vVO2max vs. Heart Rate @ VO2max (Read 135 times)

I think you're over thinking it.

I think as long as you know your 5k race time you can approximate any pace you need for workout purposes.

You can use heart rate, or you can just go by rate of perceived effort--neither one is really more accurate than the other, and effort doesn't require any equipment.

Also, vVO2max is way too fast for tempo runs.

From what I've read, the bigger question is what was your pace and incline as you hit VO2 max. (I am assuming it was a treadmill test with one of those really sexy masks and everything...) This allows other elements (like running economy) to be added into the equation.

Wouldn't your heart rate at VO2 max basically be real close to your max heart rate? I guess it would depend on exactly what was limiting your VO2 max, but for most people it is how much the muscles can grab the oxygen out of the blood. This is mostly a function of supply (how fast can oxygenated blood get there.)

It can also be how efficiently your lungs can get oxygen into the blood, but that's usually not a problem.

I guess you can also have a chemical imbalance that inhibits the muscles from grabbing the oxygen from the blood. (Isn't that basically what low iron/anemia is?)

I'm not sure how a heart rate thing would change where my tempo pace was. One could use some percentage of max heart rate... I usually use something closer to my race pace for an hour.

I don't know if any of that helps...

-Kelly

Yup, it was a treadmill test, complete with sexy mask.  Not awkward at all...  =)

It pegged my max HR at 201 and my "threshold" HR at 167.  The trainer said the threshold was the point at which my body shifts from burning mostly fat to mostly carbs, and training at this point would increase my peak VO2.  So I was thinking about the relationship between my peak VO2 and my threshold heart rate.  Basically, I know just enough to be confused!

spaniel: I've never trained using heart rate before.  I had assumed that if I was having an "off" day or something, then my heart rate at a given pace would be higher than it normally would.  Maybe that's not the case.

Basically, I have this data from the assessment (VO2max, threshold heart rate, etc) and I'm trying to figure out what, if anything, to do with it.

Am I overthinking it?  Maybe.  Who cares?  It's on my mind.

Yup, it was a treadmill test, complete with sexy mask.  Not awkward at all...  =)

 

It pegged my max HR at 201 and my "threshold" HR at 167.  The trainer said the threshold was the point at which my body shifts from burning mostly fat to mostly carbs, and training at this point would increase my peak VO2.  So I was thinking about the relationship between my peak VO2 and my threshold heart rate.  Basically, I know just enough to be confused!

 

spaniel: I've never trained using heart rate before.  I had assumed that if I was having an "off" day or something, then my heart rate at a given pace would be higher than it normally would.  Maybe that's not the case.

 

Basically, I have this data from the assessment (VO2max, threshold heart rate, etc) and I'm trying to figure out what, if anything, to do with it.

 

Am I overthinking it?  Maybe.  Who cares?  It's on my mind.

If you look at this graph: 

This is from Greg McMillan. Where the oxygen consumption line levels off is basically max VO2. Where the Lactate line makes it's sharp turn up is what he calls Lactate Threshold, or what your trainer called just threshold I think.

I'm not saying this graph is the be all end all. But hopefully it shows that your threshold pace is significantly slower than your max pace. Training at near your threshold pace is thought by many to help improve the threshold. That's good, as it means one can run faster before going into oxygen debt. Notice on this chart that someone probably can only hold that pace for around 7-8 minutes in a race type situation. For many people that is a 1 mile race. Maybe 1.5 miles if they are in really good shape.

For something to work my threshold, I try to do 20+ minutes at my 1 mile race pace. (Actually, I do it by feel and the numbers work themselves out backwards. But it can be helpful to work out the numbers to have a target until you get the feel of what a threshold workout looks like.)

Training near VO2 Max may help your VO2 max. But lots of other things can too. I personally think a lot of it depends on what is holding a person back.

Someone can use HR or pace to figure out all of these targets for training. I recommend using that as a guide line until you get a feel for what it should be doing, and then target that feeling.

/shrug

It's probably a lot of extra detail. But it can be interesting and helpful to some people I suppose...

-Kelly

 The trainer said the threshold was the point at which my body shifts from burning mostly fat to mostly carbs, 

IMHO once you heard that, you should have stopped listening to anything he was telling you.  As a biochemist I can tell you there is no such switch that is flipped.  It is a gradual process where you start burning more of one and less of the other.  Threshhold pace is more about challenging your body with a lack of O2 to start making changes to become better at delivering/using O2.  The whole fat/carb thing is a red herring in this context.

The "trainer" knows not what he is talking about.

MTA:  And, by the way, you are burning "mostly carbs", however you want to define that, at paces far slower than threshold.

Bet he means "10 mile".