Metabolic Test

After a long 2 year hiatus after completing Ironman CdA in 2006, I decided to get serious or at least more organized in my quest to be a better and faster triathlete.

My last Metabolic test in April of 2006 showed with only 6 months of cardio training after my 5way heart surgery how I could safely train in the sub 150 beats per minute per my cardiologist orders and finish Ironman. Not very fast but definitely more like a diesel engine that chugs on for a long time.

On a small tangent - 2007 was frought with lots of ups and downs thinking I was smarter than the system and not using a coach to help guide my training efforts. I was pretty confident that with my large endurance base from Ironman that I could pretty much ease right into a half ironman race with little to no problems. Plus I honestly spent only a 3 months training on the bike and swim. Notice that I didn't mention anything about my run training - needless to say I tried to cram a few months into a few weeks and ended with a nasty case of Plantar Fasciutus on my left foot. I did two half ironman races (Lake Stevens 70.3 and Troika) both with mixed results and slower than expected times of 6:29 and 6:45. The highlight was a PR of 15mins. at the CdA Olympic (2:52) the weekend after Troika so who says angst doesn't count for speed and performance.

So I started back the Fall/Winter with a renewed dedication to running and to become a better runner. I started participating in very atypical workouts with early (5;30am) track workouts w/katie, heide and lora and long weekend runs by myself. I enlisted help and advise from my friends, coach scott roy and faster runners and crafted a new enthusiasm for my weakest link.

On Jan 22 - the metabolic test on the treadmill I took was both exciting and nervous. My running partner and testor (Katie Forsmann) was a great motivation to help push me to the maximum speed and effort. I almost forgot how hard the test is and my lack of pain tolerance - haha. The results very interesting showing a pretty small aerobic base (Zone 1 at 110-139 and Zone 2 at 139-151). My mid zones (Zone 3 151-159 and Zone 4 159-169) were even smaller aerobically. And basically zone 5 was at 170 or non-existent. The good news is my VO2 is at 50 is definitely not Lance Armstrong but great for my age and heart condition!

Overall, my metabolic test gives me a benchmark or a starting point for my 2008 season. Katie and Scott taught me that I need to focus my training efforts more in Zone 2 (long bike/runs) and add weekly Zone 2 (tempo bike/runs) which will increase the size of my aerobic engine - hence bigger the engine the faster I can go! So my goal is to work diligently over the next 3 months with this new heart rate training regime with a retest in mid Spring or March timeframe. Thanks to my sponsor Katie and Debbie at Metabolic Institute for making me smart and hopefully faster this summer!