hunter Allen & Andy Coggan
Dr. Phil Skiba, personal communication
Dr. Skiba’s great book:
by Coach Suzanne | Dec 1, 2014 | Testing
I tend to be very analytical with my athletes training files, which is part of my job as a coach. I provide supplemental training and guidance on analyzing files to my associate coaches as well. If you train with Steel City Endurance, you can expect to get feedback like this on a routine basis, but especially around testing periods.
This specific example is a power profile analysis that I annotated and sent to my athlete. The workout was a 5 minute & 20 minute time trial both performed in the same setting, similar to what is recommended by Allen & Coggen in Training and Racing with a power meter.
I’m sharing it here in full with the exception of the final link at the end as that contains personal information. Hopefully you can see how the email is somewhat conversational, and I reflect on what I as a coach can do better on as well. The tone overall is or should be positive and encouraging…after all this was hard work! I want my athlete to know where he currently stands and how well the testing was performed in order for him to make improvements as we go.
I know I”ve done my job as a coach well when my athletes become their won best self-coaches! (It must be working well because two current or former Steel City Endurance athletes are now coaching with us as associates! ) Enjoy, and I appreciate any comments or feedback.
Threshold Testing Power Summary Analysis – Coach to Athlete
Overall really nice effort. Noting the laps with your bike computer is helpful for me and saves me some time. I’ve noted some features I look at on the graph. The warmup is nice and easy and follows the protocol I wrote well. In looking at the effort, I’d like to see the HR climb just a little higher, close to your threshold at the end of 15 or so minutes. This lets us know your muscles are “primed” for a good effort, and that you’re not still warming up into a hard effort when you start the first interval.
You noted that the you felt like you were saving something during the 5 minute for the 20 minute effort. You can see that here in the stepped appearance of the power line. This 5 min & 20 min test serves several purposes. one of them is to “blow out” your anaerobic energy stores so that the 20 minute effort is more reflective of your true aerobic effort. I don’t expect that you could go as hard for the 20 minute after an all out 5 as you could in a standalone 20 minute effort.
The other thing this test does is simultaneously give us a 5 minute best power, reflective of your maximum aerobic capacity (VO2 max).
So this is a good start and we’ll adjust your zones based on it, and retest in a few weeks with the notes I made taken into account:
Let the warm up effort climb to just below threshold effort, before the 5 min easy spin
Go all out on the 5 minute aiming for an even power application
The 20 minute looks great here, again, go for best even effort for duration.
Here are your averages for the 5 & 20 minute sections
5 minute all out effort:
|
Heart Rate |
Power |
Cadence |
Power:weight(kg) |
| Average |
153 |
282 |
82 |
3.65 |
| Max |
165 |
323 |
107 |
NA |
20 minute all out effort:
|
Heart Rate |
Power |
Cadence |
Power:Weight(kg) |
| Average |
162 |
255 |
78 |
3.14 |
| Max |
173 |
307 |
83 |
NA |
Comments:
5 min Heart Rate
I follow the HR trend as an indicator of how close you are to your potential in performing this test.
Your 5 minute avg HR should be at or near your max Heart Rate. Since your max HR for the 20min was 173, your avg HR for the 5 minute, when done well, should be pretty close to that. If you were significantly dehydrated by the end of the 20 min that could account for a few heart beats.
Next time around, or whenever you are doing long VO2 max type sessions, see if you can target a HR of 170 as an indicator you are going “hard enough”. Power may continue to climb higher even if HR is maxed out due to anaerobic energy. That is, the heart doesn’t need to beat faster to deliver more oxygen because there are non-oxygen based energy sources. Over time I really want to see what you can produce for a 5 minute max in terms of Wattage! My guess is that a sustained 300W is in you now, possibly much higher since max was 323 and HR was still 5-10 beats below your max.
5 minute Power
Avg power of 282 is most likely below what you’re capable of just judging by the stepped appearance of the graph. We don’t need to worry about the values for now, but just something to keep an eye on for your next test is to really try to get your HR up a bit before the 5 minute effort, then nail a steady hard effort for 5 minutes with HR btwn 160 & 170 as a signal you’ve got it going hard enough. Then let the power be what it is! (can you hit 290-300 steady watts or higher?)
