Guinea Pig on a treadmill - FUEL test

My awesome pal,  Sonya Looney, told me about the FUEL test.   Here's a video of her doing it.

Of course (being the data geek I am) I was interested in the test so I asked Carson at FasCat if they could do it on a treadmill instead of a bike.  They mainly train cyclists.   He did some research and figured out the protocol for running and signed me up.   I would be the 1st person he has tested on a treadmill.  Oh goodie!

aahh...so comfortable and ready to run!

running with that apparatus in my mouth, my nose pinched off and no way to swallow or drink was very uncomfortable!

Purpose of test

This test measures exactly were your energy is coming from based on certain paces.  Energy from fat vs. energy from carbs.  It tells you at what pace your body starts using 100% carbs for energy and how long you can sustain that pace with proper fueling.  Fascinating, eh??

Protocol

1. Wear mouthpiece to breath into a tube
2. Wear a nose plug
3. warmup at a walking pace: 10 minutes
4. run for 3 minutes at the following paces(minute per mile pace): 12:00, 11:00, 10:21, 10:00, 9:31, 9:05, 8:42. 
5. cool down 5 minutes
6. Test is measured using respiration and heart rate.

Test execution

I won't lie - running with that thing on my head and the mouthpiece sucked! 

The test lasted ~40 minutes.

Plus, the mouth piece prevented me from swallowing.  Do you know how uncomfortable it is not to swallow while running?  ugh!  After 30 minutes drool was dripping off the bottom of my mouth.

I felt more taxed than normal for the paces I was running and I thought my HR was higher than normal.   We were supposed to take it down 2 more notches to a 8:20 pace and then 7:54 - but I called "Uncle" after 3 minutes of 8:42.  I was disappointed I couldn't hang any longer, but I needed to be able to close my mouth.  I guess I have limits on what I will do in order to gather more data.  ;)

Test Results

12:00 - 10:00 mile paces - my body uses a carb/fat mix as source of fuel - 69% vs 31% - these are the paces where I'm burning the most fat. (hmm...the first thought I had - is I need to stay in this range to get rid of my little spare tire on my waist!)
9:31 mile pace - here is were my body moved over to burning more carbs - not 100% carbs but it's definitely where the switch was flipping on.
9:05 mile pace - no question 100% carbs for energy - 634 of them per hour to be exact.  (I LOVE me some data)
8:42 mile pace - yep....still burning 100% carbs at the rate of 650 per hour.

DATA!!!

Remember the body can only process 250 - 300 calories an hour and if I am burning 500-650 calories of carbs an hour and can only replace half of them eventually I'll go into a deficit.   Here's the chart for that.  Apparently, with proper fueling I can run 5 hours at a 9:05 pace and 4 hours at a 8:42 - fueling wise that is.  Of course, this does not account for muscular fatigue or the fact I have never run more than 2 hours at a pop.   The rest of the running muscular endurance has to be in place in order to have a chance to run at those paces for those duration.   But great info to know in the future.

Another great thing is -  I can combine this with my data I have from my WKO+ software - that software gives me a "Normalized Graded Pace" so when I'm out trail running - I use my run data to adjust my paces on trails and not blow myself up!

yeeHAW!  More DATA!!!

Yes - without a doubt - I'm a nerd!

One funny happened.   Ann Tromley (Olympic mtn biker) was at FasCat.   After I was done with the test she said "I *thought* that was you over there on the treadmill - but you are mtn biker, you are NOT a runner".   I laughed and said "Yes, you are correct.   I NOT a runner,  I'm a mtn biker with a running problem."

 I'm sincerely hoping I will be able to fit both into my life.  Right now - the focus is still running.