Wingate Test

Here's where I actually make an attempt to sound really geeky yet cool.

For exercise physiology lab this morning, I did the Wingate Test. It is a test for anaerobic power (without the use of oxygen) whereby I had to do 30s sprints on a bicycle ergometer with a load of approximately 8% of my own body weight.

I did a repeat test, which means i did 30 s sprint, had a 4 minute recovery, and another 30 s sprint. The results I obtained from the test were pretty awesome. I surprise myself, really. I always feel really shy among my course mates because they're all really really fit people. But today I managed to come up with pretty good results.

In the first trial, I had a peak power output of 760 W. In the 2nd trial, my peak power output was 586 W. According to this website I am waaay up there in the top 10% percentile of women.

Percentile norms for Peak Power for active young adults is :

	Male	Female
%Rank	Watts	Watts
90	822	560
80	777	527
70	757	505
60	721	480
50	689	449
40	671	432
30	656	399
20	618	376
10	570	353

Maud, P.J., and Schultz B.B: 1989

Also, a graph is plotted as I spin on the bike. My graph had a nice slow descending linear line. Which meant I am an endurance athlete, and I am able to hold that peak power output for a much longer time than that of a power athlete (sprinters, weight lifters, rugby players). For power athletes, they reach a much higher peak power output, but drops almost immediately after that because they cannot hold that power output for very long.

This really made me happy, because I know for a fact that I am not a well trained athlete, and I had always doubted the fact that I was a clear cut endurance athlete. I'm always ashamed to tell people I run marathons, because I barely train for them. But I guess I am an endurance athlete after all, tested and proven. =)

However, the immediate after effect of the test was quite horrible. My legs were completely jelly, and I had a sickness in the pits of my stomach that felt like rushing out. 30s maximal effort is no joke. I felt like someone had punched the wind out of me. I wanted to throw up. Physiologically, it was because i had a large amount of blood sent to my legs which were slowly making its way back up to the heart and the brain. Also, my body was just overwhelmed by lactate and was just in shock at the amount of it. It took me about 20 minutes before I finally felt close to normal.

But I'm kinda floating on air now, just thinking to myself how "powerful" I am. It is moments like these that remind me why I'm doing this course. =)