Miles Per Calorie
Understanding caloric expenditure
F.U.E.L Testing
The F.U.E.L test at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine includes three tests: lactate threshold testing, VO2 max and exercise metabolic rate. Lactate threshold (LT) is specifically designed to determine appropriate training zones. VO2 max defines your maximum output, and exercise metabolic rate provides a breakdown of how your body uses carbs and fat for energy. If you want to go longer you need to be smarter. The data from these test will allow allow you or your coach to focus on areas of weakness.
Workout Zones
The guys at Boulder Center for Sports Medicine have a very simple chart for articulating training zones.
Zone 1: Active Recovery — Embarrassed to be seen doing this in public
Zone 2: Base Endurance — Feels “too easy” to be getting any benefit from this effort
Zone 3: Tempo — Starting to “Feel like training”
Zone 4: Sub-Threshold — Internal dialogue begins
Zone 5: Supra-Threshold — Loud and obnoxious internal dialogue
Zone 6: V02 — Self preservation
Lactate threshold, VO2 max and exercise metabolic rate tests help you better understand how your body reacts to specific workouts and how you burn calories. The results of my LT test showed that I could stay in zones 1-3 all day, but once I crossed into zone 4, my lactate levels spiked. The insight is that much of the riding I was doing was just “pretty hard”; in order to increase my LT, I need to spend a large volume over several months at base and tempo with 1-3 workouts per week in zones 4 and 5. These interval workouts can last from five to 20 minutes and in the early season are a killer, but now that I’ve achieved my fitness levels, they are not so bad.
Nutrition is key for me. In the exercise metabolic rate test, I learned that I am a serious carb burner. Riders strive for a 50% carbs 50% fat balance, but my results showed 70% carbs and 30% fat. This ratio means that my body stores significantly less carbs than fat, and when doing six- to eight-hour rides, I burn calories as fast as dry leaves in a hot fire.
When your internal engine is burning calories this fast it becomes difficult to maintain the intake, and at some point you will burn through the carbs you have on deck and bonk hard. The good news is that you can manipulate this by changing your diet. Once I learned this about myself, I converted to a lower carb, whole foods diet on and off the bike.
My snacking while riding has gone from gels and high-carb bars to dried fruits, nuts and some experimental items like homemade rice cakes. I’ve also incorporated a power meter provided by Stages Cycling.
Knowing exactly how many watts I put out per hour has allowed me to dial in my nutrition better on long rides. Between understanding what’s happening in my body during workouts of varying intensity and learning how to fuel my body most efficiently for endurance, I’ll be able to continue improving my fitness to perform better.
