1. USING FIELD AND LABORATORY TESTING TO
IMPROVE TRIATHLON PERFORMANCE
Chris Sweet, USAT Certified Triathlon Coach
Laura Wheatley, MS Exercise Physiology

2. Introductions

3. WHAT IS PHYSIOLOGICAL TESTING AND
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
• Physiological testing measures specific functions or
variables thought to be determinants of athletic
performance.
• Testing can:
o Determine Strengths and Weaknesses
o Benchmark Performance
o Create accurate, current personal Training and Racing
Zones
o Monitor Progress
o Evaluate effectiveness of training program
o Predict performance potential

4. WHAT DO I NEED TO CONSIDER WHEN
SELECTING TESTS?
• Relevance
o Aerobic vs. Anaerobic tests
• Specificity
o When comparing treadmill and cycle exercise tests,
scientists have found that heart rate and blood lactate
levels at maximal exertion and aerobic threshold do not
correlate; they would recommend sport-specific testing
(Roecker, et. al, 2003)
• Practicality- Lab vs. Field
• Validity - repeatable measurement
• Accuracy - duh!

5. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
LABORATORY AND FIELD TESTING?
• Field testing
+ Can be conducted by athletes or coaches in convenient
locations/environment.
+ Cost and time effective.
+ Performed under "real world" conditions
- Limited parameters can be monitored
- May not be as reliable or accurate as a lab test.

6. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
LABORATORY AND FIELD TESTING?
• Laboratory testing
+The most accurate measurements by measuring
gas exchange and/or blood serum levels utilizing
a controlled environment.
-May not be practical or specific (i.e. cycle
ergometers)
-Metabolic cost of wind? surfaces? technique?
-Higher monetary and time costs

7. LAB TESTING- WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
(CIRCA 1985!)

8. WHAT PHYSIOLOGICAL VARIABLES CAN I
MEASURE IN THE LABORATORY?
• VO2 (Oxygen) and VCO2 (Carbon Dioxide)
• Lactate (Blood)
• Ventilatory Threshold
• Exercise Metabolism (Economy)
• Fuel requirements

9. VO2
• Expressed as ml/kg/min, or L/min, it measures the RATE
and VOLUME of oxygen that your body is consuming and
utilizing for aerobic energy
• VO2= (heart rate x stroke volume) x (arterio-venous oxygen
difference)
o The fitness/efficiency of the respiratory, cardiovascular,
and muscular systems are all being assessed.
o Stroke volume= the amount of blood the heart can pump
per beat
o High A-V difference is GOOD- muscles are extracting all
the oxygen!

10. VO2
• The less oxygen needed to perform aerobic exercise, the
more efficient the athlete is
• VO2max?

11. VO2MAX
o The more VO2 your body can process at maximal
exertion, the better- could be used to indicate your
"potential" for athletic performance.

12. VO2MAX - TYPICAL RANGES IN THE ISU
EX PHYS LAB

13. VO2MAX - ELITE ATHLETES

14. CAN I IMPROVE MY VO2MAX?
o 40% of variation in VO2max is attributable to GENETICS.
o 5-30% of VO2max can be improved through training
(Bouchard et. al., 1986)
o Greater gains have been observed in cardiac patients,
those with very low starting fitness levels, and those who
have achieved substantial weight loss.
o However, "maximal aerobic capacity" is just one piece of
the puzzle- how efficient are you at actually UTILIZING
that oxygen to sustain higher workloads? Aerobic
threshold and exercise metabolic testing in the lab may
be more applicable to training and racing.

15. LACTATE
• As oxygen demand for activity increases, the body becomes
less efficient at processing and utilizing it
• More carbon dioxide i.e. "waste" is produced.
• When carbon dioxide production > oxygen consumption, the
body produces excess lactic acid to process the oxygen that
can no longer be used for aerobic energy.
• This is called "Lactate Threshold" or LT, when the body
switches to anaerobic metabolism ("without oxygen")
• Lactic Acid is a bi-product of anaerobic metabolism.

16. LACTATE THRESHOLD
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0 8.5 9.0
Lactatemmol
Treadmill Speed
Lactate Differences
Untrained
Trained

17. VENTILATORY THRESHOLD
• When access to blood sampling equipment in the lab is not
available, VT is an accurate alternative.
• Once excess lactate starts being produced, CO2 production
ALSO increases to buffer it!

18. VENTILATORY THRESHOLD

19. EXERCISE METABOLIC (FUEL) TESTING
• My FAVORITE LAB TEST!
• aka "Exercise Economy"
• Measures exercise efficiency and nutritional requirements at
various training and racing workloads
• At each intensity, we measure
o VO2
o Total Caloric Expenditure
o Carbohydrate vs. Fat
o Heart Rate
o Pace/Power
o Perceived Exertion
• Kenyans vs. Caucasians

20. FUEL TEST

21. FUEL TEST: MEASURING PROGRESS

22. FUEL TEST: TRAINING INTENSITIES
RQ: "Respiratory Quotient"
• RQ = 0.7 100% fat 0% carb (not likely)
• RQ= 0.85 50% fat 50%carb ( fat loss/aerobic training)
• RQ= 1.0 0%fat 100%carb (AT/LT)
Zone 1 Recovery: 0.7-0.82
Zone 2 Aerobic: 0.83-0.89
Zone 3 Tempo: 0.9- 0.96
Zone 4 Threshold: 0.97-1.0
Zone 5 Anaerobic: 1.0 +++

