Response to questions on recent LBP tests

[Robh]

With 9 test under my belt with another 3 confirmed my learning curve is very slowly improving. Not sure how long my FaCT apprenticeship will last but I can probably see it continuing for life as there's always something new to learn. Nothing is straight forward with FaCT, there's always more questions than answers.

Speaking of questions I dropped Andrew Sellars of Fact-Education an email last week giving him my impessions of the tests so far. As a mentor he's been very good and so has Juerg & Michel. I would like to share Andrew's response which will give an insight of what to do with the LBP results and the importance of breathing :

Andrew Sellars wrote :-

"LBP-20 will be too hard for some people...and you should be able to tell form the testing, and form their feedback after training. Listen to what they say about their 90 minute trainer sessions, and how they feel afterwards. If they are truly in STF, they should feel rather invigorated, rather than feeling run down. This is the ART of coaching, when the data does not meet your expectations. The test is not perfect, as you have noted, but you have a lot more data than most coaches have in order to make training decisions. Always better to have them training EASIER than you might think, rather than pushing their FTFa zone. You may find more clear divisions once an athlete has been consistent with their training program for a period of weeks. Make a training suggestion based on the best data you have, then retest them after 6 weeks to see if a more clear pattern arises.

Being conscious of breathing patterns and efficiency WILL lead to better cycling and running.

What it takes is enough practice for this to become "natural", and then do it enough that the structural changes occur given enough time. The Spiro-Tiger allows one to do this without the complexity of having to coordinate staying on a bike. This is easier to do on a trainer, and one of the things that we encourage our athletes to work on in the winter months, when they are staring at a blank wall, or watching TV during training.

The data is clear. Improving efficiency, by utilizing the diaphragm (rather than the accessory muscles) will allow more airflow with less caloric expenditure, allowing the body to cycle faster before the Central Governor kicks in. For higher intensity efforts, requiring higher respirations, this efficiency will help, but one must also learnt o coordinate the expiratory phase to ensure full expiration, while also having the ability to breathe quickly, which is much like doing the high cadence cycling work.

In answer to your other question, regarding measuring improvement with focused breathing. This is where you need to look at Performance Lines closely, and test whether the tolerance at different levels has changed. Can a rider now ride at LBP for over 30 minutes without a change in wattage or resp rate. Can a rider hold LBP+10 for 15 minutes without experiencing profound drop in wattage? Can a rider sustain LBP-20 for 20 hours, and be riding with less fuel requirements? All these are simple tests that they can do at home to see whether your training recommendations are working. Have them chart their progress on the last printout you provided so they can see for themselves, and then have them come back for testing when they think a significant change has occured."

[Robh]

Send me an email Sean.

Cheers Rob