Most of us have some way of measuring our fitness. For some it’s a flying 200 meter time, for others a favorite hill climb or time trial. Yesterday, my son had his first experience with a whole new level of physiological measurement. I’ll describe it for those of you who haven’t tried such a thing.
In Northern California we are fortunate to have one of the leaders in this field, Dr. Massimo (Max) Testa. Dr. Testa has worked with European and domestic pro teams and many individuals, and now is with the UC Davis Sports Performance Program. Another name you may recognize there is Dr. Eric Heiden, the cyclist and speed skater. Though the lab works with elite athletes on a regular basis, it is just as open to juniors, club racers, and even the occasional couch potato who wants a baseline measurement before trying to get back into shape.
We arrived early at the specified building (not on the UC Davis campus, but in Sacramento), with plenty of time to stop and take the bike off the top of the car so it wouldn’t be crushed entering the parking garage. It’s a good idea to take your own bike so you can be tested in a familiar riding position. They mounted it in a computrainer attached to a computer with their own custom software and surrounded by various lab equipment.
Before getting on the bike, there is an interview and basic physical examination to determine your health and goals. This is done both to be sure that you will be safe taking the difficult tests and so they can adapt the testing details to you if necessary.
That done, you get on the bike, look out the 3rd story window at some trees, and start warming up. Everything there was very professional, yet very low pressure. Jim was to do two separate tests, one for lactate threshold and another for VO2Max. The lactate test involves blood testing, and when the student who did that part of the job came up to take the first sample “you’ll hear this more that feel it” Jim didn’t even realize he was going to be poked until it was over. After that first time, they are able to get blood drops from the ear through the same puncture, so it’s nearly painless.
Not so for the legs. The trainer is designed so that they can set a power level (wattage) and it stays the same even if your cadence changes. They start you off at a very easy level and then step the power up every few minutes. Even after a couple of steps it still was easy for him, but the test requires continuing until your blood lactate levels rise substantially so it is sure to burn by the end. At the end of each step, they took another blood drop, measured his heart rate, and asked for his perceived exertion level on a scale of one to ten. For this test it is not necessary to go all the way to your limit, but Jim was reporting 7 or 8 on that scale before it ended.
Now for some water and recovery. This was a good time to gaze around the lab at the various signed jerseys and posters from riders like Andy Hampsten, the 7-11 team, Mapei, Tom Danielson, Levi Leipheimer, and local bike teams. Then back on the bike to warm up for the VO2Max test.
This second test uses the same trainer, but with several changes. The power levels are stepped up at a faster rate so you can reach a higher level before being exhausted. There are no blood tests, but you wear a mouthpiece and a gadget on your head which helps hold the mouthpiece, valves, and tubes in place. All of this plastic is there to allow them to measure exactly how much air you take in, and the composition of the air you exhale. This gives them a measure of how much Oxygen you actually consume (your lungs take only a fraction of the Oxygen out of the air you breath) and also the CO2 you create. Your nose is clipped shut so all the air you breathe gets measured. It sounds like it might be difficult to ride well while breathing through all this stuff, but the valves are very good and apparently it’s not too bad. Jim even mentioned that he could see the valves moving in time with his breath and it helped keep his mind off his legs.
You want something to keep your mind occupied during these tests. Your job is simple - keep a steady cadence and don’t stop until you have to. Dr. Testa does not consider it necessary to go to your absolute limit in this test so that you fall to the ground afterwards, but you are expected to work very hard and it will hurt by the end.
I want to mention another key test which is of interest to track riders especially. The Wingate test is a very short intense test which correlates to your sprinting power. We didn’t do that one (they wouldn’t give it on the same day anyway), but those of you who become sprinters will probably hear about it.
After the tests and some recovery time, Judd Van Sickle (who did much of the actual testing and technical analysis) and Max Testa spent a nice amount of time with us explaining the results and suggesting some training ideas. It is possible to sign up with them for personal coaching, or you can take the information back to your own coach.
Why would you go through all this trouble? It’s all about training. If your coach says “ride easy on these days, and do hard efforts on these other days” that’s much better than just riding aimlessly. The test results allow a coach to make those instructions more precise. Your effort levels can be specified by heart rate or power level to train specific aspects of your performance. Need to raise your power at lactate threshold? There are workouts for that. Need more basic endurance so you can handle longer workouts during race season? There are optimal ways of getting that. These tests are aimed at determining the effort levels which are right for you so you can reach your goals faster.
Want to know more? Talk to experienced riders, talk to coaches, and read books and web articles. Try to understand what sort of research is behind the information you are receiving so you can spot the occasional piece of bad advice. Remember that good principals apply to all riders, but the details of a the workouts need to be customized for your fitness, talents, and goals. Of course a good coach can help all of this happen.
