Sportstest Physiological Assessment

So, today I had my cycling-specific physiological assessment at Sportstest, the company run by Dr Garry Palmer, who co-wrote the book which I've already mentioned several times in this blog - "Elite Cycling: Successful Sportives".

I was keen to have this done, so that I could correctly identify (rather than estimating) my training heart rate zones etc., to ensure that I make the most of my training time. I also wanted to have my 'baseline' stats to hopefully compare with my improved fitness come July.

The actual testing consisted of two sessions on a Kingcycle computerised turbo trainer. In the first one - the "Sub-maximal exercise test" - I gradually worked up to a power output of 150 watts, stayed there for 5 minutes, then worked up to a power output of 200 watts and stayed there for another 5 minutes. This test helps you work out your oxygen uptake and 'efficiency'.

In the second - "Maximal exercise test" - you have to increase your power output at a rate of around 25 watts per minute, until you've got nowhere else to go, and have to give up - not much fun. This test is designed to work out your maximum power output, heart rate and oxygen uptake (VO2 max).

Throughout, you're wired up to a heart rate monitor obviously, but also a mask over your nose and mouth, which measures compositon of the gases you're breathing in and out.

The tests are bookended by a couple of chats with Garry. Initially he got some background on my training history and goals, and also took basic measurements of height, weight, body fat etc. Then, following the tests, there was a full run through of the results and their significance and then a look at optimal training strategies in the light of these results.

I'll try and give you the headline figures - but more interestingly for both you and me hopefully - the conclusions that Garry drew about how best to proceed from here on in.

Garry's measurement of my weight and height tallied with mine - 5 foot 8 and a half and currently 11 stone 10 pounds. However, his measurement of my body fat came out at 14.1% - significantly lower than that of my Tanita scales. However, as he then went on to say, while my body fat is in the 'ideal' range for the normal population, it's a bit high for athletic performance - particularly given the climbs in the Etape. His first recommendation was to aim at a body fat percentage of 8-10%.

From my sub-maximal exercise test, the interesting figures were that my Efficiency was at 18.86% at 150 watts, but actually increased to 19.11% at 200 watts. This has interesting repurcussions for my training strategy, which I'll come to later, but broadly it means that I need to work on improving my efficiency at this lower level - ideally towards 22+%.

From the maximal exercise tests:

Maximum power was 277 watts (need to be aiming at more like 300).

Maximum heart rate 183bpm

Maximum power/weight ratio was 3.71 watts/kg (need to be aiming at 4-4.5 with weight decreasing and power increasing obviously).

Measured VO2 max was 50.3 ml/kg/min (Garry suggested this is a pretty good level given my limited training time so far).

From this, Garry also calculated my target heart rate zones as:

Recovery/Base - Up to 141bpm

Endurance - 142-152 bpm

Mixed Muscle Zone - 153-161bpm

Threshold - 162-172 bpm

Speed/Power - Over 173bpm

Garry and I then worked at putting together an individualised training programme, to take account of my rather 'eccentric' work pattern.

In my alternate week 'off' it basically alternates endurance training with threshold sessions, and works in an unstructured group ride.

My 'work' week is of necessity a bit easier, my days off being used for longer endurance sessions, and my work days being used just as commute/recovery days.

Anyway, I don't want to blind you with too much science, but overall I found the session really interesting, and useful, and I'm very glad I've done it. I already knew from the book that Garry's approach was one that would really suit me, and that proved to be true. He was really helpful and encouraging, and even managed to make the less impressive stats seem not quite so depressing. His assertion that I could probably manage the Etape next week (although it wouldn't be much fun!) was worth the money on its own.

I shouldn't leave this entry without mentioning that on Tuesday we had a meeting with Fran and Katy from Face Partnership - who are organising the Sky Etape team. Again it was really useful to meet them, and particularly to hear Fran's experiences of doing the Etape. All the other guys on the team were really friendly and interesting too - although I'm slightly concerned that I'm the most 'beginnerish' - I'm starting to feel more confident day by day though, and I think if I can stick to my training schedule I should hopefully be ok.

Monday Fat Stats

I kinda forgot (conveniently some might say), that Monday is of course fatness (as opposed to fitness) stats day.

So, here they are - with a quick comparison to last week's:

Weight: 11 stone 10 pounds (down 1 pound)
Body Fat Percentage: 20.4% (up 0.6%)
Visceral Fat Rating: 7 (same)
Basal Metabolic Rate: 7189kJ/1718 kcal (down a bit)
Muscle Mass: 8 stone 11 pounds 6 oz (down about 3 pounds - eh?!)
Body Water Percentage: 55% (down 0.5%)

Well, let's start with the positives. I've lost a pound, which doesn't seem like a lot, but is actually exactly the amount that my training bible suggests you aim at. I guess I'm aiming at being 11 stone or maybe a tiny bit less by the time of the Etape, and so I'm still on schedule for that.

