This is the 2nd year of what I’m assuming is a seasonal allergy issue. No obvious breathing issues but definite loss of strength on runs over 8 miles, exactly the same time of the year (to the day) as last season. Causing me to DNF at LP 09 and a probable DNS for 10.
My primary care doc wants to have me do a PFTS and a stress test before sending me to an allergist, to be on the safe side.
What can I expect from the test, do they really push you? how long is the test?
I have heard horror stories of athletes being on the treadmill for long periods because they couldn’t get their heart rate up?
It’s easier then most “hard” workouts I do on a weekly basis.
Starts off at a pace, and then they increase the pace for a bit before just increasing the incline. Starts walking.
They are looking at what happens throughout, not just the last bit.
the last bit - i.e. the really hard bit only need last for a minute. They have a protocol they use to determine if you have reached your maximum.
I went two levels above the point where the Doc said we’ve got enough information and you’ve reached your maximum. In those two levels, despite me being able to maintain the effort my HR only went up a fraction and nothing of any value was gained in that extra time - but it was nice to be told I’d taken the test further then anyone they’ve had.
I get a physical every two years for my job. May was my 40th birthday so I had to get the stress test.
The test I did, which I assume is similar to other tests, involved a specialized treadmill that picked up speed and incline every three minutes until you hit whatever target heart rate. The test will be over once you reach the prescribed target HR.
My target HR was 153. The system I was using went up to Level 6, which starts at 15 minutes. Level 6 wasn’t enough for me to hit a 153 HR. They had to manually ramp it up so my ticker really got going. I went for over twenty minutes before I hit 153. I was told it was the second longest test they ever administered. Some 40 year old marathon runner beat me out last year.
The average 40 year old male hits the target HR around 5 or 6 minutes.
I have heard horror stories of athletes being on the treadmill for long periods because they couldn’t get their heart rate up?
To specifically answer this - I don’t buy it, unless it is different test and people are getting confused.
The test has increments - I think it was every 1 or 2 minutes the pace increased for a while, up to around 16km/h, then from there they simply increase the incline of the treadmill. The intensity increments are noticable and significant. The only way someone could be on there for long periods is if it started at an easy level. Now if it did start out an easy level all that would happen is the patient/subject would spend time at a very easy intensity relative for them - so nothing hard about it.
The hard bit lasts for around 5 to 7 minutes. You just get to a point where you think “Ok, now this is an effort” and then every increment basically takes you through to the top in about 5 or 6 steps.
Think of it this way
You spend “x” amount of minutes in an aerobic zone, nice and easy.
then at a given increase in increment all of a sudden you kick up to the next zone. From that point you only have say Level 4, Level 5, Level 6 and the last dash before you’re done. So the hard stuff only lasts a very short time.
After my test, about an hour later I did a proper workout.
Most stess tests are done under a staged exertion protocol. In this type the level changes, both slope and speed every 3 minutes. Multiple sets of data are followed and collected but basically we’re looking at the circulatory system’s response to increasingly more difficult exercise stress. If you reproduce your symptoms during the test this is helpful in both diagnosis and ruling out (hopefully) problems.
Just being able to go 10 minutes or more on the staged stress test (which most triathletes could do easily) is a very good indicator of cardiac fitness and suggests low risk for cardiac events.
Don’t worry, most tests done in your situation are for reassurance, that is to rule out heart problems and allow safe return to exercise.
I did one when I turned 30, and just did one at the end of May to celebrate my 40th.
The one I did had 8 - three minute efforts. the speed increases and the incline increases every 3 minutes. I also had pre and post echos done.
I got to the point that the machines stoped collecting data. My doctor and the two techs had never seen that before.
The pace through about level 5 was walking speed. At level five it was difficult to either walk fast enough or run slow enough. But, I will say that the incline was more than I expected on all levels. I would say that the end speed was about a 6 min/mi pace, but the hill was at least 45 degrees from horizontal.
I had fun at mine and afterwards was able to get a nice four mile run and 1500m swim in before needing to be back at work. I would summarize it as a 15 minute warm up and a 9 minute hill run.
