The Hows and Whys of Cycling-specific Testing to Improve Performance

I was recently involved in a research project that required me to recruit volunteer subjects from the local cycling community. I put the word out through the cycling grapevine and was almost immediately inundated by phone calls from a very eager group of cyclists that were willing to donate their body and soul for the sake of science (and a chance to undergo testing at the Olympic Training Center).

The first question that I was asked (almost immediately) by each person was if they were going to "do that V02 max thing" or "are you going to hook me up to all sorts of tubes and wires and poke me with all kinds of sharp needles and probes?" Unfortunately, I had to tell them no, and explain that I was doing performance testing as opposed to physiological testing, and then gave them the details. After several weeks of this I concluded that there were many misunderstandings about testing and how and when to use it to maximize one's cycling performance.

It is my objective to share some insight into the different types of testing available and what they can be used for, and to help each of you decide if and what types of testing are appropriate for you. I hope to draw on my experiences as a graduate school intern at the Sport Science and Technology Lab at the OTC as well as my work with the USA Triathlon junior and resident programs. Most recently, I spent all of 1997 as the Scouting Coach for USA Cycling, traveling back and forth across the country with the EDS/USA Cycling Scouting Program mobile exercise physiology lab conducting performance testing on junior athletes.

I will start with the basics, then give a brief and simple explanation of the many different types of testing that are available and what their relative merits may be. While I understand that we are all for the most part somewhat competitive, I want to emphasize how important it is to use test data to compare yourself to yourself over time, and not to some set standard or statistic. I will be providing some of these numbers as a point of reference during the course of this article, but I want you to always keep in mind that your test results are best compared to your own previous results, and not to some set standard or to your training partner's data.

In my mind there are two basic categories of testing: physiological testing, where the body's metabolic response to work or exercise is directly measured, and performance testing, where the results of the test itself is what is used to indirectly assess these metabolic responses. For example, during a lactate profile test, we are attempting to directly measure the body's production of lactate in response to a progressive workload or stress. During a 10-mile time trial (TT) test, however, we are attempting to indirectly assess how the body handles lactate production by measuring one's performance during a time trial. Both types of information, when gathered and interpreted properly, can be a strong tool for evaluating and monitoring training progress. Another way that testing is often categorized is as either field or laboratory testing. This is more of a reflection of where the testing occurs, although it often infers incorrectly that the field data is possibly less precise or accurate. Traditionally, a TT is often considered a field test, but you can still gather physiological data for analysis and interpretation back in the lab. By the same token, you could conduct the same protocol on an indoor ergometer in the lab.

Physiological Testing

V02 Max

Maximum oxygen uptake, also known as maximal aerobic capacity, is a measurement of the body's ability to utilize oxygen to produce energy. Essentially, it represents the body's upper limit to tolerate aerobic exercise. At the US Olympic Training Center (OTC), V02 max is often referred to as the "ticket into the club," reflecting its high predictive value in endurance sports such as cycling. While V02 max can improve as much as 15-20 percent in untrained individuals, most highly trained and elite athletes usually see improvements in the range of 3-5 percent. Essentially, V02 max is more a reflection of our genetics than our state of fitness. The range for elite male and female cyclists has been presented to fall between 62-74 ml/kg/min and 47-57 ml/kg/min respectively. In a compilation of several endurance-based research articles, Sleivert and Rowlands have suggested that research show minimal elite V02 max values range from 70-73 ml/kg/min for men and from 62-65 ml/kg/min for women. Beyond this level, other factors may become more important determinants of success. While it may be nice to know your V02 max so that you can share this information with your friends at pre-race carbo-loading festivities, it is not really a very important variable to consider in planning or measuring training status.

Lactate Threshold

Lactate Threshold (LT) can be defined as a sudden and rapid inflection in the blood lactate level that results when the body's rate of lactate production exceeds the rate of lactate clearance. This causes that burning feeling in the muscles with which we are all familiar, and necessitates the slowing of our pace. The exercise intensity that one can maintain in a race is thought to be at or slightly above the point at which the lactate threshold occurs. For this reason, and the fact that it is very sensitive to training status, LT is considered to be a very valuable piece of information for planning training intensities and race pacing strategies.

While there are several different ways to determine one's threshold, inevitably they all involve taking a venous blood sample at the end of each stage of a progressive exercise test and analyzing the lactate content of the sample. LT is a form of testing that is very useful and should be performed several times throughout the course of a season to account for the "rightward and downward" shift in the LT that accompanies improved fitness and a requirement to adjust heart rate training zones accordingly.

