>

+

+

Carbon

Dioxide

supply can keep up with the sugar supply,

allowing an efficient chemical reaction.

Anerobic exercise is when you are forcing

your muscles to work at maximum capacity

and you can’t supply enough oxygen. It

produces just 5 per cent as much energy

as aerobic exercise as glucose is ‘burned’

inefficiently. It’s a bit like having unused fuel

coming out the exhaust pipe of your car only

in this case it causes a build-up of lactate in

the muscles. This starts to make life very

difficult. First you feel a burning in the muscles

and then, if you keep hard at it, you will start

to feel sick as the lactate accumulates in your

bloodstream – then you will collapse in

a heap and throw up.

I didn’t quite get to the throwing up stage on

the ergometer but I was definitely starting

to feel the burn and puffing like an old steam

engine. There’s a time and a place for being

stubborn, and this is it. When your legs are

swearing at you, you just have to keep on

keeping on. Rhona and Sarah were cheering me

High

Energy

Water

on to hit my peak power output but ultimately

the tests showed that I wasn’t quite there.

I wasn’t producing the sustained power that

would be needed to hit 120 mph. I could

produce good levels of power in short bursts –

the kind of thing I do ploughing through mud

or up a steep rise on my mountain bike – but

even though I was rated at a level twice as good

as an average cyclist, it still wasn’t enough.

The only way to delay the onset of the anerobic

shut-down is through high intensity training,

getting your body used to working harder

so that you can keep oxygen/glucose energy

conversion system working at peak efficiency

for longer. I’ve never been one to shy away

from hard work, so I was prepared to get stuck

into some proper training, but I’m more than

willing to take a bit of advice from those who

know best and Laura Trott was just the girl.

Glucose

>

+

Lactic

Acid

Low

Energy

FEELING THE BURN   55