This is the 2nd year of what I’m assuming is a seasonal allergy issue. No obvious breathing issues but definite loss of strength on runs over 8 miles, exactly the same time of the year (to the day) as last season. Causing me to DNF at LP 09 and a probable DNS for 10.
My primary care doc wants to have me do a PFTS and a stress test before sending me to an allergist, to be on the safe side.
What can I expect from the test, do they really push you? how long is the test?
I have heard horror stories of athletes being on the treadmill for long periods because they couldn’t get their heart rate up?
Thanks
Ron W.
i did my stress test the wednesday before IMLP last year as i was having chest pains (turns out they were impact/muscle related). i got the machine maxed and the dr kinda just shrugged and said “that’lldo”.
after the treadmilll thing i had to lay down immediatly and they did an ultra sound to check everything out. the problem was my HR recovered too quickly for them to get any good info. i recovered over a 100bpm in under a minute. they were talking about putting me back on the machine to try it again. i told them i would be fine for an IM effort and went home and finished packing and left in the morning.
the test isn’t hard, but it is stressfull to be in that situation this close to game day.
I had one a few years ago for the same problem the OP describes (turned out to be a lung infection).
Things of note: They will require you to hold the sides of the treadmill (at least my technician did). They won’t care that you have 100’s of miles on a gym treadmill.
At the time I was a sub 18 min 5k runner, and I managed to take the machine to the limit before it took me to the limit, something that the techinician had never seen. I lasted about 2 minutes at that effort.
Bring a change of clothes. I asked to change and they said it wasn’t necessary. Then when it was over I was soaked with sweat with only running clothes to put on.
I did a max HR stress test last year after having some chest pains. They hook up a bunch of EKG leads on you and put you on a treadmill. It starts out at casual walking speed, although with a pretty good incline. Every few minutes the incline and speed went up. Before it started they told me that they’d take me up to my max HR, which they had obviously determined by the 220 - age formula. I told them that I know for a fact my max is at least 15 beats higher than what they were shooting for, the nurse kind of rolled their eyes at me but sure enough, I eventually went past their number and up to my actual max (or darn close to it) before they had me quit. They did pulse/BP readings every time their was a level change and did ultrasound pics of my heart before starting and immediately at the end when it was pumping hard. I actually found the test to be harder than I expected. It was easy at the beginning and you could walk through the first few speed changes but the incline was far steeper than what you can get on a normal treadmill and it eventually got to be pretty hard. Heck, anytime I hit my max HR I figure it’s a pretty hard effort.
Things of note: They will require you to hold the sides of the treadmill (at least my technician did). They won’t care that you have 100’s of miles on a gym treadmill.
Your treadmill had rails? Just did one and the doctor stopped the test at 21-minutes despite my insistance that I was not even near maxed but treadmill had no side rails and was steeper than any road I have ridden or walked up and a fan would have been nice to keep things cool.
One thing to point out…after doing my test I realized how someone can stay in really great shape when injured and unable to run. Just walk on a treadmill at 4mph with a steep incline. There is no impact and you can get you heart rate as high as you need to. It also strengthens the glutes and calves which can be beneficial to us all.
If you are used to VO2max intervals, as others have said, its equivalent to a warmup, followed by a steadily increasing tempo up to VO2max effort of ~1 minute. The one I did was like others said, the incline & speed increase simultaneously, so you WILL achieve max heart rate at some point in the test, probably before ~15 minutes. Not too many people can maintain 6min/mi pace up 20%+ grade for very long.
If you have breathing issues you might be dizzy afterwards because the test goes to your maximum heart effort, which might could exceed your lung function when you are sufferening allergies/asthma etc.
OP here, the test wasn’t that bad, lasted 18 minutes probably could have gone longer but that breathing issue started so I didn’t push it. Got my heart rate up to 150 which is close to my max, I’m 62 years old.
The cardiac doc said I got close to the hospital record of 21 minutes, if I new that I might have pushed it.
I’m assuming my primary care doc will set me up with an allergist now that any heart issues are out of the way. Must be environmental, when up in LP training last week I felt perfect, back down here in NC same issue.
