Mayhem 1-1 Coaching
The Speed Preservation Test
Three rowing efforts. A 10 second sprint, a 2,000m and a 5,000m. The shape they make tells you whether your limiter is cardiac, muscular or respiratory, and the three answers need three different programs.
Your numbers
Enter your results
Paces are per 500m. Nothing is stored against your name unless you add your email at the end.
Masters brackets widen the pace standards. They do not change the two shape indices.
The efforts
The fastest split the monitor showed. Required.
Required. Pace: --
Optional. Pace: --
First time? Read how to run the three efforts before you test.
What the test reads
Mayhem Athlete 1:1 Coaching
Know your limiter. Get a coach to fix it.
This test tells you what is holding your engine back. A Mayhem coach builds your whole program around it, so the fix fits the rest of your training instead of competing with it.
Learn more about 1:1 Coaching- Programming built around your limiter, your lifting and your calendar
- Nutrition, mindset and recovery coaching alongside it
- Bi-weekly video calls with your coach
- 24-hour weekday response when you have questions
Cardiac limiter
Delivery is the bottleneckExample athlete: men, open, 1:15 sprint, 1:48 2k pace, 2:01 5k pace.
Your result
What your read includes
- Your limiter, namedCardiac, muscular or respiratory, and the exact rule that fired.
- The two numbers behind itPower reserve and aerobic decay, against their thresholds.
- Your paces against the standardElite, good or needs work for your division and masters bracket.
- What it looks like in trainingThe signs you will recognize from your own workouts.
- A sample week for your limiterSessions with paces worked off your own 2,000m.
- Your five pace bandsEasy through power, so the rest of your rowing has a target.
What this is
Your engine is three systems, not one number
When an athlete says their engine is bad, they mean they got tired. That is a symptom, not a diagnosis.
Oxygen has to get in, get moved, and get used. Uptake is the respiratory system. Delivery is the cardiovascular system. Utilization is the muscular system. CrossFit integrates all three, which is why a workout result cannot tell you which one broke.
This test separates them by looking at the same athlete across three very different durations. A 10 second sprint is almost pure power with no engine involved. A 2,000m is six to eight minutes. A 5,000m is eighteen to twenty-two. Where the pace falls away, and by how much, is the diagnosis.
The three limiters
These are the working definitions the read uses.
Delivery
Cardiac
The sprint proves the power is there and it cannot be sustained. The limit is in delivering blood and oxygen to working muscle over time rather than in the muscle itself. It governs everything past a few minutes, and it governs recovery between efforts, sets and sessions.
Muscular
Utilization
The curve is flat but the whole curve is slow. Pace holds up well from one distance to the next, and every one of those distances is slow. The muscle cannot use what is being delivered to it.
Uptake
Respiratory
Strong short and mid, falling away only at the longest duration. A normal sprint-to-2k gap with a large 2k-to-5k fade. This read assumes an athlete whose absolute paces are already developed.
The three efforts
Same rower, same drag factor, all three. Separate days, or full recovery between.
Effort one
10 second sprint
Flying start, maximum effort, ten seconds. Record the fastest 500m pace the monitor shows. Required. Without it no limiter can be named.
Effort two
2,000 meters
For time, maximal. Required. Every index is calculated against this one, so a 2k you sandbagged makes the whole read wrong.
Effort three
5,000 meters
For time, even pacing. Without it the sprint and 2k can still name a cardiac limiter, but muscular and respiratory cannot be told apart.
Before you test
- Fix the drag factor and never change it. Write it down. A retest at a different setting is not a retest.
- Your first test is not a baseline. Eight well trained rowers did three 2k tests three days apart and mean power rose 2.3 percent from the first to the second, then 0.9 percent from the second to the third. Run each effort twice and throw the first away.
- All three have to be genuinely maximal. A 5,000m that lands on the same pace as your 2,000m is not a 5,000m effort, and the read below will refuse it rather than give you a confident wrong answer.
- Leave 48 hours between efforts and run them in order: sprint, 2k, 5k.
Your previous tests
Kept in this browser only. Not sent anywhere, and nobody else can see it.
Mayhem Performance Coaching
A test tells you what to train. It does not build your week.
Knowing your limiter is the first decision. The next ones are how much volume your week can absorb, where it sits around your lifting, and what you are peaking for. Our coaches do not program the same way as each other, because the right dose depends on everything else you are doing.
Free · Assessment
Take the performance assessment. You complete the intake and the movement testing on your own time, and find out what is actually limiting you.
$99 · Consult
Sit down with a coach. They go through your results, tell you what to work on and in what order, and give you a plan you can run.
Ready · Coaching
Start 1-on-1 now. Get matched with a Mayhem coach who builds your program around your limiters and your calendar.
All three start in the same place: mayhemperformancecoaching.com
Mayhem Performance Coaching. Built by coaches, for competitive athletes.
Questions
Before you row
What do I need to take the test?
A rowing erg that shows your 500m split, and the same rower and drag factor for all three efforts. Write the drag factor down so your retest matches.
Do I have to do all three efforts?
The 10 second sprint and the 2,000m are required. The 5,000m is what separates a muscular limiter from a respiratory one, so without it the read can only rule a cardiac limiter in or out.
Is it free?
Yes. Enter your numbers and the full read appears on the page. Add your email if you want a copy sent to you.
Is my data saved?
Your past tests are kept in this browser only so you can compare retests. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you add your email.
I'm a masters athlete. Does it still work?
Yes. Pick your age group and the pace standards widen for your bracket. The two shape indices stay the same at every age.