The Time-Crunched Cyclist Podcast by CTS

Comparing Cycling Field Tests & Using The Best Test For You (#238)

• CTS • Season 5 • Episode 238

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OVERVIEW
Different cycling field tests have their pros and cons. Some are better for beginners vs. athletes with greater pacing skills. Others are more convenient and easy to fit into a training plan. And still others are more detailed and take multiple days to complete, but provide more nuanced information. Coach Adam Pulford breaks down the most relevant, high-quality field tests so you can use the best test for you. Includes consideration for the 20-minute, Ramp Test, 8-minute, critical power, and power profiling tests.

TOPICS COVERED

  • What is a field test?
  • The 20-Minute FTP test
  • The Ramp Test
  • The 2 x 8-Minute Test from CTS
  • Critical Power Testing
  • Power Profile Testing with WKO5
  • When you should update your training intensity ranges
  • The Best Test for You

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HOST
Adam Pulford has been a CTS Coach for nearly two decades and holds a B.S. in Exercise Physiology. He's participated in and coached hundreds of athletes for endurance events all around the world.

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Speaker 1:

From the team at CTS. This is the Time Crunch Cyclist podcast, our show dedicated to answering your training questions and providing actionable advice to help you improve your performance, even if you're strapped for time. I'm your host, coach Adam Pulford, and I'm one of the over 50 professional coaches who make up the team at CTS. In each episode, I draw on our team's collective knowledge, other coaches and experts in the field to provide you with the practical ways to get the most out of your training and ultimately become the best cyclist that you can be. Now on to our show. Now on to our show. There are a lot of field testing protocols out there, so which one is best? Which is the best to create training zones and which is the best for a time crunched athlete? And why are there so many field tests out there? Welcome back time crunch fans. I'm your host, coach Adam Pulford. These are great questions submitted by Mark A just a few weeks ago, and I'm excited for this episode because it's a topic I've been wanting to do for kind of a long time. So let's just get right in with some direct answers. To Mark Number one yes, I agree with you. There are quite a few field tests out there for cyclists, and it can be very confusing Thus answering this on this episode and this podcast. Second, there are no best ones or the best one, in my opinion, as each of the good ones that are out there. There's pros and cons to all of them. Point three why are there so many tests? Well, because there are so many ways to train tests and to get to a similar outcome. Remember my quote from Andy Coggin all roads lead to Rome. Talked about that on a previous podcast. It's kind of getting to the same point, though. So, with that said, I've picked out some of the most common field tests out there, some of which I use, some of which I don't anymore, but all of which are decent ways of arriving at data that you can base training zones on and then use for whatever different training method that you want to do out there. I'll do my best to explain those pros and cons of each then offer my best advice on how to apply it to your training.

Speaker 1:

First, though, let's cover the basics. What is a field test? Now, here's my own definition. I just kind of made it up based on all my years of coaching right, so it's a protocol or set of protocols, done, usually at max effort, to determine performance and physiological characteristics of an athlete. A field test usually means it's done not in a laboratory setting, so it's on an athlete's own bike out on the road, out in the field, right, uh out on the trails, or it's inside on the indoor training setup. The goal is to establish a threshold power and threshold heart rate to create training zones and then you use that in whatever training method or system you wish. So let's talk about the various types of field tests out there.

Speaker 1:

Let's start with the 20 minute test. Now, before I get into the 20 minute test, uh, for all the listeners out there, I am uh overcoming healing from a terrible sore throat, cold slash, covid slash, flu, whatever it was. So please bear with me. So I'm relying upon Ruddy, my editor and producer here, to make me sound as good as possible, but as my voice is cracking here, I am noticing that, yeah, the remnants of the sickness is still still there. So please bear with me on that, okay, uh, let's talk about the 20 minute test.

Speaker 1:

This, this is a pretty popular field test in North America as well as in the literature think training peaks, think Andy Coggin. Um, in that sort of genre. Okay, the pros of of this 20 minute test is it's excellent. It's an excellent test for approximating FTP and establishing training zones. It requires pacing and I think that that's a pro because it makes you pace well over time. We'll talk about how to do it here briefly in just a second. But that requires a pacing. That that's really important for development as a cyclist and as an athlete, because learning how to pace uh over 20 minutes at maximum effort there's there's a lot of benefit that goes on uh with that. Additionally, that requirement of the pacing ensures a good test and then a good data outcome. So that's the pro of it.