23. FUEL TEST: NUTRITIONAL NEEDS
• Fully "loaded"...
o Males store 2,000 kcals of glycogen (carbs)
o Females store 1,500 kcals
• It is critical to replace carbohydrates used as energy during
and/or after exercise
• Once carbs are depleted, the body turns to protein in the
muscles as fuel!
• FUEL testing can pinpoint nutritional needs during training
and racing

24. FUEL TESTING- NUTRITIONAL NEEDS

25. SWIM FIELD TESTING
No practical lab testing options.
T20 or T30 (timed twenty or 30 minutes)
Proven valid by comparing to lab tests
T-30 Test Protocol
Step 1 Do the swim maintaining a constant speed at maximum effort.
Step 2 Record distance swum (d) yards
Step 3 Time in (t) = 30X 60 seconds
Step 4 Swimming speed = d divided by t in yards per second VA
Obtaining Individual Training Repeat Times from VA
Adjustments have to be made for training at different distances. Tables exist but very
good guideline is as follows:
400y use 99% of VA ; 200y use 102% VA ; 100y use 107% VA ; 50y usr 108% VA

26. T-20 PACE CHART
http://www.virtualswim.com/tri-paceone.html

27. SWIM FIELD TESTING
Baseline sets:
10X100
3X500
1000 all out
If done regularly, baseline tests can tell you if your training is
progressing, plateauing or regressing.
Questions?

28. BIKE- LAB TESTING
• Using a cycle ergometer or bicycle trainer
• Wearing breathing apparatus to measure gas exchange
• Potentially receiving finger or earlobe capillary pricks for
lactate measurement
• Cost: $80-$200+

29. BIKE- LAB TESTING
• VO2max test = Test to exhaustion
o After extensive warmup, the test lasts 8-12 minutes
o Ramp or Step Protocol (Ramp preferred)
o Male: Begin at 100-150W, increase 30-50 W/min
o Female: Begin at 75-100W, increase 2-30 W/min
• Lactate measurement not practical unless intravenous
• Test will yield LT and VO2max measurements
• LT may be skewed (not steady-state)
• Training zones based off of percentages

30. BIKE - VO2MAX
Run VO2max graph (cycling = switch pace for watts)

31. BIKE- FUEL TESTING
• Bike FUEL test= incremental test until AT
o After warmup, test begins at recovery intensity: RQ ~ 0.80
o Each stage lasts 3-5 minutes, until athlete reaches
steady-state
o Subsequent stages: RQ= 0.85. 0.90. 0.95, 1.0
o OR whatever workloads athlete desires, particularly
desired race workload
• A longer test- athletes can experience dry mouth (water can
be sipped a few times, but too often will skew data)

32. BIKE- LAB ERGOMETER?
• "Comparison of Physiological Responses between a Monark
Cycle Ergometer and a Velotron in Trained Cyclists"
• Laura's Master's thesis
• HR/VO2 the same at AT and VO2max
• Power was significantly higher on Velotron
• Take home: Lab ergometers OK if training with heart rate,
but specific ergometer needed for power training zones.
• I didn't compare RQ values?

33. BIKE FIELD TESTING
Different LT test protocols
My preference: 20 minutes minus 3%
Field Test Protocol:
15 minutes easy
5 X 1 minute just over goal LT, 1 minute easy
5 minutes easy
20 minutes all-out
Another common test: Average of 2x20, with 5 minutes easy
between 20 minute intervals.
Joe Friel: 30 minutes, take average of last 20 minutes. (Bike
and Run)

34. BIKE FIELD TESTING
Power vs. HR testing
limitations of HR
Trainer vs. Outside
-keep 'em seperate
Time Trials as LT tests
100% of 40K
97% of 20K
Controlling for conditions?
Repeatability?

35. BIKE FIELD TESTING
Bike Baseline sets.
Many options. Consistency and repeatability are key.
Power-based:
10X1 minute on, 1 minute off
3X10 minutes
Hill repeats
Time-based
Ride a standard course. Keep track of speed, time and
conditions
Timed Hill repeats
Questions?

36. LAB TESTING - RUN
• Similar protocols as Bike
VO2max/FUEL, using running
speed instead of power output
• Some research indicates keeping
treadmill at 1% incline to simulate
metabolic cost of environmental
factors

37. RUN FIELD TESTING
Field test protocol for determining run lactate threshold:
10 minute easy warm-up
5 X 1 minute at LT pace, 1 minute easy
5 minutes easy
20 minutes all-out
LT is ave. HR for the 20 minutes minus 5%

38. RUN FIELD TESTING
Baseline sets:
3X1 mile
6X800m
10x400m
Set course for time
Hill repeats
Pros and Cons of using races as baselines
-controlling for conditions
Questions?

39. HOW OFTEN SHOULD I TEST?
How frequently should testing occur?
Every week? (Chuckie V)
Less Often? (Long hard bike tests)
Psychology of testing
Off-season- should you test at all?

40. RECOMMENDATIONS?
 Lab Testing only
 1x/yr:
 2x/yr: baseline, before A Race
 3x/yr: baseline, midway/before A Race
 Field Testing only
 4-8 weeks
 After major training blocks
 3-4 weeks before “A” races
 Combination?
Seeing progress is motivating!

41. CONCLUSIONS
Testing is GOOD!
Determine baseline fitness
Monitor progress
Evaluate and modify your training program
Create accurate, current personal training and racing zones
Lab testing is beneficial, but not always practical
Lab technology is becoming more mainstream and commercially
available
Field testing is easily accessible, repeatable and affordable,
but not always accurate due to uncontrolled variables.

42. CONCLUSIONS
"Testing is of no value unless the information gained
is used to improve your training or confirm that you
are training in an appropriate manner.“
-Joe Friel, Triathlete's Training Bible