I'm Officially a Lab Leopard

I've been on a plateau for over a year. Up and down with the same 5lbs. I count calories, points, monitor my HR and try to get 5+ hours of exercise every week and I've stayed within spitting distance of Onederland (under 200lbs for those not in on the Weight Watchers terminology) but I haven't been able to break through. So I decided to turn my body over to science :)

We've all seen the commercials with the athletes in the sports labs running on the treadmill with the oxygen masks trying to pinpoint the exact point at which they're most efficient and become least fatigued. Words like Lactate Threshold and VO2 Max are thrown around. So when I found out we had a new sports lab in Beaverton I didn't hesitate.

For the past 6 months I've been recovering from knee surgery so running has been pretty much a non-starter. Last year pre-surgery I'd worked up to consistently running 12min miles but since the surgery I've struggled to walk faster than 15min miles. Needless to say I was a little worried about spending an hour + on the treadmill pushing my body to the limits but anything is better than another year at 202lbs.

When I arrived at the lab David (the owner of Advantage You Sports Training) went over all the protocols for the testing and I got suited up in a special HRM and my regular running attire. The testing would go as follows: Every 5 min I would get my blood drawn by a small lancet to the finger in order to measure the lactic acid quantities in my blood. I'd also be wearing a "snorkel" and nose clip for the duration of the test. The snorkel is basically like a huge mouthpiece that you fit inside your mouth which allows you to take in air from the room and then all of the air you breathe out is captured by a hose and run into a tank for analysis by a big computer station next to the treadmill. This analyzes things like how many calories do you burn during activity, what % of your calories are fat or carb calories and when are you working most efficiently (from an effort, speed and HR perspective).

Once we took a baseline blood draw (while I was resting) we started up the treadmill. It was very disorienting to wear this massive mouthpiece because it's heavy and you can't swallow so you drool a lot. My bigger problem was it was hard to look down and I am totally paranoid about tripping on the treadmill and flying off so I tend to glance at my feet from time to time. The room was completely silent except for the whir of the treadmill and the sound of my breathing. The test requires 5 min of exercise then the treadmill stops, my blood gets drawn and then the treadmill starts up again at the next speed. Each 5 min segment we would increase speed by .5 MPH.

Like I said earlier pre-surgery I was doing pretty well at about 5MPH so I was concerned given this test would have me starting at 3MPH then progressing every 5min all the way up to 6MPH at the end. I've never gone that fast in my life, let alone for 5min.

3MPH: This was easy, little to no effort and I was walking.

3.5MPH: Still walking and feeling easy even though my finger was hurting since it's hard to get blood from me because of my blood clot.

4MPH: Still walking and now it's fairly easy and I've been walking for 15min. Doing ok but drooling a little on myself (which is pretty common I guess).

4.5MPH: I'm jogging now and I'm feeling moderate. It's not hard but it's not easy either. 4 finger sticks by this point and my poor fingers are pretty sore.

5MPH: Since my knee surgery I've never gotten above 4.8MPH but this was still just moderate in terms of effort. It was weird, I mentally felt like it should be harder but I felt ok. Working but at about a 3.5 on a 5pt scale.

5.5MPH: I'm definitely running now as this is faster than I've ever gone before. Working really hard now and totally suprised that my legs are carrying me this fast. My mouth is soooooo dry and I am breathing hard and sweating a lot. During each phase David is encouraging me, "You're doing great, just 3 more minutes, can you make it?" Each phase I give him a thumbs up and keep pushing.

6MPH: This was going to be my last 5min section and as I started my legs and lungs were screaming at me but I kept running. I couldn't believe I was running a 10min mile pace. I definitely pushed myself to the limit to get through that 5min phase but when I'd gotten my last finger stick and finally got to drink some water it was worth it.

I haven't gotten my official results but at first glance we learned some really interesting things which I'd long suspected but now have some scientific data to back up.

#1 - I'm not eating enough. My RMR as measured yesterday was 2160, so to lose 1lb a week and adjust for my exercise I need to up my calorie intake (currently 1700) by 300 calories a day.

#2 - I have the ability to push myself a lot more than I do and it doesn't physically cost me that much. I produced the same amount of lactic acid between 4 and 4.5MPH but I nearly doubled my calorie burn by going from walking to jogging.

#3 - Apparently I have a lot of muscle mass because at my highest speed where I was producing the most lactic acid I produced more than most fit people. Which means I have the potential to start better using all those muscles.

We'll be totally reviewing all the detailed results and using the data to set training zones, put together a training plan and start working towards maximizing my weight loss and fitness results when I return from vacation but it was sooooo totally worth it because I'm closing in on having the tools to fine tune my training and hopefully start making some big progress.

Who knew I could run 6MPH anyway, I guess I'm more of a Speed Leopard than I thought :)