Speaker 1:

Now the cons are it's misunderstood. I'm going to unpack that here in a second, and one of the cons is it requires pacing, so you actually have to think about it and sometimes, if you haven't done a 20 minute all out effort, it's daunting, right, and if you haven't done it, you need to do it a few times before you actually get good at it. Okay, so before you get good data from it, you need to do it a few times before you actually get good at it. Okay, so before you get good data from it, you need to practice it a few times. So that could be a con as well as a pro, like I talked about. So how do you do it?

Speaker 1:

Well, just short bullet points, and I've got links to all of this, by the way. So if if you're looking how to do a field test or some of these different field tests, I've linked all of these. So go to our landing page, check it out. Go to the Apple podcast main page. I've got links to it all there. But here's how to do this one. You warm up, however, you warm up Easy endurance, endurance, couple openers. Then you do a five minute time trial at a nine to 10 out of 10.

Speaker 1:

Okay, this is the part that's misunderstood about the 20 minute test. Originally designed by Andy Coggin, it starts with a five minute all out effort and that's to blow off some of the anaerobic power contribution that could go into the 20 minute. So it's kind of pre fatiguing you in a way to set you up for a good 20 minute effort. That will then be the data needed to determine the FTP. Okay, so you warm up, you do the five minute all out, you take recovery, which basically is going to be anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes. I usually do three minutes at zone one, so super easy, coasting, spinning and then eight to 10 minutes at a zone two endurance but on the low end of it. Then I get into the 20 minute time trial. 20 minute time trial should be evenly paced over that 20 minutes, kind of in that nine, going on 10 out of 10 and finish out at 10 out of 10. Okay, so it's a maximum effort for full 20 minutes. What do you do then After the field test?

Speaker 1:

You look at the data. You take the highest average power for the full 20 minutes and multiply that by 95%. That number that you get, that is your FTP. You can then take that number and put it into different calculators or different systems to create training zones. For example, if you're using training peaks and you use the COGN calculator or the CTS calculator, use that same FTP to generate the training zones. Okay, that is your threshold. Or your functional threshold power. Okay, um, you. Also you can take your highest average heart rate from that and that is your threshold heart rate. So use that uh again to use the calculator in training peaks or intervals to ICU. I have a lot of friends that use that same method as same process, so long as you're using any method of determining a training zone that is, using threshold based power and heart rate, ok, so this field test determines those thresholds and then you can plug that into whatever system you want. Field test determines those thresholds and then you can plug that into whatever system you want.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so that's the 20-minute test. Like I said, it's a bit misunderstood because to do it properly requires a five-minute full tilt. Then you recover, then you do the 20-minute effort, okay. So just note that a lot of people think is just 20 minutes, so I want to. So part of this, uh, part of the process of doing this podcast, was to uh, bring light back to that as well, on how to do it properly, okay.

Speaker 1:

Next is the ramp test. Okay, this one's pretty popular, uh, because some of the pros it's very short, could be anywhere between five and 20 minutes for the whole test. Logistically it's pretty easy because you don't really have to think or pace. Typically, you're going to do this in a um uh, a system where the effort will be generated for you. Okay, I'll explain that here in a second. The cons of this my opinion, is that it tends to and usually overestimates um FTP, basically by overestimating your, your maximum aerobic power, okay, cause that's the number it gets, and then it generates FTP based on that. Again, in my opinion, as well as some other stuff that I read, another con for this is you don't, you don't have to think or pace, okay, which goes back to the pacing element of the 20 minute test and some of these other tests that I talked about, where learning how to pace over time, that's an art. That's an art to being an athlete, to being a cyclist, that these field tests can teach you. Now, a ramp test doesn't teach you that as much, because here's how to do it.

Speaker 1:

My opinion, best way to do it is go on to trainer road or Zwift or a TP, virtual, whatever indoor um, uh virtual platform that that you could use, um out there or currently using and pick the ramp test option. Okay, it'll walk you through it. Okay, you start super easy. You progressively ramp or build over time. It'll bring you up to a maximum effort. It'll bring you to exhaustion Okay, once you can't pedal anymore, you're done All right. So it's very like I said some of the pros around. It is logistically, it's easy. It's it's kind of like ones and zeros you're going, going, going and then you don't anymore. Okay, so that is the process of doing it. Okay, no-transcript. And what the system then does is it takes about 75% of that Okay, some systems will take a little bit higher, but 75% of that MAP and it'll generate an FTP based on that. Then you can use that FTP to create training zones, again for cog and CTS, polar as whatever method that you want.

