During the ramp test. This is where I read that you shouldn’t stand. Can I Stand in Half Monty?
I don’t think I’d just stick it in as extra, I’d do it instead of some other hard workout, preferably towards the end of a recovery week. But it does mean sacrificing a more targeted workout, maybe more than one, which is why I hesitate to do this often.
Regarding the improbability of real gains in 8 days between FF and HM, I think it was >50% real gains because this was still in the off-the-couch phase. I paced FF quite evenly. FF was a great workout in itself.
The Tool Shed is probably harder than Nine Hammers and I completed it 3 weeks after HM. So that would have been a good time to re-test. Nine Hammers was Day 2 of ToS; I wouldn’t say it was easy at 100%, but it wasn’t awful. I completed Norway on Day 5 at 100% with an average HR of 132. It’s only been about 5.5 weeks since HM. This is just beginner gains, I don’t think it means I screwed up the tests.
I know that testing frequency is only a short-term issue, and it’s a good problem to have; I would expect improvements to slow down after a few months. Caveat: my improvements are probably faster than an average beginner’s because it’s easier to regain fitness than to build it the first time. I’ve also been doing more volume than what a typical beginner would do.
I normally see training plans for running build in expected improvement by having you keep the same pace for longer distances or with shorter recovery. Obviously, that’s not how Sufferfest is designed.
Definitely going to test after recovering from ToS!