Today I headed to the UPMC Neuromuscular lab for my VO2 Max Test. On September 4th last year I got my first taste of VO2 and knew I was in for 20 minutes of pure pain! I also was excited to do the test again because not only do I now know what to expect, but I'll also be able to compare my numbers today from nine months ago. Let me first walk you through this grueling test. First you warm up on a treadmill for about 10 minutes. They then strap this harness around your torso and then they secure this mask to your face. You then pick a speed on the treadmill that you can sustain for an hour. I decided to go with 8.0 mph knowing that this thing would get hard once the incline started to go up.
So you start at zero incline and the test runs on three minute incriments. Every three minutes they increase the treadmill incline 2% and also prick your finger to test your blood for lactic acid towards the end of each interval.
I felt pretty good until we hit a 8% incline at 8.0 miles per hour. Right at 8 mph, my heart rate spiked above my lactate threshold (which I found out later was 173) and I was holding steady between a 177-179 heart rate. At the end of the 5th interval they asked if I could go for three more minutes and talking was not an option and I gave Gordon (the tester) the thumbs up. Last time I think I pulled the plug to early, and this time I knew I should go one more. Those last three minutes were HARD!!! Especially considering that 95% of my training the last six months has been at an aerobic pace (under a 160 heart rate). They cranked the treadmill up to a 10% incline and once I adjusted to the pace my heart rate held steady between 186-188 beats per minute. The red line below is my heart rate and shows you the increase per each interval.
So how do I compare to September? Well actually I think my numbers went up slightly. They still have to analyze the numbers but it looks like my lactate threshold heart rate climbed from 171 to either 172 or 173 and my VO2 max test stayed around the same at either 77 or 78. I really don't know what else I can do with my VO2 number besides compare myself with Lance Armstrong's numbers (which by the way was reported at 85 ml/kg/min).
They also measured my body fat percentage using a Bod Pod. The use of Bod Pod correlates nicely with the concept of hydrostatic weighing (underwater weighing). Instead of using water to measure body volume, the Bod Pod uses air displacement to measure body volume. Very interesting if you're a science dork like me. Only problem is that it still has a ± 3% error according to its website. None the less, I'm still not happy with my fat percentage but it has gone down by about a half a percent. :)
Today I headed to the UPMC Neuromuscular lab for my VO2 Max Test. On September 4th last year I got my first taste of VO2 and knew I was in for 20 minutes of pure pain! I also was excited to do the test again because not only do I now know what to expect, but I'll also be able to compare my numbers today from nine months ago. Let me first walk you through this grueling test. First you warm up on a treadmill for about 10 minutes. They then strap this harness around your torso and then they secure this mask to your face. You then pick a speed on the treadmill that you can sustain for an hour. I decided to go with 8.0 mph knowing that this thing would get hard once the incline started to go up.
So you start at zero incline and the test runs on three minute incriments. Every three minutes they increase the treadmill incline 2% and also prick your finger to test your blood for lactic acid towards the end of each interval.
I felt pretty good until we hit a 8% incline at 8.0 miles per hour. Right at 8 mph, my heart rate spiked above my lactate threshold (which I found out later was 173) and I was holding steady between a 177-179 heart rate. At the end of the 5th interval they asked if I could go for three more minutes and talking was not an option and I gave Gordon (the tester) the thumbs up. Last time I think I pulled the plug to early, and this time I knew I should go one more. Those last three minutes were HARD!!! Especially considering that 95% of my training the last six months has been at an aerobic pace (under a 160 heart rate). They cranked the treadmill up to a 10% incline and once I adjusted to the pace my heart rate held steady between 186-188 beats per minute. The red line below is my heart rate and shows you the increase per each interval.
So how do I compare to September? Well actually I think my numbers went up slightly. They still have to analyze the numbers but it looks like my lactate threshold heart rate climbed from 171 to either 172 or 173 and my VO2 max test stayed around the same at either 77 or 78. I really don't know what else I can do with my VO2 number besides compare myself with Lance Armstrong's numbers (which by the way was reported at 85 ml/kg/min).
They also measured my body fat percentage using a Bod Pod. The use of Bod Pod correlates nicely with the concept of hydrostatic weighing (underwater weighing). Instead of using water to measure body volume, the Bod Pod uses air displacement to measure body volume. Very interesting if you're a science dork like me. Only problem is that it still has a ± 3% error according to its website. None the less, I'm still not happy with my fat percentage but it has gone down by about a half a percent. :)
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