Speaker 1:

But again, as you can tell, I'm not the biggest fan of this one, but don't let that, you know, taint you from doing it or trying it or establishing that for yourself. Personally, when I've used it in the past, I think it does overestimate by leveraging the anaerobic side of things a little bit more. But again, what's good about this is that it does um, it's pretty simple. A lot of people can can do it, get through it, um, and, and the people who like pain enjoy this one. So, all right. Next we have the CTS two by eight minute time trial test. Okay, this is the one pioneered by Chris Carmichael, as well as some of the other coaches at the time. Shout out to Dean Golich, jt Kearney and a bunch of other super smart people, way smarter than I when CTS was started. So the pros of this is that it's pretty accurate in the way of estimating or calculating FTP across many different types of athletes.

Speaker 1:

Time crunched and time rich Okay, it's great when you're short on time, you can get through this protocol in less than an hour for sure. With warm up and cool down, it's very repeatable and approachable, okay. And the reason I say that is you know, anybody can, anybody can do eight minutes right. Like, eight minutes is less than 20 minutes and it's, it's, it's a, it's a little less daunting. You know, in that way Some new athletes I tend to find again go back to the pacing side of things. They can usually pace hard for eight minutes, much better than 20 minutes. And also, if you're doing this outside, finding an eight-minute stretch of road that's quiet, away from traffic and lights and things like this, it's much more repeatable than a 20 minute stretch of road, just simply because it's shorter.

Speaker 1:

Now the cons of it. The cons is sometimes it may overestimate slightly for some people, but I think that's usually when someone does it for the first time and maybe they just blow it out of the water on the first one and then the second one, they kind of suffer. Okay, so I'll get into some nuances of that later, but overall, if I find this one pretty darn accurate for most people, any other con, well it's. It's hard, you know, but that's goes for all these field tests. We're going max effort, so it is hard.

Speaker 1:

How best do we do this one? You warm up, you get after it and you don't overthink it. Okay, you warm up, however, you do endurance. A couple of openers, easy spinning. Then you do the first eight minute time trial. You start at a nine to almost 10 out of 10, and then you finish at a 10, give a full effort, okay, recover for 10 minutes. Just you know, easy spinning, gradually, kind of like build up.

Speaker 1:

Then you do it again. You want to do two efforts? Okay. You then take the highest average power for your eight minute effort and then you multiply by 90%. This will give you your FTP, and then you plug it into whatever calculator you want. If you're calculating your threshold heart rate based on this is you take your average heart rate for the full eight minutes and multiply that by 93%. That gives you your threshold heart rate. Plug it into all the calculators, create your training zones and away you go. Okay. So there's three field tests that I would say I would hang my hat on time and time again that you can do, get good data from to create your training zones and off to the races you go for all the training that you want to do.

Speaker 1:

Okay, let me provide you now with a couple other options. It requires field testing, for sure, but there there's some differences to it. Okay, there's some differences to it, okay. And so what we do is we call this the model-based approach. Okay, two different ways of doing this. First one is critical power testing and the second one is essentially power profiling testing, and that's that using the WKO software.

Speaker 1:

Let's first talk about critical power testing. This is a method of testing that uses various max efforts at several durations to generate a critical power and W prime. Critical power is essentially the high aerobic marker or the high aerobic power. W prime is the anaerobic power. Okay, so high aerobic and high anaerobic. Usually, the testing is three to four power duration targets that are different in length. Typically, I would do a three minute, five minute and 12 minute testing protocol 20 minute if I can as well and the tricky one with this is we want to be fresh for every test that we do. So, essentially, you know that's at least three days, if not four days, of testing, okay, and you want about 24 hours of full recovery before we do that? Okay, you can then use different softwares to generate this critical power and a W prime, and it's very useful in determining thresholds, training zones and methods and styles of training.

Speaker 1:

So the method that I've adopted in my coaching practice is essentially power profiling testing. Okay, I use the WKO5 software to do this and, again, we're using various power duration tests at several points along a power duration curve. So what that means is I'm looking at specifically a 20 second, one minute, five minute and then a 20 to 30 minute max effort along this power duration paradigm for testing procedures. I'll build the workouts for my athletes and I'll give that to them during a whole testing week. Okay, I usually get this done in about three days of testing and I make sure that they arrive to each day fresh, okay, I usually lump in the 20 second sprints and the one minute together and then I do the five minute and the 20 minute separately Okay. So those are my three days of testing, the 20 minute separately Okay. So those are my three days of testing.

