Kick-Start This Season The Racers’ Toolbox Way
With all the various festive seasons come and gone, it’s now time to get back into your regular routine of balancing family, work and TRAINING. Some of you may be wondering where you should start and what you should do. Fret not – here are some reasons why testing will get you heading in the right direction.
Get yourself tested: Picture your body as a car. A car should be regularly serviced to ensure you know what is going on under that hood and to make sure the engine is running as efficiently as possible. The same can be said about your body too! Getting yourself tested to see how your internal systems are running is a great way to start out on the right foot.
Get your training zones: Once tested you will now have your current training zones. It’s highly important that your training is kept as specific as possible and this applies not only to the physical but physiological aspects of it. As an endurance athlete, there is not much benefit to having a high power output when your engine does not have the efficiency to last the entire race duration or the length of the season for that matter.
Get your baseline numbers: The baseline numbers from this initial round of testing will act as your measure of improvement when you re-test to monitor your progress. This is a great way to assess the effectiveness of your training and also helps to keep you motivated when you see the fruits of your labor pay off. Last thing any endurance athlete wants to see is time and effort spent training inefficiently and getting nowhere – much like a mouse on a wheel.
For any budding endurance athlete, we recommend getting at least a Fuel Efficiency and Lactate test done to ensure both systems are in order. Even as a newbie or a seasoned athlete, you will be able to benefit massively by just knowing more about your body and following the specific training zones to optimize your time spent training SMART!
Testing should always be done as a fresh start, so make sure you make it a regular way to kick-start the new season of training and racing right.