So today was the big day - I went to the UC Davis sports medicine clinic and had my VO2 max tested, body fat measured and lactic threshhold tested.

I'm still a bit giddy over the results. Bear in mind that 30 months ago I weighed 180 pounds. And I don't even want to think about what my body fat was. I have maintained 150 for nearly 2 years, which according to BMI meant I was still overweight. Freaked me out a bit since obesity and high blood pressure are issues my mom and two older sisters are dealing with. But my body fat is only 21% which puts me in the athletic category. I'm pretty happy with that.

The VO2 max test was interesting. My heart rate monitor does a test and it estimated it to be 58 mL/kg/min. Which is really high. The ventilation test showed it to be 41.1. Average for a woman my age is 25 though, so not bad. But it means that my heart rate monitor has been wildly overfiguring my calories burned. Good thing I didn't use that number to justify eating a bunch of junk.

The really funny thing is you also get power at VO2 max (200 watts) which the doctor said translates to the potential to maintain 20 miles an hour on the flat - do you ever get a road that's all flat? But watts per kilogram is only 2.9. He says that really good climbers have a minimum of 3 watts per kG. Hmmm... that's why I'm such a slow climber.

The other thing is instructors at the gym and other riders are always telling me my heart rate is way to high. Guess what? I've been keeping it spot on. I just happen to have a high max heart rate.

So I feel really good about the state of my health and my abilities as a bicyclist. I think I'd like to do this testing every year or two. It'd be nice to get the body fat a little bit lower and improve power. Especially since I really like to climb.

Veronica