Speaker 1:

It's important to note here that this system, with WKO5, as well as other systems like intervalsicu, it's not looking at just those power durations that I that I mentioned. It's looking across all power durations. So think about it as every single second and what the data trends are throughout. Okay, so that's that's a kind of a nuance, but but a powerful difference between some of the field testing, the critical power testing, and then also the system as it starts to learn and grow the athlete and, in particular, generates the model based FTP and FRC. So functional threshold power and functional reserve capacity, these two things are similar to the critical power and the W prime. Okay so, ftp, high aerobic, frc, anaerobic and you can use this power profile testing or the procedures in WKO5 to determine that model FTP, get that number, create your training zones, plug it in on Zwift, tp, virtual, whatever you're using. Okay, so I do have some athletes actually that are, uh, super nerds in themselves. They love WKO five and they use that um to generate their FTP, their FRC. I have some people also that are using intervals to ICU and love it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, now, my best advice if you are listening to this and you're like this is a lot of information, I need to re-listen to this or I want to learn. Read more about it. That's awesome. I've got one article that is fairly quick read and it's an article from High North and again, I don't know these guys. I should reach out to them. They pump out some really good material, but it's probably the best summary of all the field tests to do, and in a lot of the stuff that I talked about and if you're more of a visual learner, they have charts, graphs as well, as they walk you through the protocols for these different tests. So I'll link to it in my show notes. Just look for the article from high North. It's a very good read. Meanwhile, for the CTS field test the two by eight I've linked to that as well.

Speaker 1:

Our coaches have created awesome handbooks and documents about how to do the field test itself, as well as how to generate your training zones and then how to use it. From there. Back to that article on High North. If you read that and what's good about it is, you'll also learn some nuances in the art of coaching and how to use it from there. Back to that article on high North If you read that and what's good about it is, you'll also learn some nuances in the art of coaching and how they use some of the data within these various systems.

Speaker 1:

And, for example, the author encourages using 92 to 93% instead of 95% of the 20 minute max power to generate training zones, which I don't disagree with, especially if the athlete, if you, the listener, uh are more anaerobic in nature, and that's to set your FTP a little bit more accurately. So again, with all of these like standard procedures and um field tests out there, there's still some art that goes on with it. So if you want the details of some of that art, read the high North article. Okay. So for our listeners who want to get a little bit deeper in the weeds for like 60 seconds, maybe a little bit longer, ftp versus CP or functional threshold power versus critical power these are roughly the same things. Okay.

Speaker 1:

Some nerds out there will probably disagree with me, and that's fine. I'd like to have that discussion at some point, maybe on this podcast, because it would just be fun. But for everyone listening here, or anyone maybe your coach uses critical power and I'm talking about FTP, it's essentially same same, okay. So if you use a model-based approach with FTP and CP and you're trying to use a threshold number to establish train zones or put it in your Zwift, it doesn't matter, you'll arrive to the same outcome. I would simply use that.

Speaker 1:

Finally, another thing that I've heard over the years and in my research and in doing this podcast either it was for a hot minute, but I still see it out there a little bit as like is FTP dead? Or FTP is dead and I'm like it ain't dead. Nearly every system out there, every good system okay, gets an FTP or a threshold power and they use that as a hinge point to which we base all the physiological fatigue rates on, as well as create training zones. Anyone who says FTP is dead in my opinion is wrong. It is a live and well and prospering, based on what I see out there, what I read in the circles I run in. So, for the record a little bit more, deepen the weeds on FTP and also critical power. Finally, I get this question a lot from my athletes is you know they get automatic FTP updates pushed to them on training peaks or intervalsicu and they say well, you know, should I just use that for my FTP or should we do our field testing? Okay, I recommend doing field testing about two to three times per year and I recommend that you base your training zones on that. I don't recommend changing your training zones Every time that you see an automatic push notification, from whatever system that you're using, to say that your FTP has gone up or your threshold heart rate has gone up, because whether it's heart rate or power, a good day or a bad day, it's best.

