Lab Tests for Lactate Threshold, FTP & VO2 Max | Racing to Build Fitness & Confidence

It's been a while... too long...as ever work, travel and training has eaten into my editing time - sincere apologies !
Todays video is a lab test, with Adam Isherwood, from Oxford University, to assess my current fitness base following 2 months of crit racing, tempo with VO2 max surges, Z2 and strength training. Assessing my foundation and physiological power zones to build from.
First we use blood lactate testing to find out my Lactate Threshold 1, a hugely useful data point which indicates our maximum endurance power, where lactate has increased 1mml from our base, but the body remains very comfortably able to work aerobically, provided sufficient carbs are ingested.
We then move onto a ramp test, where the power increases by 25W every 3 mins to use the gas I exhale to analyse where my 2nd Ventilatory Threshold lies, aka my Anaerobic Threshold aka FTP. This is where Heart Rate, Breathing and Blood Lactate are elevated, but reasonably stable, enabling the body to continue at that level of intensity (power) for 40-50mins. Having an accurate understanding of our VT2 / FTP / Anaerobic threshold is critical, because above this intensity we have much more limited time, due to the fact that the body also has to work anaerobically, consuming glycogen from the liver and muscles, and is unable to buffer / remove all of the waste from the lactate, leaving us with the choice to press on until exhaustion or to drop back below our FTP intensity, to enable the body to reset and replenish our energy systems.
The ramp test progresses on until exhaustion - in order to assess my V02 Max
Adam provided a lot of valuable insight at this test, so I will break out a 2nd video to share.
After this I was off to Italy, to take part in the Gran Fondo Strade Bianche - video to follow, charting "beautiful Italian chaos" !!!
To translate the subtitles to your preferred language, please go to the settings cog on the video, and make sure subtitles are turned on. Then select auto-translate, and then select the language you prefer.
Please leave those comments and hit that subscribe
Thanks ever so much for all of your support! And whoever you are, what ever your do, please remember to LIVE THRIVE AND STAY HEALTHY !
Follow my journey
Instagram: / bikeracingwithoutmercy
Strava: / strava

[@simonnaylor9695]

Thanks for sharing this Phil. Great to see your back at full fitness. Here's to a great season in 2024.

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

Pleasure Simon ! And thanks ever so much for your encouragement 🙏

[@PierreAlainMaire]

Great video, lots of explanations ! 2024 looks promising ! Sunny crits and a doctor-to-be piercing your ear 😄

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

Hi Pierre Alain - thanks ever so much 🙏. Hope you are well, and sorry for the slow reply, life got a bit hectic …

[@nickbrownbill3413]

This was a great video mate, a delight to watch you back in the crit racing and loving it. Finding time to get your racing in and doing what you enjoy after what seemed like an incredibly stressful 18 months or so. Thanks for sharing it Phill, best of luck with the racing if it continues! PS. Greg Lemond very recently did a podcast where he claimed Lance's numbers to be a tad lower, VO2 max of 74 and suggested he'd have been an unremarkable pro if not for other advantages... Not saying that with any ulterior motive, I just happened to hear it on Friday!

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

Cheers Nick for the second time - always so generous 🙏 You’d love the crit racing I reckon…. And also I was part of a BCC chase raise on the road the weekend before last - that was serious fun ! Very interesting to hear that on Lance - Adam reckoned most pros were 70-75

[@paulmorrison30]

Another top drawer video Phil et al. Thank you so much for this ✊🏾👊🏾💪🏾👍🏾

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

Cheers Paul 🙏 - hope you enjoyed the sunshine this weekend (not on call 🤞)

[@paulmorrison30]

@@BikeRacingWithoutMercy Unfortunately I was on call on Saturday so that day was pretty much ruined 🤷🏾‍♂️.Hopefully there’ll be some more sunny days to enjoy 🤞🏾

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

@@paulmorrison30 ohhhhh ! But for sure looking promising this Friday-Sunday 🤞

[@NielsHeldens]

Incredibly interesting video with a concise summary of what is happening in real-time by Adam. Good to see you enjoying - for as far that is possible in the moment itself - the racing at the velopark.

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

Thanks Neils 🙏 - massively appreciate your support for the video. Adam is so so good at being able to make it easy to understand the interplay on the physiology. He’s a true subject matter expert ! Hoping to build a bit more fitness to graduate from merely clinging on for grim death in the bunch at the velo park !!

[@sillypuddystl2907]

Great vid. Good on you. Thank you for posting.

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

Thanks ever so much SP 🙏 - thats really kind of you to say so!! Cheers also for your support on the other comment 💯

[@nickbrownbill3413]

I'm only 10 minutes through so far, but just wowed by Adam's casual but incredibly clear explanation of complex biological processes. I say it every time he's on, but that's a man who knows his stuff and knows how to make it approachable and understandable.

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

Cheers Nick 🙏 As a man of science excellence, I’m always pleased to hear you like what Adam imparts 💯 I always love my lab sessions with him and come away with always a better orientation as to where I am physically and what needs to happen to do well in an event or build fitness

[@gavinarber1033]

Great stuff Phil and so good to see you racing again . Keep up the great work 👌

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

Cheers Gavin 🙏 - I saw you go very very … very well at Hogg Hill the previous weekend 💪

[@karl8805]

2.52 gemini CC.. my friend valentino 👍. Always goes well

[@martinandrews2860]

Good work Phil, nice one. Back on the saddle, enjoy the season. M

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

Cheers Martin 🙏🙏 Am enjoying being back out with the races and events - and really hope you have a great season too Sir !

