1) What is the Conconi Test ?
TheConconi Test is a practical test than all middle/long distance athletes of all endurance sports can practice in order to know their fitness level. Rowers, swimmers, runners, cyclers, skaters, triathletes, basketball/soccer players can obtain many interesting informations for their competitions and training rythm.
The test can be succesfully done in several different places, but just one thing is necessary: a HEART RATE MONITOR. ( and a friend, if your HRM doesn't have pulse memories options)

Ideal places for the test are:
-track
-cycling/skating velodrome
-pool
-running treadmill
-cycling treadmill

All places are the same to perform it, but probabily the easiest and more practical arena is a 400m track, where you can have precise points where to obtain all the data needed.
The test consists in running ( swimming/rowing ecc. ) for circa 15', starting very slowly and increasing slightly the pace every 200m ( as you cross the increasing point, you have to increase just a bit your speed and maintain it as regular as possible till the next lap/increase point), in order to arrive at the end completely exhausted. The athlete runs dressing the HRM, and at every measure point he tells his friend his pulse rate, while the guy takes note also of the lap time. ( or just press the store button if he's wearing a HRM with memories options)
The friend just cross the field up and down, in order to write down his fellow data; it means that you have to run many series of 200m faster and faster, and every 200m write down or store the pulse and time needed.
For a valid test is also important to run faster and faster; this is not a simple thing for beginners athletes who don't have a smooth sense of their bodies and speed; therefore probabily they will probably perform the test with an irregular pace.
At the end of the test you have many couple of data ( pulse and time laps ); from the times you calculate the speed for km/mile, and then finally you put all them on a graph.
X ax = speed
Y ax = pulse
Then you'll find that the point are putting themselves in a row, but not till the end: from a certain point they are sligtly falling down, as the increasing heart rate pulse doesn't follow anymore the still growing speed.
In that precise point, is the famous Anaerobic treshold speed and pulse rate. Thoose data can help us a lot while training and racing.
 

2) Why the Conconi Test is useful ?
The test is useful because it permits to obtain many informations about training and racing patterns:

a) the speed and the pulse rate of our anaerobic treshold, the point from where muscles start to produce more lactate than the way they are capable to destroy with the help of oxygen: from that point the level of lactate in blood and muscles will rise fast, and soon muscles will have to stop working as lactate inhibits and disturbs contraction. This means that your muscles are like a cup with a hole, and a shower open over it. When the water (lactate) is coming down slowly, the hole will be sufficient to let it pass, as the fluids comes more and more the hole will not be more sufficient and the cup will be filled. Now your muscles are full of lactate and you have to stop. The secrets are to enlarge the hole (your attitude to eliminate the lactate or to deal with it) or to produce/use less "water" to do your things. (Produce less lactate at the same speed)
This speed can be mantained for a max of 1 hour from a well trained athlete.

b) therefore you can obtain race times prediction and training ideal pace, as for marathons you should start with a slower pace, for a 10000-5000m you can start faster, and there are some simple formula to calculate the ideal pace for racing. Perhaps more important, you will obtain precise info for a proper training, without runing to slow or too fast for your body conditions. Obviousely the right pace for hard workouts (intervals, fartlek, races, .....) not for long runs or sprint event like 100-200m.

c) searching for the right pace/rythm: you will no more suffer "bad days", as you can run looking only at your heart pulse level forgetting about pace: if your anaerobic treshold pulse is today 170 with a pace of 4'00'' m/km, in a good day you will run faster, in a bad day slower, but you'll always stress your body correctly running around 170 beat per minute. Obviousely this stuff is much more useful for beginners or not sensitive runners, as pro's or high experienced runners many times just feel their right effort.

d) repeating the test every 2-3 months can show your training improvements, so then you'll have new data to work on, as a better speed with the same pulse.

e) the last km speed pace shows your attitude to run over your treshold: the faster or the more data you obtain after the AT, the better is the way you hold on high level of lactate in your muscles. But remember: this means only that over AT pace you have still capabilities too increase speed; high improvements probabily means that you should be good for 800-1500-3000 races, or a way to determine your capabilities to finish fast a race. It helps strategy.

f) the pulse after recovery shows the way you have a solid base training: the faster you recovery, the better resistance you have built during last months training; a faster recovery means obviousely also a better fitness condition.

