It's about time I wrote my post about the final part of the the metabolic assessment at In the Zone. I've been procrastinating writing this part, since the Exercise Metabolic Assessment is going to be difficult to explain. The EMA is very detailed, and I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it. If you find yourself getting bored, then just come back to it when you are having trouble sleeping...it should help you drift off right away. ;-)
Actually, though, I find the details fascinating, but the the hard part has been incorporating it into what I'm doing while training. In a nutshell, the EMA told me how many calories I'm burning at various heart rates and whether my body is using aerobic or anaerobic energy. In order to increase my fitness level and fuel-burning efficiency in the long run, I need to build my aerobic base now. The difficult part is that this will require me to work at low intensities, which is counter-intuitive for any athlete (especially one addicted to group fitness classes, like I am) AND counter-intuitive for anyone trying to lose weight!
For this part of the test, I again donned the face mask and the heart rate monitor. This time, though, instead of relaxing in a chair, I hopped on the treadmill. It looked something like what is shown in this Wikipedia entry. Stephanie had me begin by walking, and then she increased the speed of the treadmill every thirty seconds or so. At the end, she also added a 2% incline. The entire test only took about 8-10 minutes. The mask measured the amount of oxygen I was using and carbon dioxide I was exhaling, which indicates when I was in an aerobic respiration state versus anaerobic respiration.
There are five different training zones for heart rates, with each one serving a different purpose. Zone 1 builds oxygen absorption and fat-burning capacity, Zone 2 improves conditioning and endurance, Zone 3 mixes aerobic and anaerobic exercise, Zone 4 is for speed work and interval training, and Zone 5 is for very hard interval training (be careful in this zone...injury can occur!).
The EMA told me what my zones are, along with the number of calories I'm burning per minute in each zone - AND how many of those are fat calories (i.e., what percentage of what I'm doing is aerobic! Here is what I learned:
Zone 1: 105-133 beats per minute, burning 7.2 calories per minute (3.4 of which are fat
calories)
Zone 2: 134-144 bpm, burning 10.2 calories per minute (2.9 fat calories)
Zone 3: 145-152 bpm, burning 10.9 calories per minute (2.1 fat calories)
Zone 4: 153-161 bpm, burning 11.5 calories per minute (1.7 fat calories)
Zone 5: 162-163 bpm, burning 12.4 calories per minute (1.5 fat calories)
I also learned that my Aerobic Base is at 119 beats per minute - that is where I am 51% anaerobic and 49% aerobic, and the percent aerobic only decreases from there. Why is this a bad thing? After all, I'm burning waaaaaay more calories in an anaerobic state, so who cares? Well, anaerobic exercise produces lactic acid and burns only carbs, causing me to feel tired and sore after workouts...thus decreasing my endurance and increasing my chance for injury in the long run.
If I build my aerobic base, I'll train my body to burn fat across all the zones. Since my Aerobic Base (119 bpm) is in Zone 1, that is where I'll need to spend a lot of my time, at least for the next 6-12 weeks. I will also need to incorporate rest days to allow my body to recover properly. Eventually, as my aerobic base increases (my body is burning fat at higher heart rates), I'll work in the other heart rate zones more.
A piece of great news: I have a very high VO2 max: 44 ml/kg/min, which is superior at the age of 33. I am meant to train hard and be an athlete.
Stephanie gave me a training schedule tailored just for me using the results of the EMA test. The difficult part is incorporating it; I am used to taking a variety of classes, such as Attack, RPM, and Pump. However, in those classes, my heart rate averages around 150, spiking to 185 sometimes in Attack at the peak tracks. Stephanie calls the area between the Aerobic Base and Anaerobic Threshold the "junk zone" - I am burning calories, obviously, but not a lot of fitness is produced. In other words, the body never becomes more efficient, I get tired and sore, the exercise never gets any easier, and therefore I'm not able to push myself even more.
Stephanie gave me an article to read entitled "Aerobic Base Training: Going Slower to Get Faster." I highlighted a lot of the article, but here are three sentences that stand out to me now when I reread it:
The hard part of base training is having the discipline to train at these low intensities.
Even spending short amounts of time above your aerobic zone degrades the workout.
You have to let your anaerobic system atrophy during base.
So, what does all this mean? It means I need to just trust Stephanie's advice - which is based on tests on my own physiology - and follow the training program. This is going to be difficult for many reasons: I love group fitness classes, I am having a hard time dealing with the fact that my calorie burn will be pretty low, and I just did a 5k race and loved it and was hoping to do more this summer. I may not be in the gym as often for awhile, or if I am, it may be on the elliptical machine instead of in a class. I'd really like to maximize my own metabolism, but it will mean giving up the things I love for just a short while.
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