Sunday, April 18, 2010

My first podium (if I can say so)

Yes, that's it. I knew- I'm in shape! Today at Scotiabank 5 km, I have proved. It was chilly, the wind was quite unpleasant, but I was ready. At 23: 19.9, I improved my personal best by 30 seconds (less than 1 / 10 sec, to be precise). Beyond that, I reached a 48th place amongst 768 participants and, even better, the 2nd place in my age group. No medal around the neck, but a second place is honest!
I thought I could do a good result for my last trainings seemed not too difficult (and yet they were demanding). But we can never predict what will happen on race day. For example, my friend Yves fell ill only two days before this race. All his hard training was in vain. But this happens even to the best.
In almost the same conditions, last year I made 23: 49.8. When I say so, I think on my parameters: heart rate of 166 (ideal, just a beat below my anaerobic threshold, the same as in 2009), the maximum heart rate during the race (175 compared to 174 last year), but the final time a lot better this year. Conclusion: I'm in better shape.
And my "pacing" during the race was also better this year. Thanks to my "magic bracelet" in Excel, I used the strategy of equal splits at every km, with a very fast final sprint. Thus, I avoided the "crisis of the fourth kilometer that was happening to me regularly on this course and I kept enough energy for the finish kick.
For years, I quickly began, then lost some speed at the first curve (with a small slope - this year the trainings at the Boulevard de Maisonneuve helped me greatly), and  with a slowdown in the fourth km, then the finish was not fast enough. This year - not the kind of errors. Next goal: under 23 minutes and it could happen already this year.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

VO2 Max Test (2) - results

Finally, I received my VO2 Max. test results. Quite interesting!
Stage Speed HR Lactates VO2 Total Fat
km/h bpm (mMol) (ml/kg/min) kcal/min kcal/min
1 6.5 116 1.36 22.4 11.5 7.8
2 7.5 135 1.73 30.1 13.4 6.7
3 8.5 142 1.74 35 15.2 5.6
4 9.5 150 1.58 37.8 16.8 3.03
5 10.5 158 2.58 44.6 19.2 2.01
6 11.5 165 3.78 48.7 22.2 2.2
7 12.5 173 5.3 50.9 24.6 0
8 13.5 179 7.82 54.2 25.6 0
What does this mean? First, that my VO2 Max is 54.2 or superior, for my age.
Lactates (causing fatigue) and VO2 Max rise regularly, which means that I am in excellent physical condition. The anaerobic threshold is around HR of 167 beats, or when lactate exceeds the value of 4.
The last two columns show respectively the total consumption of calories per minute and how much fat I burn per minute. We can conclude that I burn the most calories from fat at low speeds (this is known), but the total calories burned are highest, of course, in the upper zones.
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The graphs show the same things. We see that the curve of lactate (No. 1) rises suddenly after 4 mMol.
The other graph shows the linear rise of HR and Vo2 Max.
What surprised me the most was the distribution of my training zones.
Zone1 116-154
Zone 2 155-163
Zone 3 164-171
Zone 4 172-179
Zone 5 >180
Zones 1 and 2 (aerobic) are relatively high. My anaerobic threshold is in the middle of zone 3. So I can train more with FC high enough, without generating lactic acid. A lot more than what I was doing so far. And the more I train, the more I'll delay the onset of blood lactate and fatigue. Wow! This test was really worth it.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

VO2Max Test

Since last Thursday, I feel like a real athlete. A true one. Because that day, I passed my VO2Max test. I did what the serious athletes do. It’s further evidence that I consider the race very seriously. Already I have a nice library of books of running, I read the serious sites, I use the technology for my workouts ... I was missing only the VO2Max test.
I did the test at the Centre Peak, downtown Montreal, on Mansfield Street. I was greeted by Caroline Brunet, the greatest athlete that canoeing has known. Seventeen medals in world championships and three Olympic medals are saying enough. With equal determination and a serious approach, meticulous and with the same enthusiasm that she has demonstrated throughout his career, Caroline helps athletes like me to test their VO2Max.
How it works? Following a ten minutes warm-up, Carolina put me a mask (with a tube like the one for scuba diving) attached to a hose, and I put a clamp on the nose to completely close it. Not easy to breathe. The slope is fixed (2%). From the initial velocity, she increases the treadmill speed of 1 km/h every three minutes. And with each change of level, Caroline has struck my finger to take a few drops of blood in tiny containers. This will be used to measure my blood lactate. At a speed of 13.5 km/h and heart rate of 178, I was afraid to do too much. I decided to give up. I could, perhaps, do a little more (3-4%, not more), but my mind was not strong. Anyways, I was already very close to my maximum. The detailed results will be ready in few days and Caroline will explain them to me. For now, I know that my VO2Max is 54. Not bad for a former obese. In fact, at my age, anything more than 46 is considered as excellent. Thanks to my dad for giving me good genes :) And big thanks to Caroline Brunet for her professionalism, enthusiasm and detailed explanations she provided me before the test. She is a great lady and a great athlete. She will be inducted in the Canadian Hall of Fame of Olympians in about two weeks. She really merits this honour.

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The test looks like this (see image above)