@runningproject VO2Max Deep Dive - Part 1
Part 1 of a 3 part VO2Max Deep Dive
Photo by Mārtiņš Zemlickis on Unsplash
It's a sunny Saturday morning in Auckland and I'm taking part in a study for the University needing "trained athletes" to look for the effects of a particular anti oxidant. For the first time in a long time, I'm a little apprehensive of doing the VO2Max test and as I get older, my VO2Max results have been getting lower, so am worried the effects of age and over training are finally taking their toll on my body and fitness.
VO2Max measurement are used as an indication of an athletes aerobic endurance and is one of several tests used to determine the overall cardiovascular fitness. In saying this though, VO2Max doesn't define fitness or an athletes potential and is simply a measurement. In these types of scientific studies the benefit of using VO2Max is simply to determine if an athlete is considered "well trained" or not. In today's case, anyone with a VO2Max value over 50, will be considered able to participate in the study.
Although it's actually impossible to see who is faster based on VO2Max value alone, this doesn't mean it's not an important and useful measurement.
I know we've discussed this before, but we might as well go over it again just to make sure we have the concept right. VO2 Max, also known as the maximum oxygen uptake, is the measurement of the maximum amount of oxygen a person can utilise during intense exercise, but since oxygen is critical to running fast, VO2Max is a good measure of running fitness. By focusing on improving your VO2Max specifically in your training it will mean running at faster paces than your goal race pace and will help you:
- Improve your running efficiency
- Improve your running form
- Increase your leg muscle strength and power which will also improve economy
This time round things didn't go completely to plan. My VO2Max score, although showed I was still able to take part in the study, it was a lot lower than I would have hoped. This is the motivation behind my VO2Max deep dive. I'm gonna get down to the finer details of training to improve your VO2Max, how you can test yourself and at the end of it, hopefully I'll have a higher result to report at the end of it, so stay tuned.
About the Author
Hey I'm Vince, an Aussie living in New Zealand, trying my best to make the most of the time I have. I work as a Software Engineer but love to run and all aspects of it, including geeking out on the latest science to help get the most out of my body.
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Written by @run.vince.run on behalf of the @runningproject
Solid intro to an interesting concept! I've often wondered on some of the best training strategies for increasign VO2max. When you see it broken down into the potential upsides of training for it, it sounds very compelling to target for improvement.
Are you able to explain what the VO2max test entails? Or is that coming in the next parts?
Regardless -- looking forward to parts 2 & 3, and gettin' into the details!
Testing is coming in part 2 but basically, there is a test called a Cooper Test which is 12 minutes of running as hard as you can for 12 minutes. Your distance is then reflected back to a VO2Max value. The following page can give you some more info, but will break it down further in the next post:
https://www.brianmac.co.uk/gentest.htm
Looking forward to more information on this. I only see what my Garmin reports, I have never done a real test, and Garmin is overly positive. Except if I do much interval training, then it seems to drop.
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Wow, thats actually really interesting...I will keep that in mind with the next posts.
I don’t trust it, my watch measures pulse on the wrist so...
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