I began grad school this week!
At the risk of sounding super nerdy, I have really loved it. I forgot how much I loved learning. And not just any learning, but about sciences, our bodies and how they move, why they move the way they do, and how it is simply IMPOSSIBLE to not have our God, the divine Creator, behind all of it. {I'm also taking an online curriculum class, but that's way boring so I feel no need to discuss that one.}
I'm afraid that if I tried to go into detail it would sound like a jumbled mess.
Basically, there are millions and millions of processes going on in your body right now to help you function (breathe, move, think, etc). If one thing, ONE THING, were to go wrong, or not happen, you wouldn't be able to go on living. It is truly amazing. Yet another reason to take care of the bodies we have, but that's a soap box for another day.
Yesterday, we were forced to were able to participate in the Wingate Test. It is a 30 second test to measure maximum power output and maximum power output duration. It is often used to test professional athletes, and I know it is used in the NHL combine. We did the test to experience the metabolic processes that happen during the test, which is what we have been talking about this week. It's 30 seconds on a stationary bike - super easy, right?
Wrong. Oh, so wrong.
I have never, in my 20+ years of sports, exercising, two-a-days, track workouts, half marathons (and marathon), etc, experienced exercise-induced vomiting. Until Yesterday.
So lovely.
I was fortunate enough to go last out of the four students in our class. And by fortunate, I mean I got to watch everyone else suffer first, which only increased my anxiety about it.
The test was simple.
A heart rate monitor was attached around your chest. You hopped on the bike and pedaled slowly for a five minute warm-up. After two minutes, weight (according to your body mass-I think it was 7% kg) was added to the bike and you were instructed to pedal as hard and as fast as you could for 5 seconds. I'm sure it's helpful in warming up, but I also believe this is to give you an idea of just how difficult the resistance will be. After 5 seconds of pedaling, the weight was picked up, and you continued pedaling slowly. This 5-second burst was repeated at 3 minutes, and once completed, you pedaled slowly for the remaining 2 minutes. When the warm-up was completed, you were able to hop off the bike, grab a drink of water, shake out your legs, and walk around. Whenever you felt like your breathing had returned to normal, you hopped back on the bike and pedaled slowly for 55 seconds. When you reached the 55 second mark, you were told to pick up speed so that by 1 minute, when the weight was dropped, you were going as fast and as hard as you could. Your classmates and teacher are around, screaming at you to keep going. It is by far the longest 30 seconds of your life. Just when you think, "Surely I'm almost done!", your teacher says, "15 seconds, half way!" That's when you REALLY want to quit. But you can't. The pedals get heavier and heavier and your legs move slower and slower until finally they say you can stop.
The recovery wasn't too bad right away. I was out of breath, but not too bad. I pedaled slowly for awhile and then decided to get off. One of my legs buckled a bit, but thankfully I didn't fall. I tried walking around for a bit, but I quickly started to feel my body catching up to what I had just done. I was exhausted in everyway.
Another teacher told me today that if you don't throw up after the Wingate, then you didn't do it right. So at least I have that going for me. I also apparently rallied at 20 seconds (pushed harder), which my teacher hadn't seen before.
It was certainly an experience. Not something I want to do again, but on the other side of it, I can say I'm glad I did it. If you are curious as to what it might look like, I just found this youtube video from the Wisconsin University Hockey team that shows a bit about it.
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