Back on the Road.

Well.. last time I attempted my Tabata intervals, my PowerTap decided to bonk out on me and give a 'zero' reading so I was unable to save the results from that session. So today I decided it has been a while and I would test my power again. The PowerTap was up and running, but the question was...were my legs. I've been back on the road again running a decent amount after being injured near the end of last season. I broke through this weekend with a good 10.5 mile run on the hilly roads of the Cary March Madness 1/2 Marathon course. (I'll be doing that race on March 15th!). Other than that 'longer' run, I've been consistantly running 4-5 miles and doing a lil bit of speed work here and there. From my indoor tris, I've been able to hold 5min/mile fairly easily for 3 miles..so my speed is doing ok, I just need to work on my endurance. So with the increased milage from running, my legs have been a little bit heavier than usual.

Back to my workout..I warmed up for a good 30 mins with a few short burts to 'wake' the legs up and then hit it hard. While warming up, I was easily able to hit over 1000 watts for each of the short burts...ok, maybe not easily..but in comparision to other days when I was not able to. My first interval I hit a new all time high wattage: 1,064 watts! That is 17.16 watts/kg for me. According to Andrew Coggan and Hunter Allen's Power Chart...this type of power would classify me into the range of a Cat 1 rider. Here is a chart for comparison or to use to measure yourself up:



On the rest of the intervals..I did fairly well and was higher than all previous sessions. The only downfall was my last interval. I was hoping to hit over 800 watts, but my legs were just trashed. I don't know if it is because I went so hard on the first ones or my legs were just not feelin it, but I felt as if I could barely crank anything out.

All in all, the workout was yet again a success. It has been 2 months since I first starting doing these workouts..sorta just for fun and another way to analyze my data on the PowerTap..but also to see if I can make some increases in my VO2 max and max power. So as sort of an anniversary..I only compared my lastest data compared to my first time ever doing the workout. You can definitely see the improvements that have been made. You should give it a try if you want a little more suffering in your training..but make sure not to jump right into them..get into shape first and make sure your body can hold up. I don't want anyone getting injured on my account. So here is the chart: