VO2 Question (Read 605 times)

The VO2 Max number that shows up in the log merely shows your average effort on that particular workout. Its not a "true" VO2 Max because it doesn't reflect a maximal effort (assuming -- as tends to be the case for all of us -- that you do not run your training workouts at maximal effort). I'm guessing the chart you're looking at is keyed to maximal VO2 Max scores, so they really have nothing whatsoever to do with your training efforts. In other words, you are comparing apples to oranges.

Reason # 1,403,042 to ignore charts, graphs, and technical details designed for elites - and just go run.

What shows up in the log as a VO2 Max is not a VO2 Max. Unless you were racing. At an all out effort for the distance.

I have not yet reached the point of diving into the technicalities of running and as such this question may seem a bit daft. I understand what VO2 is, but well, here's the question. I noticed that when I look at the runs I have actually logged it lists a VO2 max for that run. Interesting. I'm not a great runner, in fact I'm a very slow runner ( 29 minute plus 5k ), but I'm not a couch potato either. Just out of curiosity I looked at a VO2 table and was shocked to see that the VO2s that I have been putting up in my runs, even the faster ones, all rate as "poor" or "untrained" on the various tables. We're talking usually between 27.5 and 30.5. This made me feel very bad. I don't believe that I am in "poor" condition, and I certainly don't believe that I am "untrained". I mean, seriously, can the average person off the street go out and run a half marathon at any pace? Anyway, as I said, I felt kind a bad so I did some snooping. I looked at the training logs of a few other runners on here, some of which are very fast, competitive runners. Their VO2s were not all that much higher than mine, on average between 28.5 and 35. Those would all fall under "poor" or "untrained" as well. So, help me out here. Am I misunderstanding the VO2 max number?

Running a good race actually involves more than just VO2Max. When I was in college, I got my VO2Max tested and it was about 67. I was running quite a bit but my actual performance didn't really do justice because my training wasn't balanced; I could run the half marathon at 6-minute pace (1:18) and 5 mile race not much faster than 6 also (29:20). I'm sure there were quite a few people whose VO2Max was quite a bit lower than mine who was beating me right and left. There was this runner in Filand years ago whose blood count was so low that it worried some medical people that he was on a verge of anemic; yet he would go out and win the national cross country and marathon championships. Apparently his blood was flowing so quickly that the sample wasn't quite picking up a good representation of his blood count. I think you'd have to determine what you want to do--to run well (actual performance) or to get a high VO2Max reading (for your own satisfaction, I guess...). Particularly depending on how it's being tested, I don't think how much it matters. I had a friend who recently went on to have her VO2Max tested on treadmill at the club. She paid a couple of hundred dollars. She came back with some number like 150 something... I couldn't figure out what the heck she was talking about but, I suspect, they basically just checked her pulse rate during the certain level of effort (still have NO idea how they tested...). I guess they suggested her to slow way down to burn more fat... The whole thing, hate to say, didn't really make sense; yet she paid a fair amount of money to have whatever it was she had tested tested. I don't know where you had yours tested but, for one, I don't necessarily trust going to the running store to have your running gait "analyzed". I don't think many of those people are quite "qualified" to "analyze" biomechanics unless they had been working in the field to have a good intuition of running biomechanics. To be honest with you; I don't know what program you're talking about when you say the chart or whatever the program that calculate your VO2Max for you based on your logging the training (don't know how that's possible). I would particularly question the accuracy of it when "competitive" people's VO2Max shows 28~35 which I don't think is very high at all (depending on what you mean by competitive, I guess...). Your 27~30 does not sound too complimenting but, sorry to say, neither is 29-minutes for 5k. If you want to get your VO2Max, assuming it's accurate, you probably need to work a bit harder. But if your goal is actually "feeling good" and you do feel good about your fitness level (that you can go around and run the half marathon), who the hell cares?

As others have said, yes, you were misunderstanding VO2max. The only way to really measure it is to take a VO2 test (treadmill running, where you wear a face mask to monitor intake and output gasses, O2 and CO2) and have the tester take you to your point of maximum exertion. That will measure the maximum level of oxygen utilization you have doing that type of exercise. Measuring it by pace or race times, etc, will not always give the correct value. This is because people have different running "economies": some folks just run more efficiently than others. Two people can finish the same race in the same time and same perceived effort and have a very different VO2. Another factor is that, depending on training, people can have different running economies at different paces... etc. The VO2 you get from a chart or formula based on race time/pace values doesn't take your running efficiency into account, and even if it did it would only be right if you ran the race "at your absolute limit." Without the results from a good VO2 test, knowing your VO2max will not be of much use anyway. It might be useful if you have the VO2 utilization throughout your heart rate range, and you want to train at a given percentage of VO2max. Really, however, you would want to train based on the whole Respiratory Exchange Ratio (RER) [sometimes called Respiratory Quotient (RQ)] vs Heart Rate (HR) curve, as well as your current Lactate Threshold (LT). Certain types of speed training, sometimes, for some people, can have a dramatic effect on VO2max. This is probably because the stroke volume of the heart was increased quite a bit, and running efficiency at fase/hard paces was increased. I know someone whose VO2max went from the mid 40s to the 70s (over 40% increase) after coaching and interval training. This is a special case - most of us won't get that sort of improvement. You shouldn't worry about VO2 numbers... for distances like the HM and marathon (and maybe even 10K - 10 mile) it is more important to be able to run close to your LT for an extended period of time. And it's more important to have trained so that your LT has been raised progressively in the proper way. That's a whole other discussion.