Getting Back Into It!
outofbreath
Posts: 4
I'm new to the site and have recently bought my first bike in about 10 years! I used to live near the Lake District and did a bit of mountain biking around there and Kielder but haven't done anything like it in years!
I've recently stopped smoking (again!) and am in the process of getting fit again. I'm currently doing a bit of running 2-3 times per week and am looking at starting doing some cycling to help improve my fitness and vary my training.
I'm thinking about aplying for a job as a cycle responder in the Ambulance Service and have been reading up on the fitness tests but I'm not sure whether they are very difficult or not. The tests are as follows:
Incremental Endurance Test
The incremental test is carried out on a stationary cycle using a computerised programme to assess the rider's athletic parameters by using an incremental but not maximal test. The program plots heart rate as a function of power, and predicts the rider's VO2 or oxygen uptake. The endurance test has four stages:
Stage 1 - Warm Up The test starts with a five-minute warm-up, pedalling at 100 watts. At the end of this stage, the rider will be suitably warmed up to continue on to Stage Two, and the baseline parameters are recorded by the computer.
Stage 2 - Incremental Stage In this phase, 25 watts of power are added every minute to increase the pedalling load and therefore also the rider's heart rate. This continues throughout this phase of the test until the rider's frequency equals or exceeds his or her target heart rate in the previous 30 seconds.
Stage 3 - Maintenance of Cardiac Frequency At the end of stage two, the rider must continuously maintain their heart rate to within +/- 3 beats of their target heart rate for a further 10 minutes. The computer will automatically adjust the load on the trainer to ensure the cardiac frequency is maintained at the target level.
Stage 4 - Warm Down The rider completes the test by doing 10 minutes of easy cycling to warm down.
Speed Test
At the completion of the endurance test, the test applicant will then be required to complete a one kilometre time trial in as fast a time as possible. The purpose is to ascertain their maximum sustainable speed over a short distance and is an indication of the anaerobic threshold of the applicant. This is a near maximal test.
Can anyone give any recommendations about what kind of training I should be doing to pass the fitness tests?
I've recently stopped smoking (again!) and am in the process of getting fit again. I'm currently doing a bit of running 2-3 times per week and am looking at starting doing some cycling to help improve my fitness and vary my training.
I'm thinking about aplying for a job as a cycle responder in the Ambulance Service and have been reading up on the fitness tests but I'm not sure whether they are very difficult or not. The tests are as follows:
Incremental Endurance Test
The incremental test is carried out on a stationary cycle using a computerised programme to assess the rider's athletic parameters by using an incremental but not maximal test. The program plots heart rate as a function of power, and predicts the rider's VO2 or oxygen uptake. The endurance test has four stages:
Stage 1 - Warm Up The test starts with a five-minute warm-up, pedalling at 100 watts. At the end of this stage, the rider will be suitably warmed up to continue on to Stage Two, and the baseline parameters are recorded by the computer.
Stage 2 - Incremental Stage In this phase, 25 watts of power are added every minute to increase the pedalling load and therefore also the rider's heart rate. This continues throughout this phase of the test until the rider's frequency equals or exceeds his or her target heart rate in the previous 30 seconds.
Stage 3 - Maintenance of Cardiac Frequency At the end of stage two, the rider must continuously maintain their heart rate to within +/- 3 beats of their target heart rate for a further 10 minutes. The computer will automatically adjust the load on the trainer to ensure the cardiac frequency is maintained at the target level.
Stage 4 - Warm Down The rider completes the test by doing 10 minutes of easy cycling to warm down.
Speed Test
At the completion of the endurance test, the test applicant will then be required to complete a one kilometre time trial in as fast a time as possible. The purpose is to ascertain their maximum sustainable speed over a short distance and is an indication of the anaerobic threshold of the applicant. This is a near maximal test.
Can anyone give any recommendations about what kind of training I should be doing to pass the fitness tests?
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Comments
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Welcome to the forum Outofbreath.
The first test sounds very similar to a VO2 max test and will certainly push you to your aerobic limits. Consequently, I would have thought you'd want to focus your training on fairly intense short intervals.
Whether you are able to undertake this sort of training without having much of an aerobic cycling base is another question. How long have you got before the test?0