3) How can I do the test ? (forrunners, without a "HRM with memories" but with a friend)
Just do a complete warmup, including stretching and some few speed strides to "loosen" the legs. Then rest for a couple of minutes; your friend will write down your lap times, as you will shout him your pulse data every half lap. Dress the HRM, start now telling him your resting pulse at 0 km/h speed, and jog slowly the first 200m, shout again the increased pulse and push your speed a very very little faster, HOLD that pace for 200m, shout and increase speed again and so on till you cannot increase your speed for another 200m.
Now stop, wait for 60 and 180 seconds taking down the pulse data again on those two values.
Now get a warm shower...... you got it! You are THE MAN now!!!!
It's absolutely necessary that the 2 days before the test, you avoid any kind of hard/long/tough workout, in ANY sport, as you have to perform the test with all your energies, unless all the data will be unreliable. You can workout, but for max 40'minutes and very very gently!
Note that the important thing is that to have a valid test is absolutely necessary obtaining from 11 to 19 couple of values (time+pulse rate). Not less and not more, as with 10 values ( 2000m run) is difficult to draw a significant graphic, with more than 19 ( 3800m run) you probabily have run for a too long period , arriving tired on the last values, and ruining part of the info's that the test can provide.
 

4) How can I extract from the test the right answers ?

MAIN PROBLEM: as I told before, all the points on the graph start ( if the test has been done correctly) on a almost straighht line, then "suddently" they start to fall down. The difficultiest thing is to point out precisely that point, and that's not so easy, as it's possible to do mistakes; it's not a good idea to start with a pace of 4'm/k for a marathon, if a more accurate analisys of the test was 4'25''.... boom !!
That point will show the pace mantainable from a runner for 1h race, and also the pulse related to that speed. It's now easy with some formulas to obtain the speed for longer/shorter events ( longer than 1500m) , a very nice thing if you are looking for PB or simply you want to train correctly, not to slow or too fast, always pushing your body just the little more to get the very best progress.

Just write down your pulse data and split times, look at the graph, study it slowly, point out your Anaerobic treshold pulse and pace, fill in the blue cells all the requested data, click on the race you are preparing for and you'll have many, many useful info to discuss with friends, trainer, coach, and mostly yourself !!

GOOD WORK !

AT speed = anaerobic treshold speed in km/h = This is the speed from where our body start producing more lactate than the amount that it's possible to waste ........ so slightly the lactate in our muscle will rise and cause more and more contraction problems, as
this substance inhibits muscle action.

AT pulse = anaerobic treshold pulse = the nr. of heart beat from where our body start producing more lactate than the amount that it's possible to waste ........ so slightly the lactate in our muscle will rise and cause more and more muscle contraction problems.

                                                                                                   3
O2 usage =        (2.917 x AT speed) + (0.000617 x AT speed      )
               (the amount of oxygen used in ml for kg of body weight for every minute of training )
 
 

                    max heart pulse x 16,55 + (pulse at 17 km/h x 36,07) -( pulse at 12 km/h x 52,62)
VO2 max = ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                                                                                            ( pulse at 17 km/h - pulse at 12 km/h )

                             ( shows the max amount of oxygen that can be burned by our muscles )
 

                                            O2 usage
% of usage of O2 =          ----------------- x 100
                                                                          Vo2 max
( Shows the potential of our muscles to use and burn the amount of oxygen that arrives them: the higher the better ! A low index shows the need to do many specific workout like "intervals" or "race pace" slightly over the AT. )

5) At what speed pace should I train now ?
 

 
here free download the complete
Excel "Conconi Test" file !

Since the early 1980s, the role of the doctor in the professional peloton has increased. Before, the role of monitoring the athlete's health remained in the hands of the masseuses. While their talents in massage were indispensable, their medical knowledge was sometimes sketchy. As the sport has grown, so has the need for more in-depth medical care.

Dr. Conconi is the granddaddy of cycling doctors. He first gained critical acclaim when he guided Francesco Moser to his first world hour record in Mexico City in the winter of 1984. Today he still counsels numerous professionals, but he believes in cycling as a sport for life.

He proved his point in 1994 when he and Moser returned to Mexico and shattered Moser's original record set in 1984. At 43 years of age, Moser rode an inspiring 51.840 kilometers in 60 minutes, 689 meters beyond his record set a decade earlier. "Francesco never really stopped riding after he retired," Conconi explained. "He rode a lot less, but when he went out, he really rode." The 1994 effort stemmed out of a gentlemen's bet between Conconi and Moser, but it served as a monumental statement to the positive effects of exercise on aging.