Blood Profile

A standard blood profile is also a useful tool to assess the effects of training, and even more importantly, overtraining. One of the physiological adaptations to training that we hope to see is an increase in our red blood cell count (RBC), thus increasing our oxygen carrying capacity. One of the basic building blocks for producing RBCs is iron or ferrtin. A deficiency in this critical mineral is known as anemia, which can be detected in a blood profile. There are also several hormonal and enzymatic responses to overtraining that can be identified such as elevated levels of cortisol and creatine kinase, respectively. For this type of training evaluation, it is very important to establish a good point of reference from which to compare future tests. It is not always the value of the blood markers that is important, as much as it is how an individual's markers fluctuate due to the effects of training.

Performance Testing

Ramp Protocols

A ramp test consists of progressively more difficult stages lasting from 3-4 minutes. It is usually performed on an indoor trainer in a controlled environment. An indoor trainer like the CompuTrainer that can function as an ergometer is ideal, as it allows one to increase the resistance in a controlled and quantifiable manner. If you do not have a trainer with this capability, you can attempt to simulate the same effect by starting in an easy gear and shifting into a progressively more difficult gear during each stage. You will want to increase the resistance either 25-50 watts or one gear each stage.

You should record the workload, heart rate, and RPE (Borg's rating of perceived exertion) for each stage. The results of this test are how long you went, and what your heart rate and RPE were at each submaximal workload. This test enables you to gauge your fitness changes in comparison to yourself over time. As your fitness improves, you should not only be able to ride longer and complete more stages, but your heart rate and RPE should decrease at each workload. The Aerobic Anaerobic Capacity Test (AACT) is a type of ramp protocol that was adopted by the EDS/USA Cycling Scouting Program. I will go into greater detail and include the step-by-step protocols as well as the junior test norms and standards in a future article.

Time Trials

A time trial is probably the simplest and easiest way to track your training progress. Whether it is done outdoors on the same course, or on an indoor ergometer like the CompuTrainer, the key to successful data interpretation is trying to make the test and conditions as consistent and repeatable as possible. This is the major advantage of conducting the test indoors. In either case, the variables involved are time, distance, HR, RPE, gearing, equipment, wind, temperature, humidity, and training status. You want to control as many of these variables as you can, and then measure or monitor the remaining variables over time.

For example, the classic TT evaluation would consist of you riding the same course, on the same bike, under the same relative weather conditions. Your test results would be your finish time and average heart rate. One of the major drawbacks of this type of testing is that it is a maximal effort, and therefore motivation can play a big factor. Keep the distance relatively short, perhaps three or five miles, to minimize the effects of motivation from trial to trial. Another twist on this concept is a submaximal or aerobic time trial. Again, ride the same outdoors or CompuTrainer course but ride at an aerobic heart rate range of 85 percent of LT +5 bpm. In this manner, you test to see how fast you can cover a set course while staying aerobic. Research has shown that one's average heart rate over the final half of a 30-minute TT is a very good field test to estimate lactate threshold HR.

Wingate Anaerobic Threshold Test (WATT)

A 30-second Wingate Anaerobic Threshold test is used to assess one's ability to produce anaerobic power. It is a good indicator of a cyclist's power and sprinting ability. The results of this test include both absolute (watts) and relative (watts/kg) peak power, work completed in 30 seconds (joules), and something called a fatigue index, which is an indication of how much of a difference exists between the max and min power over the 30 seconds. Again, this is an indirect way of assessing a physiological phenomenon. Results from this test can be used to draw inferences as to what an athlete's muscle fiber typing is and whether he/she will excel at explosive sprint type events or longer endurance events.

In conclusion, I want to re-emphasize a few key points to help you get the most out of your testing. While in some instances it makes sense to want to be tested when you are in your best shape, remember the importance of establishing a baseline set of data from which you can compare future tests. If you are trying to use test data to determine if you may be overtrained, but only have data from other tests that you were overtrained, it is very difficult to make an objective interpretation. Make sure you control as many variables as you can from test to test. If you ride your 10k TT course in February on your 29-lb. training bike into a 35 mph headwind and try to compare this result to your recent time on your new TT funny bike while drafting your roommate in a U-Haul van, how are you supposed to know if your 15-minute improvement was the result of your training program, or how much is a reflection of those other factors? On this same note, conduct testing during the end of the rest week of your periodized training schedule. (I know everyone is doing periodized training, this is the 90's after all.)

Finally, I encourage you all to become students of the sport. Become a mad (sports) scientist, and use your own training as your laboratory. After all, that's how I got started five years ago trying to figure out how to break ten hours at Ironman. Good luck, good training and smart testing!