U.T. Cycling Study, Take Two

I'm at it again! U.T. recruited me to do another cycling study. This one is funded by General Mills; the study is to determine if Wheaties and milk make a good recovery food for endurance athletes.*

I did my VO2Max test again this afternoon, and my scores actually went up. Which isn't saying much since my body utilizes oxygen as efficiently as a turtle runs a 5K. But that's okay, it's up from 39 to 43. I consider this good because I could feel the soreness in my legs from yesterday's workout within 2 minutes of riding. So, maybe I even sandbagged this a bit? (Do I feel better with that thought? Sure I do!)

What was annoying was that I had to weigh myself, and I weigh only .2 lbs less than the beginning of my last study. I have been watching my nutrition like crazy, and the scale doesn't care! I know, I know - I have more muscle, yadda yadda. Whatever! Honestly, I'm not really that upset about this, because I feel so much better than I did even at the beginning of this year. And yes, I have gained quite a bit of muscle over the past 8 weeks. But still, I was hoping for some validation. Oh well.

So next Tuesday I do the first of the two studies. I'll ride the stationary bike for exactly two hours at 60% effort. This should equate to about 30-35 miles, I think. Then I will undergo a muscle biopsy in my mid-quad. I'm not looking forward to this part at all, but I'm sure I'll have plenty to say about it later.) Then I either drink gatorade, or Wheaties & milk, and rest for an hour. Then they do the muscle biopsy again.

I'm having second thoughts about the biopsy part of this, but then I think about the $300 I'm making from doing this 2 times. And, it's an easy way to get my long rides in.

Thus... on to Cycling Study #2!

*By the way, being in marketing, I can't help but wonder how Wheaties is going to market this. Are they going to have little milk and cereal stations for runners after races? Eww!!