KONA ENDURANCE — CYCLING POWER TEST CHECKLIST
A practical coaching protocol for the Kona calculator. Not a laboratory substitute.

PLAN
Session 1 / Day 1: 5-minute maximal average-power test.
Session 2 / Day 4: 12-minute maximal average-power test.
Session 3 / Day 7: 3-minute maximal average-power test.
Leave 48–72 hours between maximal tests; longer if recovery is incomplete.
Finish the set within about two weeks. One maximal test per session.

BEFORE EACH SESSION
[ ] Rested, normally fed and hydrated; no hard session the day before.
[ ] Same bike, calibrated meter/trainer, position and preferred cadence.
[ ] Fan indoors or a safe, uninterrupted route outdoors.
[ ] Resistance/slope mode rather than fixed ERG power for the maximal test.
[ ] One-second recording if available, include zeros in lap average.
[ ] Body mass in kilograms recorded.

25-MINUTE WARM-UP
10 min easy + 5 min gradually building to moderate effort.
3 x (20 sec brisk + 100 sec easy). Openers should not exhaust you.
4 min easy. Then the day's test.

TEST
Highest average power you can sustain for the entire duration.
Start controlled and pace the whole effort; do not begin with a sprint.
The 3-minute effort is a paced time trial, not the 3-minute all-out lab protocol.
Cool down for 10 minutes.

RECORD
Test date: __________   Body mass kg: __________
Duration: __________    Whole-effort average W: __________
Bike / meter: __________   Cadence: __________
Conditions / cooling: __________   Pacing / recovery notes: __________

ENTER
[ ] Exact 3:00, 5:00 and 12:00 lap averages; not whole-ride power.
[ ] No normalized power, FTP target or ramp-test peak.
[ ] Recent comparable efforts from the same training period.
Optional 6-minute and 20-second efforts are not required. If included, use
separate recovered sessions and exact-duration average power.

REVIEW
Power normally declines with duration. Check pacing, recording and recovery
if it does not or the fit is flagged. Repeat questionable tests; do not adjust
numbers to force agreement. A 5% mismatch flag is a software review rule,
not a demonstrated accuracy cutoff. Fuel estimates are assumed scenarios.
Carbohydrate burned is not carbohydrate to eat.

For cyclists accustomed to hard exercise. Postpone if unwell or unusually
fatigued. Stop for chest pain, dizziness or unusual breathlessness and seek
medical advice.

NEXT STEP
Discuss a coached testing and race plan: https://konaendurance.com/coaching
Direct VO2max and steady-stage gas-exchange measurements can check the
power-based aerobic estimate and individual fuel assumptions. Lactate
alone does not measure fuel oxidation.

EVIDENCE
Five-minute cycling regression: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34225254/
CP field tests (3/7/12 min): https://research.aber.ac.uk/en/publications/validity-and-reliability-of-critical-power-field-testing/
Our 3/5/12 combination, warm-up and schedule are a coaching adaptation,
not the identical study protocol. Individual accuracy is not established.