Swim, Bike & Run Tests


Swim - Critical Velocity Test or Critical Swim Speed (CSS) Test

( Critical Velocity (CV) 400m/200m test: NOTE: This test is only good if you have more or less the same pace for both the 400m and the 200m.
Critical Velocity (CV) 1000m test:
Critical Velocity (CV) = 200 / (400m time − 200m time) (meter/minute).
or CV = 1000 / 1000m time (meter/minute).
Lactate Threshold Swim Pace (LTSP) = 100/CV (min/100m)

Bike - Functional Threshold Power Test

FTP 30-Minute Time Trial Test: Your FTP is the average power of the last 30 minutes (10 + 20) of the test.
Your Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (LTHR) is the average heart rate in beats per minute (BPM) for the final 20 minutes of the 30-minute test.

RAMP Test: Your FTP is 75% of your best one-minute power output.
Stay in the saddle the entire time, but use whatever cadence feels most comfortable and maintain that cadence or pedal faster,ì throughout the rest of the test, the cadence can’t fall!

3 minute Critical Power Test Warm up, then ride 3 minutes all out. That means no pacing at all; just give everything you’ve got for the full 3 minutes. Whatever your average power is for the last 30 seconds of the test is your Critical Power/FTP.

Bike - Critical Power Test

Two-test method:
One validated method is to complete a 3-minute and 12-minute maximal effort.

These efforts can be performed on separate days (after a thorough warm-up), or within the same session, separated by at least 30 to 40 minutes of rest or gentle riding.

P12 is the average power of the of the 12 minute test. P3 is the average power of the 3 minute test
CP is your Critical Power or the power output you’ll tend towards when riding at a high intensity, typically for around 30 to 40 minutes
W’ is the amount of work (measured in units of energy or kJ) you can expend above the CP before you reach complete exhaustion or your capacity to ride above your CP

CP = (12xP12 - 3xP3)/(12-3)
W' = 0.24x(P3 - P12)

Four-test method:
To get more accurate CP and W’ estimates, you can include one or two additional maximal efforts in your calculation. Adding more test efforts means any sub-par performances will have less influence on your CP and W’ values.

Adding a 5-minute effort and a 20-minute effort to the 3-minute and 12-minute efforts described above.

These additional efforts should be done on separate days from your original test. To find your CP and W’ values using this method:
Construct a line trugh the points where X=is the time in seconds (1/t), and X=average power, for one effort
CP is the where the line intersect the y-axis.
W' is the slope of the line.

Run - Lactate Threshold Heart Rate Test

LTHR 30-Minute test: Your Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (LTHR) is the average BPM for the final 20 minutes of the 30-minute time trial is your LTHR.

A 2005 study by scientists at East Carolina University found that this method of determining LT heart rate and pace is very accurate. Its downside is that it’s hard — equivalent to running a half-hour race without the added adrenalin from the actual racing environment.

Note that LT test results obtained on the treadmill often don’t translate well to outdoor training because A) most treadmills are poorly calibrated and B) heart rate is lower on the treadmill yet perceived effort is higher, so runners can’t go as fast. If you choose to test on a treadmill, make sure the machine has been calibrated recently and keep the belt at 0 percent, as raising it to 1 percent, as runners are often told to do, will only exacerbate the indoor/outdoor pace discrepancy.

Alternative Run - Lactate Threshold Tests

Critical Velocity Do a 9 minute Time Trial and calculate average velocity (TT9) and a 3 minute Time Trial and calculate average velocity (TT3), both tests has to be doneat maximal effort. These efforts can be performed on separate days (after a warm-up), or within the same session, separated by at least 30 to 40 minutes of rest.
Your Critical Velocity is: CV = (9xTT9 - 3xTT3)/(9-3).
You can use CV as Threshold Pace: Threshold Pace = 60/CV, where is CV is expressed in Km/h.

3-minute Critical Velocity Warm up, then simply run 3 minutes all out. That means no pacing at all; just give everything you’ve got for the full 3 minutes. Take the last 30-45 seconds of the effort and you have your Threshold Pace.