Just finished Physio/MET test at CU. Wanted to give some feedback to the Colorado climbing community. I believe they are getting more uphill athletes through their doors as they seem to have tweaked protocols since reading Seth’s experience earlier this year. It’s not cheap, $300 bucks for the CO2/lactate numbers/Fat composition/Muscle ultrasound.
J. Berg (administrator) seemed to know his physiology and explain it well as it applied to me. Did body comp stuff first. The muscle health ultrasounds were then done and formulated through a company called MuscleSound. I really believe these were a waste of time. Their website explains there can be an enormous variability depending on technique used. My numbers barely registered, just like Seth’s data. The administrator didn’t seem to have much input one way or another about this data (it was kind of a rushed affair). Maybe it sets some kind of baseline for future tests?
Now the good stuff. You can choose a hiking protocol on the treadmill if you are not a runner like me. They raise the grade 3% each data point and it seems to work well. I asked for max warmup time and got about 20min, though I would have preferred 30 min of a slower build-up, no biggy. He fits you with a mask and you’re off to the races. You are shown a perceived exertion chart and a lactate sample is taken at each grade change up to max HR.
Testing over, you now meet for quick review of data. The chart carbs vs fats has been modified from what Seth had to a friendlier %energy, which shows a nice crossover point. Training zones are broken down and a couple of other charts provided; lactate profile, fat oxi vs lactate, cal per hr fat/carb. You are now given a basic recommendation for percent of training time to get best improvement in aerobic fitness.
I’ve never done a test like this and considered it worth the investment to get baseline lab numbers. They seem to compare well to nosebreathing and aerobic threshold treadmill test from this site.
Though I’ve been Alpine climbing over 20 years, I hadn’t done any endurance ‘training’ until TFTNA hit the press. Just used massive amounts of anaerobic calories and deep suffering to pull off the countless approaches to the Long’s cirque, and exhausted, still managed to get up the routes. The day after was always an alpine hangover. Any ADS support groups out there?
Hello my name is Steve and I have ADS.
