Guinea Pig

Last night was the first of four nights that I will go to the University of Calgary sports medicine labs to be a human guinea pig for a study on VO2max.

The study involves:

• Riding a stationary bike with computer-controlled resistance,
• Measuring my breathing (with a mask over my nose and mouth),
• Measuring my heart rate during the test,
• A blood lactate prick test at the end.

This week is two ramp tests where I start at a very easy pace and then the resistance ramps up slowly until I can’t keep up. Next week, they will take the results from the two ramp tests and set a constant resistance based on their model of my VO2max. Theoretically, it is the power that I could generate indefinitely, given adequate food and water. From my long rides, I know that the food and water is a huge deal, and if you let the tank run dry at all, then you are in trouble, no matter what the scientists say. 🙂

Updated after the last session

The lab tests are over, and here are the takeaways:

• On my first ramp test, I petered out at 429 watts, while on the second, I managed to gut it out to 447. It was mostly psychological. At the ragged edge, my breathing is super-hard and the mask on my face was restricting somewhat. Once I realized that as soon as I stopped working, the mask came off and I could recover.
• The first steady-state ride was 30 minutes at 295 watts, with a prick test every 5 minutes. That one showed instability of my lactic acid level, indicating it was beyond my ability to go indefinitely.
• The second steady-state ride was 30 minutes at 285 watts. That one was easier, and the blood tests were showing stable levels.
• The formula that Danilo was testing predicted these results. I was the ninth rider to undergo the procedure, and the formula was successful 9 out of 9 times.