Asking For It

“You’re a brave girl to be asking for these…LOVE IT!” said my coach when I suggested a Test Week to benchmark my current fitness abilities in the disciplines of swimming, biking, and running. I had septum surgery 7 weeks ago and with the increased oxygen uptake I was already noticing a difference in performance. I wanted to be sure I wasn’t being overly enthusiastic about my perceived gains.

Test Week is relatively “light” in terms of training volume (time) but brutal in intensity. Phrases like “all-out effort”, “max heart rate”, “suck it up and suffer”, and “work til you puke” are all associated with finding one’s breaking point. The purpose is to pinpoint your maximum and average heart rates which are used to determine the appropriate heart rate “zones” within which to train. The theory is that every workout has a different goal: some are to build power; others are to hone efficiency which in turn is one of the underpinnings of endurance. Training within the right heart rate zones maximizes the achievement of these goals while also minimizing the risk of injury and burnout. Contrary to some popular beliefs, “going hard” all the time is not healthy at all and, moreover, is the Express Route to getting hurt and demotivated in a hurry.

The bike test is a long warmup, about 20 minutes with some brief accelerations, and then launches into a 30-minute all-out time trial ride. It can be done outside on a measured course, but is just as feasible on an indoor trainer. Mine was on a Tuesday, on the heels of swimming 3,200 yards Monday at Masters practice. To stoke the fire, I burned a CD with some high-powered tunes by the likes of Van Halen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Metallica, Three Days Grace, and Creed – songs in the order of how I might be feeling during the test. I hopped on the saddle and started right in.

Snippets of thoughts racing through my head during the test:

“Feeling pretty good during warmup. I think I’ll do a few single-leg pedal drills just to get the legs limbered up….wow, 90 rpms of smooth pedaling, not bad…I’m either excited about this test or really angry about something, or both! Maybe I should pick a fight with someone before doing my next Test Week :).”

“Wow, 5 minutes into it and I’m sweating a LOT…water’s flying out the bottle and down my throat; I don’t even need to point the bottle in my direction…heart rate’s about 165bpm, working hard but totally in control…tunes are awesome!”

“Okay, 10 minutes in, 20 left to go; I’m in earnest distress now…but look at my computer – 21 mph and 94 rpms! I’ve never pushed that big a gear that fast – holy cow!”

“Heart rate 185bpm - Good GRAVY!!! Is that smoke I smell, ‘cause my legs are on FI-WAH!!!" (Elmer Fud-style)

“Where did all this water in my ears come from?…wait, it’s SWEAT…SUFFER girl!...”

“Only 2 minutes left to go…you can do ANYTHING for 2 minutes!! You’re an IRONMAN!”

Then it was over and time to run “easy” for 20 minutes on the treadmill to unwind – I finished the test and blew away last year’s test results.

The swim was the next day (Wednesday) and much of the same in duration and intensity: (10) 100 yard intervals – all-out raw speed -- with precisely 10 seconds rest between each interval. Though each interval is max effort, one must “plan” for the stamina to finish all 10, meaning you can’t blow your wad on the first one and expect to have enough in the tank for intervals 2 thru 10.

I did a nice warmup in the pool, reset my watch, took a deep breath and launched right in. Snippets follow:

“Okay, finished that first one in 1:45, which is awesome, but I was pushing pretty hard…time to go again!”

“Man, that was even harder and I came in at 1:49…what, time to go again?!”

“Oooooo, someone let all the FUN seep out of the pool…this hurts, my legs are flat from yesterday’s ride, and I’m heaving…”

“Wow, here comes the wall and I have absolutely no oxygen left for a flip turn…but I’m gonna do one ANYWAY…”

“See, you didn’t die at the wall…man, only 4 more left…I WILL DO THIS and DO IT WELL!”

“2 more left…my arms are really on fire…waterfalls of dark chocolate dancing in my head…are my legs still attached?”

“DONE! Smile, Catherine, you nailed it…”

A nice cooldown of backstroke and then freestyle with my paddles…ahhhhhh…I could stay in the pool all day. Due to maximally filling my lungs with oxygen during the test, I’m able to swim 8 x 25 yards of freestyle, easily rolling to breathe only once for each 25.

One great thing about swimming perhaps not readily apparent to many recreational swimmers is that stressing the different systems of the body such as breathing, or doing drills during a workout, produces immediate benefits in the water, as it “teaches” the body a new adaptation or technique. Similar to a computer, the brain contains stored “programs” that it recalls when recruiting muscle fibers to work. It is entirely possible to overwrite these stored programs whenever something new is learned. Mix in patience and consistency, and you have the perfect recipe for huge gains in fitness and a considerable investment in the future of your health.

Now you’re really “asking for it.” :) (More tomorrow on the run test…)