Pricks.
Bloody pricks.
Ain’t no one got time for them.
And paying up to $90 for a bloody, prick-filled lactate test is just adding insult to injury (well, barely noticeable flesh wound). With full production and shipping still two months away, the demand for BSX Athletics’ lactate threshold wearable continues to increase. On a recent stop in Austin, BSX filled four days of testing slots in to a matter of hours with runners, cyclists, and triathletes. This came on the heels of a successful showing at Interbike in Las Vegas, part of BSX’s pre-release road show that will wrap up back in Austin at The Running Event in December. BSX has refined its algorithms with data from over 500 athletes (I believe I was #509), and will easily reach their goal of at least 600 data sets before launch.
BSX takes its place among several other devices featured here at SportTechie that achieve the Sports Wearable Triad*:
1) Consistent, on-demand data
BSX recommends that athletes assess their lactate threshold every 4-6 weeks to optimize their training zones for the next block. Normally, this requires scheduling an appointment at a gym or sports lab that performs lactate testing. Any differences in the equipment used – or the person performing the test – introduces a potential source of variation in the data. If the treadmill got replaced, the normal sensor is down, or “Jimmy the Intern” is now fully qualified to perform the test and you’re his first time unsupervised, the results you walk out with may not track consistently with your previous times. When you’ve already invested the time, money, and mental energy into training for a goal race – where fractions of a percent may make the difference between racing in Kona or Kalamazoo – you likely place a premium on both accuracy and precision (not to mention peace of mind).
With your own wearable like BSX, you replace potential variation with consistency; and you create the freedom to perform the test on your own schedule to ensure your readiness for the procedure.
2) Significant cost reduction from commercial or academic labs that provide the service
A lactate threshold test in a gym or lab usually costs from $40 – $100 (at the higher end, they are often paired with a VO2max test). Each marathon or triathlon season, then, could cost a minimum of $240 just for lactate testing.
The same sensors used in those settings are available for consumer purchase, costing $300-$400 plus testing strips and lancets at $1 each–and that’s assuming you have a friend or family member that you trust to prick you and conduct the test. BSX ranges from $299 (running edition) to $419 (multisport). One season of training under BSX pays for itself against the conventional options.
3) Data collection in real-life situations
This is where sports wearables have truly disrupted the status quo. No one trains on a treadmill, inside, with two guys wearing rubber gloves holding your arm steady, while they squeeze a drop of blood out of your finger as you try to maintain your pace and some semblance of form. Better yet is a VO2max test that has you wearing head gear and chomping on a mouth piece connected to a series of hoses… While running at your maximal effort.
Yet, that’s the scenario that produces the data that will define the next six weeks of your life. If you do 90 percent of your training on a rolling dirt trail, wouldn’t it make sense to set your baselines on that route? If you know you’re going to be running a race at threshold on a flat road course, wouldn’t it be great to determine your threshold on flat roads? Perhaps even on the race course itself?
BSX allows you to gather race-specific physiological data under race-simulation conditions. You can have a pace bike alongside or your teammates a stride ahead to keep your paces honest and keep you relaxed and focused, just as they do during training or a race.
The first version of BSX will focus on calculating accurate training zones based on the athletes’ lactate threshold and heart rate. As with many sports wearables, the initial insight opens a world for athletes and coaches to run rampant. Because BSX measures muscle oxygenation to compute lactate levels, rather than directly measuring lactate, threshold-based training zones are merely the beginning.
With new algorithms and additional testing, the raw data can be processed for a range of additional outputs that will be useful to coaches and athletes. The lactate data could also be re-packaged to report peak lactate levels and maximum lactate steady states, which would make BSX invaluable to middle-distance runners and rowers. Combined with data from other wearables stored on common tracking platforms, BSX brings athletes and coaches a step closer to holistically understanding and training the complete athlete.
*The Triad+ requires a killer hashtag: #StopThePricks