Low BI-STF zones found using FaCT IRIS

[Robh]

A couple of people have queried the BI-STF zones that I have found for the athletes I've tested. FaCT uses trends not absolute numbers or percentages to work out the zones for the crossover point for STF/FTF.

For the start Bi-STF zone I use the HRV fucntion on my polar CS600.

For the crossover point for STF/FTF the level II test tries to use the trend of finding where resp rate goes up and Spo2 goes down. Now humans are not pefect like motor cars and it's not always possisle to find this. For instance last night the person I was testing had very cold hands, I got the person to try and warm his hands but the Spo2 HR readings wouldn't match the HR on the polar so I could not use Spo2%. This was due to poor circluation. Next time I will warm up a pair of gloves me thinks...

In cases like this I try and look at the resp rate alone and if that fails I use -20 rule and Juerg in the past has used -30.

The level III test is FaCT IRIS which stands for Individual Recovery Intensity System and uses the Fitmate Pro which is a desktop metabolic system for performance fitness.

The Fitmate Pro is part of the level III course, I've only done level I & II and maybe in a few years time when I've got a few more tests under my belt I might integrate this test here in the UK (need a sponsor though as the machine is not cheap).

I've borrowed images form Juerg's forum to show you some athletes with low Bi-STF zones uses the Fitmate Pro and hopefully Juerg wil lexpalin the process in layman terms..

Juerg wrote :-

Here what we really do . I like to take the last 2 tests I did this week as examples and we can try to think together through this cases, as well as you readers can ask for some additional testing information so I can show on how I try to base the different ideas and possible questions. Remember that very often the theory sounds great , but the practical application is bad or very unclear.
Here the 2 cases.
Case 1 . A very good very light MTB person , having since a few month some problem with breathing and with actual riding as he feels tired and sluggish.
We did besides all the possible test some performance assessments as a FaCT IRIS.
Second case is his friend. The are riding together since many years. Than he had a very severe work accident with a 2 year completely of any activity , Rehab and now back to cycling with his buddies. Problem : Very often sever "bonking" in the longer rides out in the mountains or during skiing.
Here just to start with no comment the test results.
Test protocol for both was identical and the same wattage and bike set up.
Equipment used.
Taxc trainer grand excel
Polar HR monitor
Lactate Pro
Fitmate for VO2 and pulmonary assessment
Spiro pet for Vital capacity assessment
SpO2 finger oxymeter steady read out
Herb's new softwear for FaCT IRIS with the variables for SpO2 / Respiratory frequency/ or any cardiac information like Stroke volume, Systemic vascular resistance, end diastolic volume and LVET,
all collected with a Physio flow live during the test.
Here to make it not to overloading the basic printout as we often see.
Case 1.

[img]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t209/sbc205/fact1-1.jpg[/img]

Here's case 2.

[img]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t209/sbc205/fact2-1.jpg[/img]

Now here the overlap of both to show them what may happen when they bike together , and how they can adjust the workouts, so that training together is still of benefit for both.
Overlap

[img]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t209/sbc205/fact3.jpg[/img]

So here the "brain workout for the week"
What do you think is the situation when they ride together ?
How could they adjust the training , when they ride together so that still both have a specific workout.
?
How can we make the same workout for them when they ride together. Example they like to do a 4 h ride in the STF zone together.
What nutritional intervention can we apply in the different workout scenario.
So please give it some thoughts , and I will come back later and show you what was going on .
What we do is for the moment a very individual program and than combine possible scenario for them.
As well as we have some trainings they do on their own to work on their weak areas at home.
The protocol was as followed.
3 min step test up starting as you can see very low.
Case one HRV ( RLX) by 115
Case 2 HRV by 105
Than every 3 min up by 20 wattage same RPM +- 5
Steady recording of the :
Heart rate
VO2
Respiratory frequenzy
VE or total air volume
Out of this we get the tidal volume ( volume on air per breath
FeO2 in % which is the amount of O2 the person was breathing out.
Example 20.9 at that time went in and 15.9 out so 5 % O2 used which is a true O2 of 5 %. This is sometimes confusing , as when FeO2 is going down true O2 is going up.
So based on this we as well see how much ml the person uses or moves per heart beat or per breath.
We checked non stop the SpO2 on the finger.
We will have no new a watch , where we can actually see SpO2 non stop so it does not fall of during the test and can give an alarm signal once we start using it for hypoxy workouts with one of this client
After the first step test we checked as usual the blood values as you can see and followed up with a FaCT lactate trend test as usual. You can see that in one case 1 we tested the lactate 2 times by two occasions due to the minor change in trend info.
I can give later the lactate values, as I cut them of to avoid the names of the clients on the printouts.
We kept the fit mate on as well in the second part to assess the recovery of the different systems.
Here an example from case 1 in the recovery information.
The first of each parameters like HR and so on is always the values the client had on the first part in the test going up. the second value is the values he had by the same wattage in the second part of the test after the all out situation.
This recovery page shows nicely , that by the same wattage output all other parameters are often very different, which means , that the same wattage is the same wattage but it may as so often discussed a different physiological stress on the system. Here the recovery part case 1

[img]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t209/sbc205/fact4.jpg[/img]