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How To Get An Inside View Into Your Physiology and Take The Guesswork Out of Training - Without Going To A Lab!  

 

What is the best way to improve your power and performance on the bike, the run or even in the pool? 

 

Is it Sweet Spot training? High volumes of long slow distance? Perhaps polarised training? Maybe reversed periodisation training?

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INSCYD Metabolic Profiling

tHE ORIGINS OF YOUR performance 

INSCYD testing dashboard

The only correct answer is, it depends. But YOU will find out just what is the best solution for you, when you discover the building blocks of YOUR power, and how it is completely determined by two fundamental physiological variables. 

No more guessing. Find out with confidence how you should be training to improve power, your speed and achieve your goals. 

 

How INSCYD metabolic profiling improves performance

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Performance is not random. It can be broken down into a very small number of fundamental components. In cycling, we really don't need to worry about much more than aerobic capacity (VO2max), glycolytic capacity (VLaMax), and aerodynamics. 

We don't even need to care about Functional Threshold Power (FTP, or the anaerobic threshold), as this is determined to 98% by the combination of VO2max and VLaMax. 

If performance is so predictable, and we know how changing VO2max and VLaMax will impact your FTP and your race performance, then why is it that 99% of triathletes train without knowing WHY we do the training that we're doing? It's because we don't understand our own physiology and metabolic profile. 

With the INSCYD Power Performance Decoder (PPD) service is one you can do anywhere in the world, using only your power meter, you will learn get accurate information about your own physiology. And when you know what your VO2max, VLaMax, Anaerobic Threshold, Fat and Carb oxidation rates are, suddenly your training will no longer be a bunch of guesswork (you might call it educated guesswork, but it's still guesswork). 

 

Not only CAN you do this testing anywhere in the world, but you literally CANNOT do this testing in almost any laboratory. Typically these labs will only test your VO2max and your threshold, but you will not get to know your VLaMax. And since VLaMax is elite coaches' secret weapon to performance, you should never do another lab test unless they too can provide you with this crucial metric. 

 

Once you have completed the testing and received your results, you will KNOW for a fact which "knob to turn" - should you train your VO2max, your VLaMax, try to get your threshold to a higher percentage of VO2max, or should you practise your ability to oxidise fat? 

Power Performance Decoder

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INSCYD’s PPD is used by world championship cyclists and triathletes around the world. 

 

In the last few months, PPD has been used and thoroughly tested by pro teams CCC, SEG Racing as well as by many WorldTour coaches and coaching businesses, also in direct comparison to lactate and lab tests. This way, top-level accuracy is not only guaranteed, but validated.

 

INSCYD is not a training software. It’s a performance analysis tool that will allow you to truly tailor your training sessions to your goals and needs. Start training for real. You can’t improve what you can’t measure.

 

The Power-Performance Decoder allows us to assess the full 360° metabolic profile based on entirely remote testing. In the last few months, PPD has been used and thoroughly tested by pro teams CCC, SEG Racing as well as by many WorldTour coaches and coaching businesses, also in direct comparison to lactate and lab tests. This way, top-level accuracy is not only guaranteed, but validated.

 

PPD comes as an unprecedented tool because this test can be done anywhere with a powermeter. With simple instructions given to the athlete and without the need for a coach to be present.

 

So, if you want to maximise your training whilst we are experiencing the most challenging environment in living history then this is critical for you. You don’t even need to leave your home.

 

By completing the testing, you won’t waste a single second or minute of training.

 

Your results from the testing include:
 

  • VO2max - maximum aerobic performance

  • VLamax - maximum glycolytic performance

  • Anaerobic Threshold

  • Fat combustion rate

  • Carbohydrate combustion rate

  • Aerobic & Anaerobic energy contribution

  • Lactate recovery and accumulation

 

There are 4 components to the test which can be completed over a 72 hour window if needed: 

Once the test is completed all you have to do is send the separate respective files across to us and we do the rest

 

Your Results - Your physiology, your metabolic fingerprint, and your training zones

You will be sent a full report with all the metrics mentioned above, and a few key charts that will help you apply the information in practice. For example, as training interventions or race fuelling plans. Importantly, you will also get training zones that apply to you as an individual. 

You will also get access to plenty of content and information designed specifically so you can understand your test results and most importantly, apply it in practice in training and racing!

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At worst it is a secret weapon, and at best it will result in a quantum leap in your performance since the resulting training plan is not only tailored to your goals but to your individual metabolism.

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Metrics - a 360-degree view of your physiology

 

With the INSCYD Power Performance Decoder test you can obtain a full metabolic and performance profile. The test result is a multi-dimensional model that includes all the relevant physiological components of performance. Your capacity to perform in any race and the way you should train to improve on that performance can be boiled down into the following metrics that you will obtain.  

 

VO2max (aerobic capacity)

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From a 400m run to an IRONMAN triathlon, the aerobic capacity - or VO2max - is the single most important performance metric.

 

Measuring VO2max isn't something new. But with INSCYD testing you can now see how VO2max interacts with race and training performances:

 

  • Explain changes in anaerobic threshold power.

  • Compare the effect of high-intensity interval training over high-volume endurance training on VO2max and fitness improvements.

  • Understand the impact of VO2max on fat oxidation and carbohydrate combustion.

  • Evaluate the impact of specialized nutrition regimes to further increase VO2max.

 

Along with your test results, you will get information and content on different ways to improve VO2max, so that if this is your limiter, you know what training you should do to address it. 

