Being a lab rat

3-9-13

Another small hiatus from running, but I am back...

Last weekend I went on an easy 3 mile run around the rolling hills of South Glastonbury and woke up the next morning to some tenderness and interesting bruising on my right ankle, behind my medial malleous and next to my Achilles' tendon:

I don't remember hitting it on something and that kind of ankle sprain is close to impossible to go unnoticed, so I decided to show it to a professional.  On Monday I had it checked by my AT buddy, Kelsey, at school, and she said it may be some Achilles' inflammation.  Scared to death of snapping my Achilles', I decided to take a few days off to allow it calm down a bit. 

Earlier that Saturday morning, I got a frantic email from another friend, Lindsay, at school who was desperately looking for subjects for her dissertation study.  I told her I could help and arranged to complete 3 VO2peak running tests starting the following weekend.  Then I wake up the above bruise and got a bit nervous...but luckily by Wednesday the tenderness was gone and the bruising was subsiding a bit...well, more like pooling into a fantastic watercolor-esque landscape on my foot.

So back to the cool study I am participating in.  Lindsay, is looking at the differences between wearing Vibrams FiveFinger shoes, regular running shoes, or going barefoot and their relationship with foot strike mechanics, VO2 peak (essentially your aerobic performance/effectiveness), and blood lactate levels.  I have to complete 3 running sessions, one with each type of footwear, and each session involves a VO2peak test on a treadmill.

Today was my first session.  I started out by getting my body fat assessed via the Bod Pod.  It looks a lot like the character "Eve" from Wall-E, and can accurately assess body density and body fat percentage by the amount of air displacement in the "capsule".

I had to wear the ridiculous swim cap as part of the protocol...I don't always look that fabulous...

Anywho...I was excited with the number it determined for me: 16%, but also slightly skeptical because I am not THAT fit...but, it is science, so I'll go with it :o)

For my first session, I had to wear the Vibrams.  The best part of the study: I GOT A FREE PAIR OF VIBRAMS!  It was my first time ever wearing them and I have to say they are interesting, comfortable, and fantastic all at the same time.  The hardest part about wearing them is getting your toes into the individual toe slots.  I think I got my little toe stuck in the wrong toe slot like 10 times before I finally got them in the correct places. 

Once the Vibrams were on, I was fitted with a VO2 mask, which assesses my expired air to determine cool things like my RER and VO2.  It is a bit cumbersome to run with because the face mask is very front-heavy and pulls away from your mouth.  Also, since the air you breathe in is coming from a gas container, it is dry.  I started to experience dry mouth before I started to walk...

The running protocol starts with a brisk walk, then quickly increases running speed every 3 minutes.  At the end of each stage, and before I started walking, Lindsay had to prick my finger to test blood lactate.  This is an easy task to do while standing still and can be a bit tricky (and messy!) when a subject is running.  My finger pads are already bruised, which has made typing a bit painful..

In typical SC ExPhys lab tradition, the metabolic cart decided to stop working toward the end of my run, so I don't know my exact VO2peak for this test and may have to redo it during the week...well, at least I'll get some training in this week!

My first two 5Ks are next weekend and I can't wait.  Plus, "spring forward" is tonight, which means more sunlight to do later runs, and warmer weather is predicted, which means I'll have less "it's too cold out" excuses to use to not run.

Keeping with Disney-Pixar movies, I'll leave you today with a quote from Meet the Robinson's, with a modified running twist...I dedicate this one to my sister, who I'll be running my first 5K of the season with next Sunday:
              It doesn't matter how fast you're going as long as you "Keep Moving Forward"