If I’m such a fit cyclist, what’s with my less-than-perfect cholesterol levels?

I was a little anxious waiting for the results. In early November, I had blood drawn into eight small vials. I provided a urine sample, too. Everything then headed to a lab so I could then find out how healthy I was. As someone who rides his bikes a bunch, and who generally feels pretty good, what did have to worry about, really?

Well, to be honest, I hadn’t been riding my bikes as much as I regularly do. A mix of injury and “life/work stuff” had kept me out of the saddle for most of the summer. I definitely wasn’t paying close attention to my nutrition, enjoying whatever delights Thanksgiving and Halloween had had to offer. And throw in a weekend cocktail or two, maybe three, into the mix. I’m in my late 40s—an age in which it doesn’t take long for health markers to turn.

The company that was going to provide me with insights into the state of my body was NiaHealth. It’s an Edmonton-based startup that can analyze your biological data, and then offer guidance to help keep you healthy. At the moment, in its early development, it tends to attract fit folks looking to optimize their fitness and health, but its application can be much wider. For people who want greater depth and discussion about their health—whether it’s around diet, cardio, gut, even emotional well-being—NiaHealth has the means. What I had signed up for, what I wanted to test, was a variation of the company’s Plus program. It includes a look at biomarkers related to the heart, liver, kidneys, bones and blood, and one virtual consultation with a clinician who would go over the results of the tests and advise me on my next steps.

The test results surprised me, in both good and, well, not-so-good ways. The challenging news, of course, is more interesting. It also has insights that can help you, my fellow cyclists, especially those of you who like to ride hard a lot.

Before my blood and urine sample were taken, I filled out NiaHealth’s detailed questionnaire about my medical history, as well as my family’s. I also patched in years of data from Garmin. I’m actually pretty diligent with keeping both Garmin and Xert up to date with all my activities. NiaHealth is also able to grab data from Fitbit, Oura, MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, Ultrahuman, Suunto, Peloton and with Apple Watch in beta upon request. For me, a notable absence is Coros, but you can send in a request to have NiaHealth look into adding your device.

A week after the collection, I got a text. It was evening. I had to wait until after dinner to find a moment to sign into my NiaHealth dashboard. And, oh look. A grade. Now, I know no one wants to hear an A student go on, but bear with me. I got A+ in blood, kidney and urinary, metabolic (glucose control) and liver. Nice. I’ll drink to that. Actually, no I won’t. I’ll continue to try to drink less. But what brought down my grade was a B- in micronutrients. I was low in omega-3 fats, vitamin D and vitamin B12. The shock, however, was to my ticker: a B+ in heart health. Really? I didn’t get an A because of my cholesterol. Cholesterol?! What’s going on here? I ride a bunch and seem to burn through fuel like a wildfire. How is there any fat coursing through my skinny body?

“If your cholesterol is a little bit high, you’re either overfed or under-muscled,” said Lindsay Leung. I chatted with the nurse practitioner the week after the test results were uploaded into my dashboard. “Based on your nutritional profile, it does not look to me like you are falling in the overfed category. Would you agree?” Yes. Definitely.

Leung explained that suboptimal cholesterol levels were not uncommon in endurance athletes, especially ones who don’t do enough strength training. (Guilty.) Building muscle mass can help reduce the amount of “bad” cholesterol in my system, the stuff known as LDL (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol). Leung then went into more detail about LDL particles. In short, there are four sizes of LDL. The two smaller-size ones are the ones to be most concerned about. They are the main culprits in narrowing and hardening arteries. What Leung then recommended was not only doing three sessions of strength training a week, but making a few adjustments to my diet. Cut down on red meat and butter, but keep up with the eggs for breakfast. Add more protein in the form of fatty fish (sardines, herring and mackerel) and legumes. Also, increase fibre. These are easy tweaks I can do with my diet.

Finally, I’ve saved the best part for last. For me, it’s the recommendation that I really get a kick out of. Leung could see from my fitness data that I don’t do enough Zone 2 work. Like weight training, I know Zone 2 work is key to improving my cycling performance, but both those activities are just not as fun as smashing it on a bike. However, Zone 2 work will not only boost my overall cycling performance, it will help to get my cholesterol in a better range. Zone 2—it’s just all the rage for so many reasons.

Now, I’m in the midst of following through and building on those and other changes from NiaHealth. With the cold weather here, it’s easy to work in strength and focused trainer rides. (The upcoming cross-country skiing, though, will send me back into Zone 4/5 territory. I’ll need to watch that.) I’m monitoring my work in the company’s dashboard, which displays quite clearly how close I am to meeting my training zone and strength targets each week. It will also be the place where I’ll go for the next phase of my NiaHeath analysis: a DEXA scan to take a look at my bone density, muscle mass and body fat percentage, and a VO2 max test to see just how much oxygen my body can use when I’m going all out. That won’t be a Zone 2 day.