Originally Posted by
MDcatV
The coach I work with is big on these tests and has all her athletes do them 2 or 3 x each year. Except that no finger pricks, she uses data generated by inhlatations/exhalations and fat burning vs. carb burning to determine LTHR, VO2Max, etc. Ea. test takes about 15 - 18 minutes, and hurts alot.
No finger pricks/blood analyization would mean that LT is not truly being determined. Despite that I don't know that you would need to know that anyways. As DukeofK said, those numbers don't do much for you. The important thing is how those numbers translate to race performance. It seems to me that the best test in terms of cycling would be something along the lines of a MAP test as that would give you the real world applicability that you would want. At the same time, you could probably do a VO2max test that would have a similar protocol along with that if for some reason you were dying to know your numbers. Bottom line is that you are better served saving the money and putting it toward a power device and conducting useful tests by yourself or with the help of a friend or computrainer.
~Nick