Body fat percentage up a bit, but not a significant amount. Basal metabolic rate and muscle mass are a bit disappointing really. They should both be up after a good week of training, but I guess these are the ones that are probably most susceptible to measurement error, because the Tanita body compostion monitor I'm using is having to make a number of assupmptions to work these out. I almost believed that myself when I wrote it....hopefully it sounded convincing.

The Honeymoon's Over

There's been a small hiatus, in both blog and training terms, because my sister got married last weekend. Despite my best efforts, I didn't get a chance to throw in any gym sessions, because there was lots going on, but lots of fun things happened anyway.

First and foremost, my new bike (Felt F55 2008) arrived last week. I had an inkling that it was going to be good when I helped the delivery driver take it round to the back of the house, because even in the box it was much lighter than I expected it to be.

When I finally got it open, I was even more thrilled. She (for she's definitely a 'she') looks absolutely beautiful and is stunningly light. You really can lift her up with one finger, and every extra bit of weight I can trim will make a massive difference over the distance of the etape.

I also took delivery of a new Garmin Edge 705 - the GPS/heart rate monitor that I mentioned in a previous post. The kind people at Garmin have let me have one for review purposes, and I intend to make full use of it to track my training in as much detail as possible.

Unfortunately, I haven't yet had a chance to take the bike out, because I've been so busy, and indeed will be for the rest of the week. I've got an assignment for the Creative Writing Course I'm doing at the moment, which has to be handed in on Friday, and I've not got very far with it yet. Hopefully, I'll finally get out on Sunday and have a decent ride.

I did go to my usual Wednesday morning Yoga class this morning, and after that I did a solid 30 minutes on one of the exercise bikes. I basically did 8 minutes at effort level 6, followed by a couple of minutes recovery at effort level and then repeated that.

From now on, I'm going to try and take as many positives out of my training as possible, and the nice thing was that my legs didn't really feel tired during any of this stint - I just got very sweaty - which made me feel uncomfortable, rather than particularly fatigued. I also got a second wind after about 15 minutes, and managed to put out more power, at a higher cadence, over the second half of the session. That's reasonably encouraging I think.

I popped into work this evening, to check if there were any more details from Sky about the Etape, and indeed there were. The most important thing was the first month of our training programme, which has been put together with some of the coaches from British Cycling.

The headlines are that in the next month, I should be aiming at 6 hours of bike work in week 1, 6 again in week 2, 8 in week 3 and then down to 4 in week 4.

The work is split up into three key areas - Conditioning, Strength and Technique - with the initial focus being on Conditioning. Within each area, there are a number of different exercises. It's all very clearly set out, and all seems to make sense. At the moment, I've been placed at the "beginner" level, which suits me just fine I think, although because I have a bit more time off than most people, I think I will aim to do a bit more time on the bike than is suggested.

It did remind me that I probably need to get hold of a turbo trainer so that I can do work at home without going to the trouble of going out, particularly when the weather's bad, and I can also measure my performance a bit more accurately. More gadgets...mmmm.

On the science front, I took delivery of a Science in Sport starter pack of energy bars/gels/electrolytes/recovery drinks etc. which I wanted to try out, in order to see which flavours I like. Will be interesting to see if I can feel the difference, particularly with the electrolytes and stuff that are for drinking when you're doing exercise. Anything to help with the endurance side of things will be very useful.

Last but not least, I managed to get "starting point" figures for my weight, water percentage, muscle mass etc. from my Tanita scales on Monday, under reasonably controlled conditions. I'll try and get those details every week so that we can hopefully track the improvements.

Here they are anyway:

Weight: 11 stone 10 pounds

Body Fat Percentage: 18.4%

Visceral Fat Rating: 6

Basal Metabolic Rate: 7380KJ/1764Kcal

Muscle Mass: 9 stone 1 pound

The Visceral Fat rating is basically that fat that is in the internal abdominal cavity, surrounding the vital organs. Men tend to "lay down" more fat in this area, particlarly as they get older, hence the "beer belly".

The Basal Metabolic Rate is the minimum level of energy your body needs when at rest, to function effectively. The higher the rate, the more calories you burn - so I think it's better to have a higher BMR, although I'm not sure as yet how much this can be altered by training. We'll see I guess.

Encouragingly, all those readings seem to be pretty much slap bang in the middle of the "healthy" ranges. The only one that's a little out of kilter is the body fat percentage, which is towards the top of "healthy", but there's plenty of time to work on that.