I didn’t intend to, and I have never done one before in my 15 prior attempts, but in the early minutes of the ramp test, it was clear that something was wrong. My HR and RPE were through the roof, and I wasn’t even sure if I could make it to the FTP step, let alone 33% higher than that. I was confused and a bit disappointed because in my 3 years of consistent TR usage, I knew that I should be good today. So I pulled the plug and switched to another workout on the calendar for the week.
But then, in the new workout, I recovered, my HR plummeted, and I started feeling good. I started a fresh ramp test and noticed that my HR was tracking a whopping 15+ beats below my first attempt. This was highly unusual. In my prior ~600 TR workouts, my HR on subsequent intervals is NEVER lower than on the first one. I went to failure and in the end, I ended up tacking 10 watts onto my ftp from my last test.
- Normally, based on past performances, I would expect a warm-up to be detrimental to test performance, not today.
- Maybe it was the timing of my pre ride nutrition & caffeine (a little closer to the workout than usual).
- Maybe if I gutted out the first ramp test, I would have started feeling better (I doubt it).
- I’m not worried about this test overestimating my FTP, as I ultimately tested about where I expected to test based on prior workouts.
- What scientifically could be going on my body and/or mind to cause such a dramatic and unexpected deviation in performance? I felt a little jittery at the start (I am highly sensitive to even a single cup of coffee), but I usually see this as a good sign.
- Anyone else have such an experience?