ABC13 Sports reporter David Nuño got an inside look at the Memorial Hermann Ironman Sports Medicine Institute as he prepares for the Galveston Ironman 70.3
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Endurance training requires you to train and fuel your body to reach your ultimate performance.
The team at the institute put Nuño through a battery of tests and readings in order to understand his body. Initially, they put him in the "bod pod" to learn his body fat, testing his lean mass versus his fat mass.
From there, he went on the treadmill and was fitted with a mask to measure his oxygen consumption to learn how many calories he burns at each stage of running.
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The testing included 11 three-minute run stages, increasing the speed each time, and taking his blood at the end of each stage. The goal is to understand his lactate threshold, which is a reliable predictor of performance.
To round it out, scientists at the institute had Nuño speak to a dietitian to understand how to properly fuel his diet.
They said an athlete with a calorie deficiency will not reach peak performance.