I thought they kept mentioning Insight which is the BSX blood testing technology
Wearable Muscle Oxygen Monitor & Lactate Threshold
@John_Hallas Maybe. Iâll give another listen (Fast Talk). I thought they were saying INSCYD, the analytics software Sebastian helped develop (and is ultimately promoting).
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I really enjoyed listening this morning. Thanks!
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I started a dedicated thread to the podcast
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Question for @BummTschack @Mikael_Eriksson or anyone who has done VLamax testing/screening.
Once you know your numbers (and presumably establish some zones), how regularly do you re-assess? As you become fitter (or de-train) I wonder if you can still use one of the standard FTP field tests (with a correction factorâŚsort of) for tracking progress. Or is it a matter of doing another screening periodically?
(what I mean by âcorrection factorâ is that VLamax screening is likely going to give you a different number for âthresholdâ than standard FTP tests (lower, and arguably more âcorrectâ), so if you were going to regularly assess, you need to correct for that)
Could you say something about the testing procedure itself, @BummTschack ?
How fresh do you need to be?
Thank you!
@tofel Iâm going to do the remote test day after tomorrow (Sat). Happy to report then if youâre interested. Likely to be different though from @BummTschack experience, as it seems like he went to a lab.
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@tshortt in the case of the lab where I did the testing they use a 7 zone model. Not lactate specific, just usual powerzones. Might differ from lab to lab.
what I was told in regards of reassessing: VLaMax is a bit more âstableâ (=> doesnât degrade as fast as Vo2max, but also wonât improve as quick in the direction you want it to go). Also not much guesswork in the training-methods: do fasted rides/long rides/low cadence rides if you want to lower it => regular reassessment like 8 weeks FTP tests not necessary.
I just go by feel right now. The more intense workouts actually feel harder compared to 10 weeks ago, cruising in sweetspot on the other hand doesnât exhaust me as much as before. Enough for me to know. If there is a point down the road where focussing more on Vo2max again and just keep VLaMax stable might benefit me⌠guess Iâll find out soon enough with a yearly re-test.
In terms of correction factor: guess it depends on your interpretation of FTP. From my understanding and listening to Sebastian VLaMax is a more indepth look how your power is put together. ie for some people 90% of FTP is still hugely supplied by fat stores (=> can hold that percentage for quite some time, that would be a person with a low VLaMax) while others supply the same percentage mainly from their glycogen stores (=> not as long sustainable, person with high VLaMax).
@tofel rest day before was advised by the lab, an easy day would be ok from my experience. Maybe not during a third week of a heavy block when you want really accurate results. The sprint-test is not really about getting your max power, it is used to get your lactate up to the gills to measure the decline afterwards. Just go as hard as you can on the day. The following ramp-test is a different animal on heavy legs tho.
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@BummTschack Thanks for response. Good stuff.
Good point, and Iâm very mindful of this. To be more general then, I wonder what we use to gauge/measure progress. I suppose just the usual power-duration curve metrics. Iâm certainly not one of those people fixated on FTP, but PD curve is of course useful. At some point if your whole curve shifts then your FatMax target (just an example) isnât the same anymore.
If I currently know my lactate production from a 20s Wingate sprintâŚ(and also have 2nd reading 1 minute later of passive rest) can I estimate my VLaMax?
Iâm not a huge fan of testing overly frequently - rather I try to stay very in tune with my body and use RPE as well as educated guesses for development to find a good compromise between testing frequency and up to date information.
For me this works, and this might mean testing every 12 weeks or so.
As for tracking progress, in any given training block (e.g. right now focusing on VO2max) I will choose one or several workouts that I will repeat at least twice, towards the beginning and the end of the block. Maybe more times, depending. My performance in those key workouts will be my main way to gauge progress, although of course it may require taking different fatigue levels into account.
Other than that, as you say power-duration metrics and also the combination of average power/average HR/RPE in long rides is another important one for me.
I also think that it would be entirely possible to do e.g. complete test - FTP-test - complete test - FTP-test alternating, so you might do the complete test fairly infrequently. As long as your performance in the FTP-tests in between complete tests goes in the right direction then you know that things are probably working well for you. Or perhaps even better, do parts of the complete test (e.g. the 20-minute overpaced time trial that is used in the critical power protocol). If you perform better in this performance benchmarking test than you did when you did it as part of the complete test, then things are going well, and now youâre also doing a direct comparison which of course is preferrable.
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Love that last idea. Donât try to mix the models. If you use a different zone system*, use at least part of the protocol that established those zones to see if you have progressed. Follow up question would be wonder if itâs safe then to shift zones up or down?
*meaning different from Coggan zones
You mean shift your zones (non-Coggan) based on that partial test (e.g. only overpaced 20-min TT)?
I think so yes. Itâs the practical thing to do. It wonât be exact of course as you donât know exactly how much you changed VO2max and VLaMax, but you could even approximate that to get a bit closer, and it should be near enough to get your training intensities to a close-enough level until the next test.
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