Now is a great time to do some fitness testing -- ostensibly, fitness for many at this time of the year can be at a low, and also, due to the holidays, time can be really tight. At RST Sport we generally use two types of testing -- 20-minute TT, and MAP testing.

These two tests both help you ascertain your aerobic fitness:
20-minute Time Trial test. As the name suggests this test lasts for 20-minutes and is as simple as riding as hard as you possibly can for 20-mins!! Record your average power output and from this you can use the zone calculator here to ascertain your zones. 

MAP test. Nothing to do with reading maps, this test of maximal aerobic power, starts very easy, and gradually ramps up at 25 W/min for non-elite males, or 15 W/min for females until you quite literally explode! Generally, only the last couple of minutes really hurt! And they REALLY hurt! Use the zone calculator here to see your zones. You calculate your MAP by ascertaining the highest 60-second power output during the test.

If your zones aren't roughly similar from the two tests then it may give a suggestion about what type of training you need to do. For instance, if your 20-min power is less than say 73% of your MAP then this suggests that you'll need to work on bringing up this ratio with longer efforts at TT power or just below.

If you'd like these tests in Zwift workout format, then please put a message on Facebook saying "I'm up for testing myself with the RST Sport fitness tests, are you?" and tag in RST Sport on Facebook (we'll then get the tests sent to you asap, notwithstanding the holidays!).