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Research and Recovery

Rob Howard / 23.08.2006

Less than 2 days after winning the World title Richard Ussher of Nike Powerblast could be found on an exercise bike in Race HQ, sweat pouring off him as he pushing himself to his limit in a VO2 max test. “That’s not what you want to be doing just after a race,� Ian Adamson joked as he walked in. But he’d completed a similar test earlier in the day.

For the past couple of years a comprehensive study on the physiology of endurance adventure racers has been carried with Swedish adventure racers and during the World Championships the test team from the Swedish School of Sports Education have taken the opportunity to study the elite of the sport.

There have been simple tests on body fat, blood tests and questionnaires, but now they wanted to study the champions in more detail and all but Dave Wiens were willing to participate. Dave had had enough!

As the resistance level on the bike was turned up Ussher was clapped and cheered by the Race Directors and medical staff, encouraged to give his all and there were excited and surprised looks at he coped easily with the early stages of the test, then suddenly ’the race kicked in’ and heart rate, oxygen uptake and lactate levels started to shoot upwards.

“I felt the fatigue in my legs,� Ussher said, “and biking is not really my thing. I do better on treadmill tests. Running I can keep my threshold around 170/175 heart rate, biking its 165/170 and kayaking around 155.�

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