Friel LT Test

I was looking for some input regarding the fitness test that Friel recommends in his books for those of you that subscribe to his books/training. In that past I had done the 30 minute LT test, recording the last 20 minutes of HR at the end of each period. However, now that I do primarily off-road endurance events, (my shortest race is 3 hours) I was thinking my end-of recovery-week test should be a little more specific to my type of racing. Maybe a 3-hour 'time trial'? Am I right in this or should I just continue with 30 minute LT tests every 4 weeks? Any input is appreciated...

You can always do the full 1 hour test. The same way as the 20 or 30min, accept you don't have to divide by any %.

-Greg

If you're using Friel's zones you should use his test to determine those zones. There's no way you are going to find anything close to LT doing a three hour test.

So you think I should do a LT test to re-establish my HR zones every month instead of doing a race-specific test until closer to my race?

Well I'm not a big fan of HR based training these days, but in theory your Threshold HR and zones based on it shouldn't change that much. The power you'll sustain at those zones should improve with training, but you shouldn't see dramatic changes in the associated HR.

For instance when I first started training with a PM and a HR monitor my average HR for a 30 minute Threshold interval was ~ 170 bpm (with the expected HR lag and HR drift so it might end at ~174 bpm). My average power for those long Threshold intervals at that time was ~220 watts. Four years later my average HR for long Threshold intervals is still ~ 170 bpm with nearly identical lag and drift characteristics but my average power for those intervals has climbed nearly 100 watts.

There have been other changes with HR, such as much quicker recovery from hard efforts but if I were using HR to guide my long Threshold intervals it wouldn't have changed with training and aging.

-Dave