Last Friday I had the opportunity to take a few test at Aktivitus in Stockholm. I booked the 10:30-12:30 test so I would have time to recover before the afternoon session at Nationals.

I take the 6am train and arrive in Stockholm at 9:40.  Dump my suitcase in a locker and jump on the metro out to Solna.

When I arrive I am greeted by Isak. We go through a little about my past and current training as well as my goals for 2015. After we are finished I get changed and we start the first lactate test on a bike. I’m not going to pretend to understand all the data but the results make sense and the advise I got on how intense I should bike during my shorter and longer workouts made sense.

I should bike long under 135 and my shorter intense intervals over 150.

After a short cool down we made the switch to the treadmill. I haven’t been running since August the way I should have been but I knew my legs were stronger now than last year. I ran for about 25min building up speed until I reached a sharp increase in lactate just over 5min/km, which explains why  I run my 21km at about the same pace as my 10km.  Again all the data doesn’t mean much to me but the results speak for themselves

I need to keep my distance runs at or about 6min/km and run my shorter intense intervals at a pulse over 165.

I did get complimented on my energy efficient running. I had very little and constant vertical lift during the test. It was only my step frequency that increase with speed.

After the run lactate test was over we did the VO2 Max test. I was going to run at 6min/km pace and go from 1% incline increasing 1%/min. From 1-4% I was afraid I was going to have to run for another 30min. But when I hit 5% I knew the end was near. During the 7% I actually looked down to make sure my hands were close to the handrails. About 20s into the 8% I gave up. Not because of my legs or the breathing but my lower back and hip could not take it.

Isak commented that I did a good job pushing that little extra and he could see that I have a good cardio system to work with. That is something I have from all my years of swimming. I need to work on the mental blocks and ability to push my limits on a bike and in running shoes.

This is my results 

Interesting enough even being fat I’m in the excellent range. And I only need to lose 7kg to have been in the superior range for my age group.

Thanks Isak at Aktivitus and Funbeat for the contest to win this. I’m now hopping my family has a reason to go to Stockholm or Gothenburg at the end of July so I can see how my training has effected me values.