The Longest Hour

My first lactate threshold test with the new power meter is in the books. To establish my power at LT measurement which I'll use to define my training zones for the next few weeks, I ran myself through a one-hour time trial on the rollers. At the half hour mark, it felt like I'd been on the rollers for about three hours, and my brain, egged on by my legs, was fantically searching for excuses to stop the pain.

"Half an hour is enough. We can get a good estimate from half an hour."

My will would argue back, "No. We must keep going. Joe said we have to do an hour to accurately measure our P(LT). The best measure of performance is performance itself!"

Ten minutes later, the pleading started again. "Come on. Forty minutes is plenty! Let's stop. There's a hot crock pot of Sue's chili waiting in the kitchen."

My will responded, "Nope. We need accurate numbers. Just take it minute by minute. It'll be over in no time."

In those last 20 minutes, I'm pretty sure I was nearing the speed of light because the stopwatch slowed way down. No doubt about it. Einstein was spot on with that whole relativity thing. Sue dismounted her rollers and amused herself by snapping some photos of my suffering. I think her first comment when looking at the picture was, "Gee, your legs look funny with hair on them." Yeah, well, it's winter here in central New York, and it's surprising how much warmth is provided by a little layer of fur on the gams.

My will won out in the end and after an hour's time, I'd put in some good work, lost 2.5 pounds of sweat, recorded the numbers, and sat down to a steaming bowl of Sue's fantasic chili and a couple big glasses of water with satisfaction that I'd done all I could do. I'm relatively pleased to find my P(LT) at 282 watts. I feel like I have a long way to go before I'm on form, and I'm feeling like 282 is a pretty good number to start from, at least for me. This weekend I'll sit down in the early morning with a hot mug of fresh dark brew and a pile of cycling books, and ink out a training plan with the new numbers in mind.

It was a hard hour, but I can't wait to put in some hard training and do it all again in a few weeks to see how far I've come. The more work I can put in now, the less of a shock the reality check will be when I hit those first couple group training rides when the weather begins to turn in a month or so.

See you on the road.