FTP.

This past Wednesday the CompuTrainer class up started at Infinity Multisport. The Chief of Pain and The Punisher (aka Mo and Lara) both had smiles on their faces bigger than a little kid on Christmas Morning. Their "baby" was finally up and running...with a completely full class to boot. I'm so excited for both of them.

And like most other CompuTrainer classes, we began with an FTP test. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about...this is the functional threshold power test which essentially explores the maximum power you can sustain for an hour while cycling. You're basically required to cycle as strong and as hard as you can for a pre-determined period of time (most mortals don't test for a full hour, and in our class we tested for 20 minutes) in an effort to determine what your personal threshold is. That data is then used during coached rides where we will all cycle at XX% of our maximum threshold in an effort to get stronger and build endurance--essentially making our engines more efficient.

Interesting.

Right?

(only if you're a numbers geek.

...which I am most definitely not. I fall in the words geek category, in case you couldn't tell.)

Spinning balls to the wall in the basement with eleven other triathletes in training is hardly what I call an exciting use of my Wednesday night. BUT...it went well. Better than expected actually. And dare I say...fun?

With the music cranked up, legs spinning as strong as I could muster and sweat streaming down off my face and body, the Chief of Pain and The Punisher cheered us each on by name, counting down the minutes. Let me tell you...this shit burned. Testing on the heels of my first day of strength training probably wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done, especially considering I could barely carry my bike down the stairs. But getting them moving felt really, really good in that masochistic kind of way.

So while FTP may stand for Functional Threshold Power, during the course of those 20 minutes of busting my ass, I brainstormed alternative--yet equally applicable in that precise moment--definitions for the term...

Finding This Pleasant.

Flying Turning Pedals.

Freely Thinking (about) Pacebooty.

Forging Through Pain.

Firey Tiiiiiiring Piriformis.

Flooding Trickling Perspiration.

Flippin' Taking a Pause!

Finish This Please!!

F*cking Torturous Program!!!

Final Throbbing Push!!!! (can I get a that's what she said!? Woot!)
Failed Thoroughly and Pathetically. (or so I thought. sigh.)

Pushing myself that hard for that long didn't kill me (much to my amazement). Afterward, Chief pulled my aside and mentioned that he was really surprised I had that in me...and it became more than evident that I need to teach myself to drop the hammer on the bike. Because apparently, I can. I just elect not to. Which is simply ridiculous.

I'm not going to pretend that I pull some massive, huge, beautiful numbers. Because I don't. But the numbers I did post, were solid and great for me. Especially considering where I started with cycling a few years ago. During the four complimentary classes I took at Infinity 2 weeks ago, my numbers went up with each class. After so much time away from the bike, I started in the low 100's and by the 4th class peaked at around a 142 average for the ride.

During the test, I averaged 157 watts (I was fully anticipating an average in the low-mid 140's, so I was pleasantly surprised). Good. Not great. Allowing plenty of room for progress. The Punisher played the numbers game and calculated my FTP at the moment to be 146. She also mentioned that aside from the two purist roadie guys in our class (that pull some absurd wattage with ease), Mike and I had the two most consistent tests as we were able to keep our wattage level (and slowly increasing) throughout. So score one for us.

I'm really looking forward to being able to quantify my progress over the next 2 months in this class. And hopefully we'll get to do this again sometime in the future since testing your FTP is only 20 minutes of hell and really isn't all that bad...especially when you can settle on it meaning something like this...

...Future's Thoroughly Positive.