# Taking a break b4 Cross season when to test?



## on yer left (Jan 7, 2006)

A little background, I have about 3k of miles in me so far this year. 
All the miles have been team rides and mostly solo. In the past month i have done a handful of training crits, and 2 road races. 

Cross is my main focus so the riding up until this point has been unstructured. ( as to avoid the mid season burnout i had last year)

I plan to take a 2 week break starting this week. So my question is 

Should i do a power test now while I have some fitness?? Or wait until i take my 2 week break then do a test?


Any input appreciated.


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## the mayor (Jul 8, 2004)

Taking a break from what?
Taking a break for what?


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## rockdude (Apr 3, 2008)

The only reason you do power test is to setup training zones. Do it any time you feel your power numbers have changed.


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## kbiker3111 (Nov 7, 2006)

on yer left said:


> A little background, I have about 3k of miles in me so far this year.
> All the miles have been team rides and mostly solo. In the past month i have done a handful of training crits, and 2 road races.
> 
> Cross is my main focus so the riding up until this point has been unstructured. ( as to avoid the mid season burnout i had last year)
> ...


[I'm under the working assumption that you're taking a two week break from riding or at least hard riding.]

After your break, start training as you are now. If the intensity is too hard (and you'll know that pretty quick) just back off and feel out where the zone should be by RPE. The first block of training back shouldn't be high intensity anyway, more volume/tss stuff. After a couple weeks of solid training, start adding test-y type workouts like 20 minute TT efforts or all out climbs up known hills. That will start to give you a sense of where the zones are. When you schedule your first rest week, do a test while fresh. Remember, training is testing and testing is training. If you use HR, your zones won't change much at all. If you use power you'll see a significant dip that will recover pretty quickly.

You'll gain back most of the fitness pretty quick so doing a test right after the break won't be useful. Alternately, doing a test now while well trained will tell you nothing about your fitness after a break.


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