Conconi himself practices what he preaches. He, like most working people, has little time to train. Despite his crammed schedule as professor of biochemistry and Vice Rector at the University of Ferrara just north of Bologne, Conconi always finds at least an hour a day to ride. It shows, as only his birth certificate could prove that he is now in his mid-60s. "You can work any domain you want in an hour: power, endurance, etc. But you can't just go out in the park and toddle around - you really have to work that hour. I would never advise riding without suffering at all. That's just for fun, but you get nothing from it," Conconi related by phone from his university office. "Of course I'm not talking about the elite athlete but of the fitness athlete. There are no miracles, but I've seen some everyday people who previously led basically sedentary lives really change their form over a year or two. With an elite athlete, change is hard to monitor - 1 percent, 2 percent, 3 if you're lucky. But with average people the difference can be up to 30 percent," Conconi said.

To maximize your hour-long workout Conconi has several suggestions. "The best is if you live close to a long, steady climb." It is the perfect way to warm up and the perfect way to work out because a gradual climb guarantees consistent resistance. "If you ride 30 minutes up a hill, you work both endurance and power," Conconi explained. However, he does realize that many of us do not possess a handy little mountain outside our doorsteps. "Wind trainers are great when you don't have much time. You can really monitor your efforts and get the specific workout you desire. I often use one when it's raining or when I simply don't have much time," he said.

The first important element to an efficient workout is a progressive warm-up. Conconi always takes 30 minutes and during that time he progressively works up to the limit of his submaximal capacity. Using a gear that you would choose in a flat time trial, you should start at 60 rotations per minute (rpm) and increase approximately 1 rpm per minute until 90. Then after a brief pause, the real workout can begin.

For Bicycle Guide, Conconi has outlined three workouts designed to improve endurance, power and overall muscle strength (see the charts and diagrams for specific workouts on the next page). Conconi assures that by varying these workouts, you can maintain a respectable fitness level. "At a general fitness level, it is more important to maintain one's power and strength. If you maintain these elements, endurance comes easily. In contrast, if you simply ride long and slow, the power is much more difficult to attain. The basic idea is to work just under the anaerobic threshold, which is generally accepted as 81 to 90 percent of maximum heart rate - the maximum sustainable effort that you can maintain for 20 minutes or more and when the body starts building up lactic acid. During the warm-up, get your heart rate just at the aerobic limit, then maintain. Once you reach a certain work intensity, the heart rate no longer increases, but the physical output still increases," Conconi said.

Although the good doctor does not go as far as to equate cycling fitness with the eternal fountain of youth, he does insist that a consistent training program can slow down the aging process. "We are really pushing the frontier in this domain," Conconi said. "We are the first generation that is really active and it is hard to say where it will take us. Many sedentary people age tremendously between 45 and 55. But those who have consistently exercised can push those limits. We definitely age, but we can surely slow it down. In the case of Moser, we clearly saw that he no longer had the same level of endurance and his performance was declining in the last part of his 1994 hour-record attempt. But I also recently ran into a guy who has always cycled and now at the age of 88, he is still climbing mountains such as the Stelvio. And he looks great."

Chart 1: Aerobic Endurance Workout

30-minute exercise at medium intensity. Use the gearing employed in the warm-up and in three minutes reach a cadence of 84 to 86 rpm. Keep that cadence for the times indicated in this diagram. If adequately trained, one could do this workout for 30 minutes without interruption.

Chart 2: Muscle Strength Workout

30-minute workout specific for increasing muscle strength. The course should be uphill at a 6 to 9 percent grade. The gearing is the same gear used in the warm-up. Keep the cadence at 30 to 40 rpm for the times indicated in this diagram and heart rate should not exceed the heart rate reached in your workouts at medium intensity.

Chart 3: Aerobic Power Workout

30-minute workout specific for improving aerobic power. The course should be flat and the cadence should be up to 100 rpm for the times indicated in this diagram. The gearing and exercise intensity should be similar to those you would use for a long time trial (i.e., this workout is not meant to be an all-out exercise).

By James Startt
 

back to my coaching page
back to my homepage

... something about me ...