Speaker 1:

It's best to alter training zones only when you have a complete picture of what's going on. So a couple of examples here if you got a high power day okay, anybody can have a good day. But can you repeat it? Let's just say it's a high heart rate day. Okay, where's the high heart rate coming from? Is it effort based on what you did on the bike? Or is it anxiety, because it was such a sketchy race, of which, in those two situations, maybe it was a super good day and you try to reproduce that power again, you just can't. Or if it was super sketchy race and you're trying to reach those heart rates again in training, but you just can't, there's more things going on in you physiologically, especially with anxiety, and maybe on the super good day or hill climb day or something like that, to where I wouldn't base all of the training zones on one day or one data point Okay. Additionally, was the data even clean? Okay, sometimes if you've got big temperature swings out there or various uh power meter measuring systems. Okay, cause there's some bad power meters out there. If you have a day where the power is higher and you're not used to seeing normal trends in your data and you just see that high number and you're like, hmm, that sounds great, I'm going to base everything on that because it's a high number, you're not going to set yourself up for success. So, again, you are better off creating and adjusting your training zones based on field testing. In my opinion. Now, if you see something you know in a race say, for example, one of my athletes they'll go out and they'll race. We'll see some good power numbers. I'll try to repeat that again in training before I change anything. Okay, and that's my personal opinion. Okay, so let's wrap this thing up.

Speaker 1:

Here's my final word on testing. I want everybody to keep in mind that the first time you do anything, including a field test or some sort of protocol, there's a learning curve to it. So first time you do it, you're gathering data, but you're also learning how to pace yourself, like I said, how to dose yourself. You know if you're doing the two by eight minute, right. How to dose yourself on each one, how to recover in between, okay. So if you find that the numbers look a little higher, maybe they look a little low relative to what you've been seeing in training data itself, maybe you just freshen up and test again, okay. Or you do a verification workout. What the heck is that? Well, I plan on doing another episode here soon talking about establishing training zones, doing some verification workouts. Just know that you are not as good as your first or your last field test Okay. And it's okay to test again, either soon or maybe in six to eight weeks, especially if you're new to the testing game. Okay. So just know that there's a learning curve to some of this, this field testing.

Speaker 1:

Additionally, I typically suggest using the same test in the same way, on the same course or on the same indoor setup, time and time and time again. We want to compare apples to apples? Okay. You want to limit variability so that we can see in track progress very granularly, okay. So even with season athletes, I'm only going to test them two to three times per year, but I'm going to use the same hill climb, I'm going to use the same course, I'm going to use the same setup. I'm going to use the same power meter. Why? Because those small changes right In performance, those are. We want to see those and that's awesome.

Speaker 1:

If you change something completely like like a whole bike setup, or if you're just always, you know, changing the route over and over, or if you're always if you test it outside, then you test inside, I see. So those variables can change that power output quite a bit. Think about the power that you can produce on a hill versus the power that you can produce on flat, versus the power that you can produce inside. Okay, for a lot of people who have been training, they're like we should probably unpack that in another podcast soon. But in general, I'm going to try to minimize the variability on test day and try to keep everything the same. So what's the best test for you? Here's my advice Do the test that fits your needs best.

Speaker 1:

Do the test where you have time to do it. You can repeat it, meaning logistically easily. It gives you accurate FTP and threshold heart rate and it provides you good training zones. As you progress, you can always add in more power durations or a different field test too, and that's going to help you create a complete picture of your ability and your physiology. You can always add in more power durations or a different field test too, and that's going to help you create a complete picture of your ability and your physiology.

Speaker 1:

If you're racing and you're doing events and you want to become a better all-around athlete versus, say, just a hill climber or just a sprinter, I suggest testing more than just one power duration. So, rather than just doing a 20 minute effort, do a sprint, do the one minute and if you're going to do the 20 minute effort, remember you have to do the five minute before. And then also, you know you'll start to learn more about yourself as you gather more data and you do these field tests at max efforts on various power durations. If you want to take it to the next level with your testing, I suggest reading the article from that high north, or maybe you start using a system like WKO5. Or hell, just get a professional coach who can expedite all that information for you and get you training and testing right. That's it.

Speaker 1:

That's our show for today, thanks to you, mark, as well as all of our audience members who submit awesome questions like the one we had today, mark, as well as all of our audience members who submit awesome questions like the one we had today. Anyone listening should know that they can simply head over to train rightcom backslash podcast and click on ask a training question. Submit any question that you want on endurance training there and we'll do our best to answer it on a future episode. Finally, if you liked what you heard today, please share with a friend. That's the best way to grow the show and keep getting actionable training advice delivered directly to you on this podcast.

Speaker 1:

Thanks again for listening and we'll see you back here next week. Thanks for joining us on the Time Crunch Cyclist podcast. We hope you enjoyed the show. If you want even more actionable training advice, head over to trainwrightcom backslash newsletter and subscribe to our free weekly publication. Each week you'll get in-depth training content that goes beyond what we cover here on the podcast. That'll help you take your training to the next level. That's all for now. Until next time, train hard, train smart, train right.

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