Hi there, next week I have my first regen week with fascat, but I also happen to have a “b” race the Sunday after regen week. Ideally, as far as performance goes, I think timing is pretty good as I will be very fresh for my race (mtb marathon). But I’m schedule to do the 20 minute field test the day before my race.
This is my first plan (polarized 4)with fascat and I haven’t done a 20 minute field test yet so I was looking forward to it, but I don’t really think I should be doing it the day before a race. But maybe I’m wrong here. Should I just do the regen week as prescribed, skip the field test, and keep ftfp’ if going forward?
Hi Chad, my opinion is definitely don’t do a 20 min FTP test the day before a race. I’m a masters athlete and I definitely aren’t in great shape the day after an FTP test. Your mileage may vary. The FTP test gives you a few benefits, a great 20 min full gas workout, and of course an estimate of what your FTP is to better fine tune your training zones in future workouts. However you’re likely to get both of these benefits out of race day, so enjoy the race, and see if you have a good enough period in the race to estimate FTP from. Or you could consider just moving the rest of the plan out a week, so you do the FTP test the week after your race, or depending on how brutal your race is, you may need to schedule another regen week first too.