My best FTP test was when I was sick to my stomach all day with anxiety. Went into the test expecting it to hurt like hell.... and it did. But my mind was ready for the pain, so I was able to tolerate and push to record watts.

Then I rewarded myself with a big dinner and dessert. So it was a good day.

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Alex Arman

Strava

I've only done a few threshold tests on the bike, but like all threshold workouts, there is some sense of both dread and excitement at the same time. From a decade of running, there are so many variables that can affect each one, it's important not to get super hung up on a specific one-time result. This one may suck, and you may kill the next one depending on weather/fatigue/diet/motivation/etc. If you are doing all the building work right, then the results will continue to come, especially if you are newer to it.

Keep it up.
(Biking newbie, experienced runner)

Back in 1999 I arrived in Boston for the summer-long USRowing Lightweight Development Camp. All the athletes selected for the camp were very experienced and fast - probably 15%-20% of them made senior US national teams shortly thereafter. At least 2 guys threw up BEFORE our first 2000m erg (rowing machine) test.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

Quote:

Does this go away after I've done them a bunch of times?

Nope. Just happens for a different reason. I did a 20 minute test this morning knowing I was not as fit as the last time I tested. Sure enough lost 5 watts.

i know of one former national team rower (heavyweight) who claims that his pair partner used to throw up on purpose (after drinking lots of brightly-colored gatorade or something) on the starting line of international competitions just to psych out their opponents. so maybe those two guys were just being strategic...

to the OP - no. doesn't go away. the trick is to wait long enough between tests that you kind of start to forget how much the last one sucked :)

Kind of like Ironman races!

I've only done 5 FTP tests, but I've dreaded all but the first, when I didn't know any better. Good mental toughness training if you can hang in there, but generally miserable in every other way.

No. Anxiety is part of taking it seriously. The only times you won't be anxious are if you know it is going to be a disaster and more importantly don't care, or know you're going to crush your last result and don't care by how much.

Not caring, either way, is not good.

Haha... you must know Cyrus Beasley. Adam Holland is the guy that used to puke before every race. And I mean every race. That same summer we raced them in like a 4x2000 workout or something on the Charles one morning - just a competitive workout between totally non-comparable boats. He doesn't only puke at the starting line at the Olympics or World Championships. He puked fluorescent colors as we were lined up with him to start the first interval!

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

do you still get excited before races? How about before an important meeting? Before you make a big decision?

"Butterflies" are a normal response to stress. For me when I'm excited I usually have to pee. If I'm lucky, I do this before my 20 minute tests so I don't have to do a "do-over"

Hah I did my monthly TR 20 min test last night.

The little line about "HOPE YOUR BUCKET IS READY" right after you finish is my favorite part.

Never actually yakked but I could not fault someone who did.

(Gained 5 watts last night. Not great for a month, but not terrible I guess)

haha, really? i had it backwards then - adam coached at a rowing camp (northeast) i went to for a week in high school, and he told us that story. thought he said it was his partner. pretty funny to hear it confirmed and that he did it in training too.

  I would rather ride 5 hours on a trainer then do a 20 minute FTP test. Thankfully, I don't have to do them anymore. I use to get anxious and nervous.

yes, yes and YES! I agree with other post, rather ride 5 hours than this 20 minute suffer. Just like in running, rather do a half Mary than a 5k (and yet my race results and age graded performance suggests I am a better 5k guy, go figure)

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“Bloom wherever you are planted"

Pretty much right there. Just about to start this. If I hit the numbers I'm capable I will do as you suggest and have a nice dinner. If not, well I'll not allow myself to think about that.

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“Bloom wherever you are planted"

How'd it go? There is no better feeling then after that 20 minutes is over!

hallelujah that brother! Not sure how to analyze data. I ended up picking up 2 watts FTP and despite slipping a gear twice that took me down to zero power. my TSS, calorie and LTHR also went down, though FTP up - I can only hope that suggests fitness gains . I gave all I had on that stupid 5 minute warm up and crushed huge power numbers and wonder if I should have held back but opted to do it just like I did the past two tests (same time and day on similar rest, same tire pressure, same setting on Fluid II trainer, etc). Daughter said it looked like I dumped a bucket over my head and I almost puked but out best numbers up over last few minutes. Legs feel like spaghetti. Also I dropped a few pounds since last test so my power per kg is a bit better. All in all I'm still a mediocre runner a terrible swimmer and a hack on the bike so that's great because I only have upside!