 

VLaMax (glycolytic/anaerobic capacity)

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There are two sides of VLamax (glycolytic capacity). 

 

On the one hand, a high VLamax increases the power available for short efforts: a 200m swimming race, a 400m run, an attack, a sprint.

On the other hand, a low VLamax improves the anaerobic threshold and fat combustion and shortens recovery from hard efforts. 

 

This means even for an Olympic distance race, you want a low VLaMax to maximise your performance. Knowing your VLaMax will be a game-changer in your training program:

 

  • Explain changes in anaerobic threshold power, and plan for how to best improve threshold power. 

  • Plan your personal target VLaMax based on your goal races (there will be huge differences between an Ironman athlete and a cyclocross or criterium cyclist)

  • Decide on what training will allow you to decrease/increase your VLaMax until you reach your own ideal VLaMax.

  • Tune your nutrition to further help decrease/increase VLaMax. 

  • Understand the impact of VLaMax on fat oxidation and carbohydrate combustion.

 

Along with your test results, you will get information and content on different ways to alter (decrease or increase) VLaMax, so that whichever way you need to take it, you know what training you should do to do so.

 

Anaerobic Threshold / FTP

 

INSCYD detects your anaerobic threshold as per the scientific definition: the maximum intensity at which lactate combustion matches lactate production.

 

But knowing your threshold power simply isn't good enough! Only if you understand WHY it is what it is can you effectively change it. 

 

  • High VO2max and high VLaMax? Reduce VLaMax. 

  • Low VO2max and low VLaMax? Increase VO2max. 

  • Anything in between? INSCYD will show you the relative strenght of your VO2max/VLaMax, and make it easy for you to decide which one to tackle first, in order to improve threshold power. 

  • Scientific validation of INSCYD's threshold testing shows an accuracy of 2.5%. Better than with any other validated method.

  • INSCYD offers the only detection of the anaerobic threshold which has been specifically validated in women - no other lactate or FTP test does this.

 

Along with your test results, you will get information and content on how best to tackle anaerobic threshold improvements in various scenarios, as described above. 

 

Fat and Carb combustion

 

Increasing fat oxidation and thereby sparing precious and limited glycogen is a very important part of endurance events. Especially so when we talk about half and full Ironman racing. 

 

But fat and carb combustion is highly individual - there is no certain "percent of FTP" at which your maximum fat oxidation occurs, and how much carbs you use at e.g. your goal race intensity is natually also very much individual to you. 

 

Use INSCYD's accurate and validated fat and carb combustion reports to:

 

  • Tailor your race (and training) nutrition plans to how much carbohydrate you actually combust at your race intensity. 

  • Use your own experience of your maximum tolerance for taking on energy in races to fine-tune your pacing plan so you don't run out of fuel, and to set a benchmark for how much you should increase your tolerance to take on energy by practising it in training. 

  • Know your FatMax zone and train in it to improve your ability to oxidise fat for fuel.

  • Use nutritional strategies to improve your fat oxidation and evaluate the impact of them. 

 

Along with your test results, you will get information and content on different ways to use the knowledge of your fat and carb combustion rates to tailor race nutrition plans as well as to improve fat oxidation with training. 

 

Lactate accumulation and recovery

 

If your racing scene is high-level draft-legal triathlon or cycling disciplines with large variations in intensity (road racing, cyclocross, crit racing) then your ability to use lactate as fuel and to shuttle it is critical in your performance puzzle.

 

These abilities are highly trainable, and INSCYD testing allows you to monitor your progress and improvements in your production and combustion of lactate. 

 

  • Learn exactly how quickly lactate accumulates in your blood at any given intensity. This information will inform tactical racing decisions like when to initiate a breakaway, when to go with one, and when to hold back and keep it cool. 

  • Learn exactly how quickly you process and get rid of lactate at any given intensity. This information will inform tactical racing decisions like when should you nex try to do a breakaway after getting caught up from a previous attempt.

  • Use knowledge of your lactate recovery rate to tailor your interval training recovery duration and intensity. You may want to do your recovery intervals at a higher intensity than you think, but also, make them longer than you think you should, to really optimise the effects of your training. 

 

Along with your test results, you will get information and content on how to use knowledge of your individual lactate production and combustion rates to inform race tactics and to optimise interval training. 

 

Individual Training Zones

 

It's about time we move on from thinking that everybody can be training various energy systems using the SAME generic percentages of FTP.

 

Your results will contain training zones completely individual to you and your physiology. Whether you want to go out and do VO2max intervals or a FatMax ride, you will have an accurate power target for you to hit your training objective. 

 

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Do you have any questions about the service or want to know if it is right for you? Contact me at dg@sisuracing.co.uk and I'll be happy to help you out.

PPD - Level 1

Starter

A 1 time test If you have a basic understanding of exercise physiology and metabolism and are ready to do a little work on your own to understand your results, this is an affordable option for you. 

£ 250

PPD - Level 2

MOST popular

If you want to be sure that you make the correct training decisions from your results, but think you'll be fine  follow-up questions over email, this is the best option for you (most athletes fall in this category)

£ 300

PPD - Level 3

Premium

If you want to get those last few percentage points of performance (marginal gains), then a one-to-one consultation with coach Duncan allows you to apply your results to improve performance to even greater effect.

 

With 4 tests this is the ideal option for athletes serious about continuous improvement and optimal training over the course of an entire year as your physiology changes..

£ 750

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