I used to be “afraid” of those numbers and was one person who applied and shared the idea of “blind” testing. Fast forward to now and I leave everything visible, including heart rate and the live FTP estimate.
I have gotten to a point where I recognize the usefulness, but also the distraction that these data points can be, but have come to terms with them all. In my test last night, I had all that stuff on, along with a random route in Zwift for my usual distraction. I checked in on the heart rate and live FTP at various points, just for reference, but did not “worry” about anything, even when seeing HR increase while seeing a “low” live FTP while feeling the effort really start to build.
I ended up sailing past 19:30 and ending around 21:15 while using the life FTP as a small carrot to keep me motivated from bailing early (as I had done 6 weeks ago).
I just mention that as someone who put too much time and concern to those numbers in the past, with a hope that it might open people to relaxing and just going through these tests with less angst. Even wen I tested low 6 weeks ago, I followed AT, answered surveys appropriately and let the system work. I ended up with an FTP increase from that low test, despite my semi-annual blood donation 9 days ago.
Mixed impact of a low test, training gains and partial reset from the donation lead me into last night with no real guess as to where I would be. Getting a gain was a nice surprise, but even if I had matched or dropped, I would just follow the plan and continue forward. This test is a single data point and it would be nice if we can get the anxiety that often surrounds it to drop to become “just another workout”.