While we don't test for the sake of testing, we do encourage you to extract objective measurements from your testing (watts and pace) and use these in your training. Here’s an overview of the most common ways we measure athletes:
| • | Using Heart Rate: You may find you need to do two tests in the first 8 weeks of your program, particularly if you are beginning the program with a low level of fitness. Your body will adapt very quickly, which will usually change your LTHR and the perceived effort associated with your heart-rate training zones. Once things stabilize, there is no need to have you hammer yourself just to confirm that your LTHR is still 175 bpm. |
| • | Using a Powermeter: One or two Functional Threshold Tests (FTT) are built into the front of ouryour plan to establish your baseline. We then encourage you to use the data analysis tools (explained in the Power Webinar, and in the forum) to extract your Functional Threshold Power (FTP) FTP from the data rather than formal testing. |
| • | Using Pace: A 10k road race, time trial, half marathon or similar activity is an excellent opportunity to extract a new VDot score and recalculate your training paces. We'll cover this in much more detail in the Training with Pace chapter of The Book. |
Next Up…
Now that you understand the EN seasons and how they not only benefit your performance but allow for realistic, real-world training, it’s time to build on those concepts even more by merging our philosophy with your reality—and the next section will help you do just that. Keep reading to see a more detailed explanation of the four phases to template-week training.