[@MichaelBoogerd]

the best training is racing

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

💯 I think you are right Michael - it’s forced me further out of my comfort zone - and the efforts are unpredictable

[@agnesrosalinde]

Very interesting. Thank you for the information about translation. I didn't know that before. I translated it to German now on the difficult parts. (Dutch isn't an option).

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

Thanks Agnes - glad this was interesting once translated! And really hope your final Chemo has been successful 🤞

[@agnesrosalinde]

@@BikeRacingWithoutMercy Thanks Phil, yes, after the chemo I had operations, and now for safety I am having radiotherapy.

[@fastbreakmarketing7788]

Good morning 😺 🌞🌺🚴🏿‍♀️⭐️💪🏻I am curious for what is the blue mask used?

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

Hi - and sorry for the delay: Blue mask is used to measure the gas inhaled and exhaled - oxygen v co2 and other measurements can then determine where the VT1 (first turning point ) and VT2 (second turning point / ftp) - and also what energy is being burned (carbs v fat etc )

[@saracen888]

Great work Phill! With all that racing, is it time for an aero bike to compliment the Colnago? 😉

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

Cheers Saracen 🙏🙏. Have sold the Colnago and have a Bianche Oltre Pro on order !

[@saracen888]

@@BikeRacingWithoutMercy LOVELY! Enjoy

[@foundfoundfound1]

has substrate use (fat) improved with training? or are carbohydrates still being burned like guy fawkes night?

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

Ha ha - as discussed on the live stream, I have the data …. And no - still burning the carbs like they are going out of fashion !

[@Richz2]

What would your maximum aerobic power (MAP) be Phil?

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

We didn’t specifically test for that. But the final 3mins of the ramp was 318W on the Faveros - and given I hit my VO2 max before that (with the plateau on the data confirming this) I’d estimate 318W then and likely a bit more now

[@Peakabike]

18:28 - 78 for Armstrong so nowhere near enough to win a TDF without cheating. Lemond's VO2Max was 92, compare and contrast...

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

Very interesting Peakabike - no wander Lemond is so scathing of having lost out on some TdFs to Lance and others

[@thatguy9051]

"Lance Armstrong is my hero".........I think we all know where the fundamental "juice" of this channel is coming from.

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

If you are implying that I take banned exogenous substances to enhance my “clinging on to the bunch low grade amateur racing, gran fondos & zwift racing” , I would highlight that I have no financial / social media related reason to harm my middle aged health for the minor minor placings. But yes - Lance was and remains someone who provided a positive influence, decades before I actually took up cycling …. Indoors. His charitable cancer foundation will be a lasting legacy helping people in an economy where medical advice is extremely expensive, tarnished of course by the the scandal & hurt to others …. at a time when justice was not and remains not evenly dispensed.

[@sillypuddystl2907]

@@BikeRacingWithoutMercywell said.

[@Richz2]

If that is the best comment you can make "thatguy" there is absolutely no hope for you. btw Lance is my hero too... Top chap!

[@MP-mt1gf]

Am I missing something here?...Lab tests, FTP's, Lactate thresholds, sufficient carbs, Vo2, Top end power, 7 hours a week etc etc. All this for a one hour chippers crit and and then spat out the back?

[@BikeRacingWithoutMercy]

Very constructive, MP. You indeed miss the point. I made it clear that the crit racing was part of a training plan to have a bit of fun and improve top end fitness plus build confidence riding back in a group (I broke my back and neck in a cycling accident in mid 2022). I made it clear that the lab test was to assess my fitness at this point in time (after 7 weeks of the racing and tempo with surges training ). The lab test was more a way to provide some differentiated and hopefully informative content to let viewers know about what the lactate threshold 1 is, and why knowing this can be helpful. Plus also to explain how a lab test will evaluate FTP / Anaerobic Threshold from the gas exhaled though establishing VT2. The VO2 max is a part of the 3min ramp test protocol. All this in order to explain to viewers what should be happening from a physiological perspective when looking at training zones and thresholds. As opposed to the blunt instrument of a 20min test or a ramp test which can be accurate or indeed quite inaccurate. I have completed a couple of other lab test videos prior to my accident and have found them to be beneficial for setting the correct training zones plus understanding my max endurance pace (and the importance of fuelling a lot more carbs than I had realised) for the longer rides (eg the Majorca 312). I received good feedback from comments for these videos - because they provide for free insightful sports science information from a subject matter expert at Oxford University. Ref the carbs i don’t cover this in detail in the video, but would add that most people find in their first lab test that even at their endurance pace they are burning a lot more carbs for fuel than they anticipated - even those who think they are fat adapted. So yes, you missed something, in a rush to make a derogatory comment about a race where I did ok - yep dropped right at the end in the sprint (where I always get dropped) - and in a video where I make it clear that simply surviving in the group for the race, and taking a bit of joy out of the experience is my objective for the time being.

[@iancarson8614]

what's your point dude? only those at the pointy end need give a shit about their hobby or sport. i'm equally as untalented as phil, and i too love all the details.if you don't like the content, move on.