20 minute HR & Power
Your graph shows a general trend higher for each of these and not an abrupt jump at the end which is good. Overall this looks like a good effort and once you get back into training I think these numbers will “nudge” higher bit by bit.
To calculate your power training zones, I’ll use 95% of this 20 minute average as the basis for your “threshold power”. Over time the main goal is to improve your threshold power with training. If this number isn’t getting higher then we need to look at reasons why…it may be OK because you may be getting faster for longer durations even though this value doesn’t move…or you may be getting more efficient by executing this effort at a lower HR value.
Power:Weight
A good metric to follow is your “power to weight” ratio.
http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/training-fitness/trainingpeaks-power-profiles-cyclists
You can see that your 20 min power to weight ratio of 3.14 & your 5 min ration of 3.65 puts you right at a “cat 4” cycling level, which is fine, and again over time we want to try and nudge this upwards. As a long course athlete, the 20 minute (& longer duration) power numbers are more important.
At this point I mostly want to make sure that you have a general idea of what the numbers mean and what I’m looking at…that will help you execute your workouts better and know what’s important and what’s less important.
Finally I created a chart with printable zones for your training zones based on this test that you can see here:
by Coach Suzanne | May 27, 2013 | Swimming, Testing
The pace maintenance test for efficiency helps you know when you are ready to start adding speed or more volume to your swim training.
The idea behind this test is to see how well your swimming holds up with distance in terms of not only time, but also technique. When you start to get fatigued, one of the first things to happen is that your stroke count will go up. When it goes up, you’re no longer swimming with the same technique. One way to test this ability to sustain an efficient technique is with what we call a “Pace Maintenance Test” or PMT.
In the PMT, you’ll swim 4 different distances, with short rest periods, increasing the distance with each repeat…a ladder basically. For each repeat you’ll both TIME your swim and count your strokes. Keep a notebook and ink pen at the end of the pool to jot down your notes.
Choose one of these three tests depending on your swim ability:
Your objective is to swim each repeat at the same pace with the same stoke count. Rest for 20 seconds between each repeat.
Option A (tadpoles) : 25 – 50 – 75 – 100
Option B (minnows): 50 – 100 – 150 – 200
Option C (sharks): 100 – 200 – 300 – 400
If you are aerobically well trained and your technique is sound, you’ll swim the final repeat with the same SPL without slowing down. If you either slow down OR your SPL goes up, then you will benefit from both drills and focal points to improve technique combined with swimming more frequently to help improve aerobic fitness.
On the other hand, if you are successful at sustaining time and SPL, then you’re ready to advance your swim work in the form of faster sets, higher tempos, longer repeats, an extra swim session per week, or more total volume in your swimming.
There are lots of ways to measure technique and improvement but the PMT (Pace Maintenance Test) is a great benchmark to try once every few weeks.
by Coach Suzanne | Aug 11, 2009 | Testing
Swimming T-Pace Test 100s
This swimming test is for short course triathletes, sprint distance triathletes and new swimmers and is used to determine your “T-pace”, the equivalent of your threshold swimming pace. Since it is difficult to use heart rate monitors in the swimming pool, using pace is an accurate way to establish training guidelines. In addition, repeated testing can be used to measure and track your progress throughout the season.
Swimming Warmup
Warmup protocols will depend on your current level of fitness. It is recommended to warm up for at least 10 minutes of easy swimming and kicking with at least 2 minutes or more of rest after the warmup. Experienced swimmers (those swimming 2000 yards or more per workout) may do best by warming up for 20 to 30 minutes of varied pace swimming.
Test protocol
- 3 x 100 yards or meters at highest sustainable speed with 10 seconds of rest between each set
- Swim at your fastest sustainable speed between the 3 sets of 100
- The difference between your first and third 100 should be less than 5 seconds
- Using your watch or the paceclock on the wall or a partner, note your time for each 100
Calculate your average speed per 100, this is your “t-pace”. You will use it to plan workouts as well as to follow your progress. Note your times for each 100 and your T-pace in your logs.
If the difference between your first and third set was more than 5 seconds, consider today’s test a “workout” and retest on another day. Don’t despair as there is a learning curve with all testing. Next time you will perform the test with much better accuracy.
