THIS GUY!
Yesterday was phase one of my re-test in all three sports. It was supposed to be a swim, but the pool was closed for repair. So being that I had no running gear at work, I made it bike test day instead.
I felt good going in to it. Coach Jen had me start with a 20 min warm up and then launch in to a 20 minute full effort time trial!
I had to laugh a little because in her notes it said “Bonus points if you puke.”
Nice.
At the start of the test I kicked it in to high gear. I had to give this everything I’ve got, especially since I wrote that it should be my biggest improvement!
10 minutes in to the test I still felt good… I found that to be a problem… I had to dig down and find some more energy! I took a deep breath and hammered away!
A few more minutes went by and my legs were burning! I can’t slow down! I glanced at my Garmin, 6 minutes to go!
I couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not.
Keep going… 4 minutes left, I’m drenched with sweat… Squirt some water… BRING IT!
The hummmm of the trainer sounds like Fast and the Furious is shooting in my living room…
AHHHH MY LEGS!!
2 minutes left.
My head is down … trying not to think about the time … Another deep breath… 1 MINUTE TO GO!!!
I’m real close to being one of those d-bags at the gym who has to yell and grunt like he’s on ESPN Strong Man … But I have a 1 year old a sleep upstairs… Oh and I’m not a d-bag!
45 seconds, it’s the first time I’m feeling truly out of breath, and that’s taking my mind of the searing pain in my legs.
15 seconds… Eyes smashed closed… These last few seconds feel like the past five minutes did.
TIME!!!
Oh shit, I didnt remember the first test being that hard… Jen had me spin for another 20 minutes… I took it real easy.
After the cool down I hopped on my laptop to upload my results. I needed to know if the pain translated on paper.
Garmin was down. NOOOOOOOOO!
I loaded it up this morning and immediately sent it Coach Jen….
I’m excited to say she says I have improved!!!
YES! Awesome work on this Phil – you know why? Because you are getting more fit and able to handle a higher effort and are learning how to suffer more now!! your old Max HR (well, what you could get your heart rate too due to fitness/effort) was 163. This test? 177 !!
I feel good with this improvement. I just hope the rest of the tests go this well..
Phil Castello 
Great job dude!!!!
Dude…. really…. is this 1987? Dude? Hey, Bill & Ted called… they want their catch phrase back.