It was with some trepidation that I arrived at the Leinster Sports Clinic to do the test. Being new to Triathlons, and not being the fittest triathlete, I was not sure what I was going to get out of it and that maybe one of the better club members would benefit more.

As I entered the clinic, Chris welcomed me and started to explain the test fully to me, putting me at ease as to what was going to happen. Then I had to lie down on a bed while a mask was placed over my mouth. All I could think of was the scene from the Pulp Fiction, and I was waiting to hear "Bring out the Gimp!" A tube was then connected to the mask which measured the amount of Oxygen I consume while breathing.

Next, I had to lie perfectly still for about 15 minutes, and I must say that I struggled to stay awake! The idea of this test is to calculate the use of Oxygen while at rest, or thte Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). This is the base line from which the rest of the calculations come from. For me, and this was quite a shock, I have an RMR of 3622, i.e. If I was to stay in bed for a whole day and do nothing, I would burn off 3622 calories. But, and for me it is quite a big but, I basically only burn calories that I have eaten in the form of carbohydrates, and not from any fat reserves, and there is enough of that. It transpires that I only burn 2% of the fat reserves.

What this means for me, is that if I exercise, and I have eaten nothing, I will soon run out of energy, and "die" or "bonk" I think it is called. This also means that when I exercise at full tilt, I have to keep getting the carbs into my system. It also means that it is harder for me to lose weight by exercising "normally".

All this time, there is a bike sitting in the middle of the room, and having done some research, I knew what I had to do next. In the stuff on the web, athletes spoke about having someone stand behind them as they ran on the treadmill so as to catch them when they collapsed. What I had to do was start off in 9th gear, and work my way slowly through the gears till I got to 16th while keeping the same cadence (speed). This sounds easy enough, but when I finished, I felt pretty weak, and needed to lie down.

This test allows the computer calculate what the optimum heart rates I need to be at to lose weight, and to exercise at my optimum power. For me to lose weight, I need to exercise at a rate of between 113 and 120 bpm, which is quite hard to do. It is really a brisk walk, or a slow jog, but I need to do it for a long duration, preferably 1- 2 hours.

The optimum hear rate at what I can exercise, or Lactate Threshold (LT), is 159 bpm. This means that when training and in competitions, I need to keep my heart rate at between 155 – 160 bpm. My recovery heart rate zone is 149 – 154 bpm.

So, what have I learned?

Well I know why after 6 months of gradually increasing training, I am not losing weight! I am getting fitter, but I need to modify my training, which will allow me to lose some weight, which will help me get my VO2 max figures better, as my weight is used in the calculation.

I can also train smarter, allowing me to get the most from it!

I know why I have had some embarrassing moments on the bike, when I was dead after a small hill and 10K of a cycle. I was training on an empty stomach!

Oh, I also found out that Greg LeMonds VO2 Max was 92.5, and mine is 46.2! Is he twice the man, or am I half the man, was he 37 when he took the test.......

All I can say is that I would recommend the test to all. It opened my eyes, and gives me another goal to strive for.

Give Deirdre or Chris a call. It will help you Train Smarter!

Roy's visit to Leinster Sports Clinic was donated to Trilogy in the form of a prize at the 2008 AGM. They also offer a generous discount to any Trilogy Member wishing to do the test. See the links to the side of this page for more.

• Find out about Trilogys Discount
• Leinster Sports Clinic