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“Bloom wherever you are planted"

I knew a guy who used to puke before erg tests too.
Personally, I don't particularly get nervous about anything in triathlon. Nothing will ever be as bad as those 2k erg tests. Not only the physical pain, but having your coach or cox SCREAMING at you, bearing over your shoulder, your team mates all around you, and knowing that your ass could potentially be on the chopping block with a bad performance. Now THAT's anxiety.

I remember sitting down for my first 2k test. I had no idea what I was doing, and when I asked my coach for pacing strategy, he just said "If you don't feel like you're about to meet God at 1k, you're not going nearly hard enough"

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Long Chile was a silly place.

Then don't do crit racing. :)

Because I have been fast twitch dominant most of my life, I really always liked FTP test, with that said, I have to do them on a designated trail or a route where I can go all out with no stops and flat. I finally have a good location for that. Did one last week, but didn't catch a pothole, man that wasn't fun. Glad it was in the last two minutes.

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"In the world I see you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." T Durden

Does it ever go away... not in my case. But on race day, I am better able to give exactly 100% after a series of "practice sessions."

the 20 min test is rather tough mentally for some athletes as you know you are entering a world of pain. It yields great results for predictions and setting of zones... but there is also another tool out there that I've found to help with this.

I have no ties really with BSX other than being a demo user of their insight device... but I did write a blog for them about the 20 minute test and how this device could help with both physical results and mental ease of the test.

http://blog.bsxathletics.com/...coaching-bsxinsight/

Maybe something to look into going forward with your training.

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COROS Sports Science

Completely agree. Granted I'm not nearly as competitive at tri as I was at rowing, but I can't imagine I'd still be doing tris if they hurt as much as erg tests. My normal gym doesn't have any ergs, but I hopped on one at a gym on vacation a few weeks ago just to remind myself what it felt like, and I don't know how I was able to hold splits in the 1:30's for an entire test. It was incredibly hard.

I remember racing against Cyrus at the Tennessee Erg Sprints...that man was a beast.

Its hard to calculate the gains into one number but more power, dropping pounds, and more efficient is all good. Nice work

If you went to BC, we had a couple of your guys in the camp that summer! Erg tests were definitely hard, but in college, I was so far in front of everyone else (I did not go to a top rowing school) that I did not find them that stressful because I did not feel a ton of pressure other than personal goals. But starting when I got to that camp and for a few years after, suddenly I felt tons of pressure because I felt that I was required to hit numbers I thought I probably could not hit and that everyone would look down on me if I didn't hit them. It was not a recipe for good performance. I was just a young, stupid kid and of course my worth as a person was not equal to my erg score but...

Now, being older, smarter and more self-assured, I still get a little nervous before FTP tests (My coach has us do them outside, 30 minute max efforts on rolling terrain) because I know it hurts like hell (different from a 2k erg but still very very hard!) and about executing well. All that outside pressure I felt in rowing is gone, which makes it much less terrifying than sitting in the erg room with the coaches & coxswains looking over your shoulder and a bunch of rowers you are competing with for seats that you are pretty sure will out-spin you and wondering if you even deserve to be in the room...

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

Good work. I don't think it ever goes away, but its probably good, as you get to figure out how the race day stresses affect you (mentally and physically). Just like a race, I like to chunk it down to make it seem a little easier.. I do 6 minutes at the same watts as my last test, and then if all is well, I will shoot for about 5 more watts in the next 6 minute block (if not, try to hold the same watts as last test)..the next 6 minutes is hopefully 5-10W more than the last test and the last 2 minutes is hell. Works pretty good and also is a good defense of going out too fast at first.