In Reply To:
Thanks - I read the other posts debating efficacy. I am convinced that it's worth a try.
What I am really curious about is long term usage.
Have you used it consistently for years, or do you use it for 3 months and then stop for a couple months before starting again?
I had used it basically continuously starting in late 2008. But after discussions with my naturopath - who is very well researched on supplements - she said that it might be better to try cycling off of it for periods once or twice per year (for a period of about 2weeks or so) and even "microcycling" it as part of my "normal" routine. Her suggestion was that I try taking it M-F and then skipping S & S. So I will try that, especially now that I can be more objective about evaluating it since I am actually back to training with greater regularity. But I haven't yet tried that. Keep in mind that when it is effective, it is affecting your hormones. Cortisol is a hormone. I know of people who have had no effect from it. I know of people who perceived a positive effect from it. And I know of one - but only one - person who had what they perceived as a negative effect (higher HR and trouble sleeping). It has an effect on your body, and anytime you start using something that affects your body, I think you are wise to be cautious.
As far as what objective measures I'd use for evaluation, take your morning RHR in a consistent and repeatable way for about two weeks BEFORE you start with optygen. Repeat that "test" during your evaluation of optygen. Ideally, you should be on a similar training schedule. As a pro, where you have less "alternative" stresses in your life, this is more reliable than it is for a lot of age group athletes. But it's still something that I think you can use. I take mine first thing in the AM, right when I wake up (i have one that reads off your finger).
The other "test" that I did was correlating HR/speed/RPE on a consistent treadmill set that I did very regularly. I would look at avg HR during an interval and then how my HR dropped during recovery as well as RPE - which is a surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) good indicator of load - during the set. I ran basically the same exact time, and I eat basically the same exact breakfast, and I used the same treadmill in the same gym. Of course, the difficulty is in parsing out your own "fitness" gains - though I increased speed over the period of weeks that i did the test, so I attempted to use that to account for changes in fitness. My own findings were that my RHR was about 3bpm lower when taking optygen and that I saw a "greater" drop in HR during the recovery time between intervals. I don't have any hard numbers to share because that was close to 2 years ago, and I didn't have download capabilities on the HRM I was using, and even beyond that, I wouldn't actually expect that data to stand up substantively as any sort of authoritative test as it was certainly n=1, fraught with error, etc. But i also did have enough confidence in what I knew was typical consisntency and performance for myself to come away feeling confident that Optygen has a positive impact on me.
My advice to most people is that admittedly, Optygen is expensive. Really expensive. It's benefit is in helping your body manage stress - your body interprets stress as stress, whether it is emotional or physiological, but of course the response to physiological stress is also to "get fitter." So I would say take it during those times when stress is greatest - whether it be a period when you are struggling to balance your training because of a lot of work or when you are struggling to balance your training because of a lot of training. Be objective. Let's say you are building up for an Ironman. Take it during your preparation, and for a week or two after the race when residual stress is quite high from the race. Then stop. I think that's a perfectly reasonable plan. Put most simply - it is designed to help your improve the quality of your recovery from stresses on your body which should help your training which should help your racing. So use that as your guide.
"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
