Patrick John McCrann | Athlete. Author. Coach.

photo credit: santo rizzuto

Aside from the fact the NorthEast just got slammed with something just shy of a blizzard (still howling outside!), and the need for me to spend most of the day shoveling (joy!), I will not be posting today’s weekly update.

Monday AM is my Functional Threshold Power Test (FTP) on the trainer. Functional Threshold refers to the maximum sustainable power for an hour. It’s my first in 8 weeks, since I started following Endurance Nation’s OutSeason training protocols, and I am excited to see just how close I can get to last year’s fitness. I am certainly closer then when I started (8 weeks ago I tested at 305W, last year’s FTP was 325W), and as you know from reading the blog, I am definitely lighter.

The test itself is dead simple: 2 by 20 minute intervals at max sustainable effort, with 2 minutes of easy spinning/recovery in between them. Having two intervals gives me a chance to break the test down; but more importantly the 2′ break in the middle is what makes the total 42′ of the test (20+2+20) approximate what an hour TT is like. And there is no way I am doing a 1-hour TT on the trainer.

So time to start shoveling and sledding, hopefully managing to save some energy for the test!

Have a great Sunday,

Patrick