MAP improvement

rjjasick said:

I guess this is mostly for Ric or Alex, but I'm curious about improvement on my MAP test.

I did my first test 1/1/07 at 371 W. Oh, I'm 190 lbs and 30 this year. I haven't really done any structured training until this year. I've been riding increasingly more the last three years. I've got a coach now... I did my second MAP today at 390 W.

Is that much improvement accurrate or did I not go hard enough on my first one? Or just improvement that much from actually doing some structured training and the first time I've ridden this much this time of the year. 550 miles compared to around 200 this time last year.

What does your coach think?

The improvement sounds plausible to me. Is that 550 miles from 1 Jan to today?

Quantum of improvement will depend on the type of training you are doing. Even so, consistency of training after a period when we've not done so much, even at sub-maximal endurance zones, still has a positive impact on our maximal aerobic abilities. Of course training at and around MAP will generally have the biggest impact on MAP.

Accuracy depends on a few things, including:
- were the conditions of the test the same (same protocol, equipment, set up etc)
- did you have a similar lead up to the test (i.e. day(s) before were fairly similar)
- did you really go to exhaustion in both efforts (some external motivation helps!)

even so, there can be things on the day that may affect you- heat, hydration etc

Also, when we start testing, the first time there is a bit of getting used to what happens. MAP tests are good in that there is no need to think too much, it just keeps coming at ya!

Alex Simmons said:

What does your coach think?

The improvement sounds plausible to me. Is that 550 miles from 1 Jan to today?

Quantum of improvement will depend on the type of training you are doing. Even so, consistency of training after a period when we've not done so much, even at sub-maximal endurance zones, still has a positive impact on our maximal aerobic abilities. Of course training at and around MAP will generally have the biggest impact on MAP.

Accuracy depends on a few things, including:
- were the conditions of the test the same (same protocol, equipment, set up etc)
- did you have a similar lead up to the test (i.e. day(s) before were fairly similar)
- did you really go to exhaustion in both efforts (some external motivation helps!)

even so, there can be things on the day that may affect you- heat, hydration etc

Also, when we start testing, the first time there is a bit of getting used to what happens. MAP tests are good in that there is no need to think too much, it just keeps coming at ya!

I just sent off the information to my coach and he hasn't responded yet. I have to see him at the shop tomorrow so I'm sure we'll talk about it. My only slight concern is he's still progressing from HR training to Power training. I'm the only one with a power meter besides him. So for real power questions I ask here 🙂

For the miles, yes. All but about 25 miles on the Fortius from 1/1/07 till now.

The test was very close to what I would assume is repeatable. I did both tests 53x19 same trainer set up and everything as close as possible. The warm up was shorter today, but still a combination of intensities for the warm up. Lead up was similar. Hydration may have been an issue on 1/1/07 since I drank a fair bit to celebrate New Years, but not enough for a hangover.

I did mostly L2/L3 rides in January with doing specific speedwork on Fridays and Tuesday Intervals 5 beats or so below LT HR that weren't all that tough. February threw in 2 a week intervals, L2/L3 rides, speedwork. March similar with longer weekend rides.

Don't forget to be honest with yourself about how you felt for the first one.

I had a 30ish watt "improvement" in two tests just over 2 weeks apart. The first test was the first one I'd ever done. The second one I knew what to expect. The first was after a week of steady training, the second was after a "race-style" taper to get accurate results.

I'd still use the info off the second one to use the zones, because well.. the numbers don't lie and you don't want to train too low of an intensity and sacrifice gains in fitness.