Author: seejefftri

I am sitting here getting ready to do my FTP test.

Having all the emotions of race day, but mostly excited and nervous. What will happen? will I have it? Did I lose fitness over the last month?? Did I gain it? …I couldn’t have gained it, because I have been mostly resting… But I do think my ftp at my race WAS a little low, because I put out more power than that should have dictated… maybe my bike positioning tweaks will have helped me gain some… and on and on.

Enough procrastination; Ok here I go.

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I am back.

So I did the test, after the first 3 min sprint, I puked. Not a usual occurrence for me. I think it was because I fueled like I would for a race and had too much sugar and caffeine in my stomach when I started going hard. During the 20 min. block I was all over the place. I think my time off left my legs (resting) confused with the intensity, as well as me trying to manage it. At 18 min almost puked again and pulled power. Then tried to finish and get some reasonable data. I don’t think I did.

This experience made me remember the last few 5k’s That, I have done. They ended up the same way. Probably for the same reason. I am not usually a puker… but this is starting to make some sense. Too much in my tummy for the intensity.

Oh well, maybe I can do the test over, or maybe I will just work with the numbers that this gives me. At least I have learned something.

In one of my last races, I realized I was thrown off by getting a mouth full of water (which i was oddly ok with) and missed my breath(which I was NOT ok with). In review, I recently had a revelation, that while I was swimming in a pool and doing open turns, I was CHEATING, and taking 2 breaths. This not only makes me lose a little momentum, but gives me the extra breath, which helps me swim more comfortably than I could at the same intensity. I acknowledge that flip turns make your overall swims faster, but that isn’t what I am concerned about. Speed in the pool isn’t my priority. This off season, I am committing to flip turns because it will force me to be comfortable holding my breath in the middle of a hard effort, and more importantly, it will teach my brain to be ok with that. That wave to the face taught me something after I lost my rhythm and was caught off guard. I need to be ok with not ALWAYS breathing every other stroke. I am hoping this helps me change; I guess we will see.