I use my rest weeks for testing. Tues and Fri.
Tuesday CSS, as it’s less stressful, then Friday (or Sat, or a Thu Club TT) for the bike test.
I don’t do all low intensity stuff in recovery weeks, either. I like to throw in some cruisey efforts across all three disciplines.
Well, being faster in the pool in a wetsuit makes sense; certainly if you can tumble-turn. I think Matt’s prediction to drop time in an OW swim is more of an aspiration at the moment, so I wouldn’t get too upset 
Matt also needs to factor-in the run between the two lakes in St Polten; I never ‘swam’ under 30 mins there as a result. I think 30:** was my best of the 3 races, and I was a slightly faster swimmer than I am now.
I get this disconnect with OW swim segments; time says one pace, but Strava says another, despite the actual time/distance.
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So the GPS is bad?
Back to sticking it under my swim cap?
Trust what the open water venue says is 750m?
The 400m “looks” short.
I can cruise that in under six minutes.
Google Earth is probably the best bet, although that will only give you straight lines between points 
They remove the boo-eeees between swims, so cants be seen on google earth
You’re in IT, can’t you just hack a satellite to be there at the right time?
No Tumble Turns. I suddenly realised that I have not swam 2000m in one go or even swam in wetsuit since September, so swim was to see where I am. I was swimming with a 1m45 alert on the watch, and aiming just to hit the times. If I can find someone swimming at 1:40 I should be able to stay on their feet comfortably. You are right about the run between swims, I think that will add 1 minute
Lake opens today. Went windsurfing in it on Sat, 12 degrees: Nice ice cream headache on first dip, but ok when you get used to it
I hear what you’re saying, but I really need the rest. When I do the ftp test on Trainerroad, I usually bulk it out to an hour with another 30 minutes of threshold reps. Same with the swim set; I’ll do some extra drill work or easy repeats. I think I’ll get a more accurate reflection of my fitness with a very mini taper into them. I’m not as young as I used to be.
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You’re not doing the FTP test right if you can do that - last one I did, I got to 18 minutes and was scouting the location of the nearest bin/exit/window to vomit.
CSS - They’re not so bad. But I wouldn’t want to be missing a swim set to do them weekly.
I hear what you’re saying about rest, good old RPE and body feedback can beat a lot of these training mantra’s.
Yeah, if you can do that, you’re not getting a true FTP figure, as you’re taking it too easy. It would be like doing the same after a Sprint Tri for example.
Whiningvoice but it hurts /whining voice
Rule 5
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Are you talking about the new ramp test? That might be where everyone else is getting confused. The ramp test is nothing like the old 20min test that most are probably thinking of. The Trainerroad team even suggest you should be able to do another session not long after.
The whole point of the new ramp test is precisely so you can do it, without taking too much out of yourself. That way you can test more regularly without causing a negative impact to more key sessions.
Yes. I used to do the 8 minute test but now do the ramp test which is not as demanding, except for the last 90 seconds or so.
I tried that ramp test, found it was garbage.
Far too easy to get a massive number (if you are a big unit and can lay down short bursts, but also are a bit of a diesel engine, it’s super simple to get big)
Try the Big Boys FTP test.
If you’re doing an evening 10 once per week, you should have a damn good idea of what your FTP is (as most likely it’ll be the same NP as what you can do in the evening 10, all other training, corners, RABs etc, considered)
Also…the actual FTP test gets you good at cycling at a set power output for a certain time.
And used to dealing with “pain”
The TrainerRoad test is for wimps
I’ve got a 25TT coming up on a DC, so am going to use whatever NP I get from that as my FTP for the HIM.
Hopefully you’ll ride the first lap at FTP 
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It’s all very individual. I did 20min test and ramp test last year fairly close together, and got results within a couple of watts of one another. Ultimately, TR have done sample testing across tens of thousands of users, and they’ve established it’s just as good as the 20min test.
I don’t really get that. They specifically say you shouldn’t “lay down a short burst”, as it will adversely impact the result. They also say you have to stay seated. Maybe it’s my riding capabilities, but I don’t see how you can lay down a short burst if you’ve been following the ramp accurately and have therefore been working at 125+ % of FTP for at least a couple of minutes, and with it only getting harder.
But it doesn’t test FTP. It tests your ‘5min’ power and relies on the standard 20-25% factor for most people between FTP and 5min power. It certainly has it’s place because as they said themselves, people avoid doing the 20min FTP test because it’s hard and wrecks your training, so they end up training on old numbers, which is worse.
I’ve been using Sufferfest, which has a truly horrendous fitness test, that they recommend doing after an easy week. As a result you don’t do it very often, so they have recently introduced a ramp test that you can use if you think your numbers are way off and need some adjustment, but you are in the middle of a training block so don’t want to retest. Doing that gave me a new 5min power so I could adjust my FTP accordingly if I wanted to.