The Step Test!

So, that was an interesting little test.

As I warmed up the penny dropped about the splits. I realised that the splits should just be one MET (25 watts) apart. Where those 25 watts start is arbitrary, you just keep them the same each time you do the test so you have a comparison. I worked up a little spread sheet (and will probably add a utility to the web site in time) that gave me steps for a given 2,000m time.

The steps I used follow in the table below. I was still pondering the 2,000m time to base this on when I started to warm up. I decided to use my real 2,000m PB time of 6:43.5. This was because I hope I will be pulling towards my PB in a few weeks AND I'll be on the C2 training programme for six months. My excellent 6,000m the other day also made me think that the steps that 6:43.5 predicted would leave me with something in the tank when I hit the maximal step 5. (Does any of that make sense??).

Anyway, the test panned out really well. The fourth step was supposed to put me "just above anaerobic threshold". My AT rate is predicted at 172 BPM and at the end of the fourth step I was at a heart rate of 174 which looks bang on. 30 seconds to think about the pacing for the last 4 minutes and off I went! I had decided that I wanted to beat the 1:42.5 split that predicted a 6:50 2,000m so aimed to be under that all the way. It was tough! The preceding steps had sapped my ability to accelerate the rate and keeping each stroke under 1:42 was pretty uncomfortable. With 30 seconds left I was grimly hanging on to 1:42 and my effort at a Mike Channin "banshee" finish got me home with a 1:41.6 split. 1:41.6 predicts a 6:45.6 2000m which isn't too bad. The next challenge is to try and match that on Sunday - the last day before I start the 6 month run in to BIRC.

Was it "brutal"? Well it hurt, but no more than the 6,000m or any other maximal piece. Nothing I have done comes close to the agony of the Rugby Test or the awful CTC 10 x 250m.

Steps	Target			Sunday 13th June 2007
Rep	Target split		power (watts)	distance (m)	Actual split		Power (watts)	HR (bpm)
Rep 1	2	02.4	191	980	2	02.4	191	146
Rep 2	1	57.5	216	1022	1	57.5	216	157
Rep 3	1	53.2	241	1060	1	53.2	241	166
Rep 4	1	49.6	266	1095	1	49.6	266	174
Rep 5		max		1181	1	41.6	334	188

P.S. Found a brilliant page with all sorts of erging calculators created by Roy Walter.

Metres today: 8,357