It's time to visit the Hurt locker

I have had nearly a full month of training under my belt and it's time to do some baseline testing.  In other words, it's hammer time.  It is time for the inner Buddha to step aside and allow The Hulk to get his shine.  My adrenaline started to flow and my opens opened a little wider when I reviewed this week's testing schedule. 

On Tuesday I'm hitting the pool to do my best Grant Hackett impersonation. If you are unaware of who this individual is just Google him and watch poetry in motion.  My fitness test for the swim is a 1000yrd/m time trial.  This basically means that I need to swim as fast as I can in order to complete 1000yd/m in the shortest amount of time.  I have no concerns about completing this test or the fact that I will give it a Hulk of an effort. My concern comes with essentially redlining for the entire distance.  I have done limited amount of redline/threshold efforts for the past month so I cannot expect a gold medal performance. It would be idiotic  to even expect an amazing performance.  The intended purpose of this swim is to gauge my fitness at the current time and then create a game plan moving forward.  This test will allow Matt to construct an individualized and personalized game plan going forward.  I'm not sure if I'm more excited to let The Hulk out or for the next step in training?

My run fitness test is based off of an all out effort on a 5k.  Matt presented me with a few options on how and where to run this 5k.  We decided that being Thanksgiving and the vast number of Turkey Trot races that I should enter one.  Matt suggested that I run the Garden City 5 mile Turkey Trot.  Apparently this is an extremely competitive and fast race.  This race actually marks a year from the last time I did a running race.  I have similar expectations and goals as the swim test.  One aspect of this test that the swim test will not offer are those feelings associated with race day; the excitement, nerves, adrenaline, competition etc.  You might be wondering why I signed up for a 5 miler vs a 5k?All the reasons point towards a faster time.  First this race is ultra competitive and it's also flat and fast. Additional rationale behind the 5 mile selection is to use the first mile as a solid warm up then hammer the middle three miles and then either cool down or continue to race the last mile.  I have a strong inclination that if i were to do this test on a track by myself that my splits would be slower.

I'm most excited for and eagerly await the bike test. The bike is the most enjoyable part of triathlon for me as well as the most fun.  I'm doing my test outside, at Hecksher State Park. The park presents a some what closed course environment that will allow me to just put my head down and hammer.  Once again I'm not so concerned of my time because I know in another month after more training I will be smashing those baseline numbers.  My only concern is that I might be disappointed with my numbers based on the simple fact that I did this same threshold test right at my peak last year.  Because of this I know roughly know my splits and wattage. It will be in my best interest to forget these splits and wattage and focus on my best effort now because the differences in fitness levels are not the same.

I will post the splits, wattage, cadence and all the geeked numbers after each test.  I can't wait to look back in a month and see the gains I have made.

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