145 tests completed so far....

...so have a look at the results to see how you've done!

Here are the updated results lists for adults and children.  The lists show your Absolute Peak Power, Peak Power relative to body weight, and Average Power achieved throughout the test.

Don't forget that during the test we were also monitoring the changes in tissue oxygen saturation (TSI%) in your quadriceps muscle using Near Infrared Spectroscopy.  I will be posting more details about these results shortly.

I hope that everybody has enjoyed being part of the testing, we are very grateful to you for being part of the research study and putting in such a great effort on the bike.  Hopefully the results are interesting for you.  Testing will finish on Tuesday 19th April, and on Tuesday evening I'll post up the final results tables so you can see your final rankings!

If you haven't been to the festival yet but are visiting the City Art Centre in the next few days, please come up and see us on the 4th floor and be involved with the project!

Catherine

The first results are in...

Hello everybody,

I'm pleased to say that the results for everybody who completed the Wingate cycling test on Saturday 9th, Sunday 10th and Monday 11th April are now available. 

For the adults, we have had 38 people completing the test so far.  The average results of that group are as follows: Peak Power (PP) = 528W; Average Power (MP) = 429W, and Peak Power relative to body weight (this is the important one if you want to compare your results with those of your children) = 6.9 W/kg.  For the 36 children we've tested so far, average results are: Peak Power (PP) = 230W; Average Power (MP) = 201W; and Peak Power relative to body weight = 5.85W/kg. 

Have a look at the full results for adults and children to see how your performance compared to everybody elses!  If you've lost your subject number, get in contact and I can tell you what it is. 

Remember to keep checking back during the rest of the festival, to see how your relative ranking changes as we complete more tests and add more data to the lists.  At present, we only have two groups: adults and children.  When more date has been collected I will split people's results up into age categories.  I'll also be adding information about the near infrared measurements of muscle oxygenation (for those of you who had those taken as well), so please check back for that,
Thank you again for taking part, hopefully everybody is fully recovered from the exercise: who knew 20 seconds could seem so long!

Catherine

P.S.  If you haven't already clicked on the quiz link at the top left of this page, have a go now: it's your chance to win iTunes vouchers worth £25! (And show off you scientific knowledge, of course)

Getting ready for the festival...

With just over a week to go until the start of the 2011 Edinburgh Scinece Festival, I'm making the final preparations for the trip. The main concern is that none of the essential equipment is left behind when we board the plane to Edinburgh next Thursday morning! Sports science testing generally requires a lot of 'kit', so careful preparation and planning is required when testing outside of the lab setting, to make sure all the necessary tools are there to complete the testing accurately and safely. The testing at Edinburgh will be carried out using a cycle ergometer, which we will borrow from Herriot Watt University, so that's one thing off the list. The other essential piece of kit is the device for testing oxygen saturation in the muscle, the near infrared spectrometer called the Portamon. Fortunately, this is a portable device, about the size of a mobile phone, so won't take up too much space.  Even so, the kit list for the festival includes: 3 laptop computers, power leads, weighing scales, heart rate monitors, battery chargers...the list goes on.

So what will we be testing in Edinburgh?

At the festival, we will invite both adults and children to undertake a Wingate test on a stationary cycle ergometer. The test lasts 30 seconds, and involves the subject pedalling as hard as they can against a fixed resistance. The level of this resistance is based on the person's mass, so the lighter a person is, the smaller the resistance they will pedal against. During the test, the Portamon will be attached to the subject's quadriceps (thigh) muscle, and will show information in real-time on a laptop computer about the saturation of oxygen in the muscle. We can then use that data to see: how much the muscle oxygen saturation changes during the test; how quickly this happens; and how fast it recovers back to the 'normal' level once the exercise is completed. We will also collect data about heart rate changes, and the amount of power the subject can apply to the bike pedals during the test. So - quite a lot of information to gather in just 30 seconds! We hope that children and their parents will both choose to take part, so that they (and we!) can compare their different results in the test. Testing will be open to people of all ages and abilities, and we'll be bringing sports kit for you to borrow, so there's no excuse for not having a go!

 What will the data look like?

A previous study I have done using the Portamon device was with the GB short-track speed skating squad. In this study, a Portamon device was attached to the quadriceps muscle on each leg, so we could compare the two. We filmed the skaters doing 500m race simulations, and then synchronised the data with this footage. This photo shows an example of the data we gathered about the muscle tissue oxygen saturation of a skater during the race. This is the same technology that we will be using at Edinburgh!

Looking forward to getting started next week, and hoping to see lots of people who are keen to get involved!

Catherine