Testing Week

The MOD Squad just finished up the ninth week of training for the 09 season, a week of testing and marker setting for the upcoming months. We used several modalities throughout the week: double pole machine, running, rollerskiing, and bounding on a treadmill.

Jaime keeping her concentration more on the double poling, less on the cinnamon biscuits on the far end of the table...

Tuesday's testing involved the double pole machine which Scott built last summer and which has been an invaluable training tool for us, accurately mimicking the compression and full extension needed for a successful double pole. The morning's test involved a standard lactate steady state protocol: 3 min at each heart rate in 10-beat increments until we reached a pretty high output, at which point we took a lactate reading. The goal was not to push to our limit, rather to produce a high enough lactate level, somewhere around 8mmol. Then we started again in 2 min stages at a low intensity, taking lactate readings every stage until we saw a nadir in the curve. Here's an example of the readings we saw:

188bpm: 8.4mmol
2min
145bpm: 7.9mmol
2min
155bpm: 6.6mmol
2min
165bpm: 5.3mmol
2min
170bpm: 4.6mmol
2min
175bpm: 3.4mmol
2min
180bpm: 4.4mmol

As you can see, the numbers slowly dropped as our bodies metabolized the lactate we had produced in the initial ramping up. It metabolized to a low point which we determined as our "steady state", an ideal low intensity training zone.

Sadie


Note the towel in front to catch the blood, sweat and tears.

Stay tuned for more testing updates!