Dreams Come Alive

That was Ben Pulham’s observation after my Fuel Efficiency test at Racers’ Toolbox this afternoon. Founded by sports scientist and kinesiologist Jon Fong and world ranked elite triathlete Ben Pulham, Racers’ Toolbox specialises in sports science testing, fitness assessment and crafts personalised training plans for their clients.

Today was my first appointment with the experts and I was being tested on how I am currently using my energy. In a nutshell, our body uses a mix of carbohydrates and fat during exercise (click here to read more about this) and the Fuel Efficiency test is designed to test just how much of each we burn and when.

From a starting speed of 3.5 km/hour I began walking and then running on a treadmill and watched as the machine recorded the levels of fat and carbohydrates I was burning. My fat burning stopped after 17 minutes and at a speed of just under 12 km/hr. Had I continued running I would have drawn my energy from pure carbohydrates. This would eventually lead to a situation of what athletes call “hitting the wall”. Not good.

The better news is that my body composition revealed pretty ideal figures, with my sum of 8 skinfolds (to us laymen, it means I had my fat measured by callipers on 8 different parts of my body. Twice.) reading 63.3mm. Apparently ‘normal’ people average 100mm. My body fat came up to 7.7%. While I know of many friends who would kill to have that number, I think I may need to increase that a little, just so to help me withstand the cold in Antarctica.

Following the test, Jon sat down and explained what my charts meant and how he intended to use that information to draw up a training plan based on my needs and goals. This is excellent news to me as my training has so far lacked structure and scientific basis, reduced to simply clocking up distances.

We will start off with long slow runs and build on volume. Volume here means time spent on feet at an efficient heart rate zone. Distance is immaterial here as I need to train my body to burn fat and maintain that over long periods of time. In due course this will lead to my running faster and longer. Also an initial thing to work on is my cadence and stride, with an aim of 88 to 92 strides per minute.

The exact plan will be drawn up next Tuesday when I return for my Lactate test, which determines my lactate thresholds. This is the point in exercise when our lactate begins to accumulate in the muscles. It is a physiological marker that is closely associated with aerobic endurance performance – the higher the lactate threshold, the better the aerobic endurance performance. From here we can establish my exercise intensity and increase my performance in endurance events.

So the fantastic news is that because I am simply good and not great, there is massive potential and room for improvement! Can’t wait!