VO2 Max
I went to UT today. To the Department of Kinesiology. To see Dr. Phil Stanforth. To be put on a treadmill like a lab rat and run until I call Uncle.
The 100 meters sprint ends in a moment of glory for the winner. The pole-vault always ends in failure, even for the winner (the competition ends when the leader fails to clear the next height). The treadmill test is like the pole-vault, it doesn't end well! You run and have blood drawn, increase the speed, run, blood, increase speed, run, blood, speed , until you admit defeat and conclude that you can't take it anymore.
I've twice previously done the test: before and after 6 months of the 2005/06 winter marathon training season. I had intended to do it yearly, but Feb 2007 came and went and I just never quite got around to it. A couple of recent Friends' posts here, plus being at a milestone in my training, nudged me to make the call, and schedule another test.
I can use the results in two ways: 1) as a year-over-year comparison of "how fit" I am -- am I getting fitter? am I losing it? is my training working? and 2) to "more scientifically" set my training zones for HRM training.
I've treated this summer as a base-building and tri-learning period, before this next 6 months of focused IM training. But I've become "scary fit." I wanted to quantify that with another VO2 Max test.
The experience starts (well, after signing away any litigiousness) with some measurements: height (shrinking!), weight (dropping!), body fat (veining!).
There are two flavors of the test: treadmill for runners, and stationary bike for cyclists. As I'm "a runner", and as I've done it before and wanted the comparisons, I selected the treadmill. I've since just read, however, that as "a triathlete" ("now I are one" [sic]), if not doing both tests, that I should have selected my weakest event to measure my VO2 Max (I.e. I should have selected the stationary bike). C'est la vie.
The treadmill test involves wearing a head apparatus that holds an inch diameter tube in place, that tube is placed in the mouth exactly like a snorkel- or scuba-mouthpiece bite-piece -- a little mouth-guard type thing that you bite on with a seal that goes between teeth and lips. And a nose piece -- think office bulldog clip -- that pinches the nose closed. The idea is that all breath in and out goes through the tube from/to the measuring/ventilator machine. Additionally, I have my heart-rate monitored by four HRMs plus the ventilator machine, a single chest-strap sending to all. It's a clunky set-up, uncomfortable, you can't talk, and it's not how you've ever run before. So I have a bit of easy running "to make sure you are comfortable" -- as if!
Beforehand we have discussed my running speeds, performance expectations and agreed on a starting speed for the test (6.9 mph). I will run at a particular speed for four minutes. Then a pin-prick of blood teased from my ear-lobe. Then the speed increased by 0.6 mph, four minutes at that new speed, blood teased, etc. until I hit my lactate threshold (LT). At which point, no more blood need be taken and we switch to 1 minute at the new speed, speed increased by 0.3 mph, 1 minute at the new speed, etc. until I am unable to run for the given time at the new speed. Hopefully I can calmly announce that I am unable to continue, falling off the back of the treadmill signals the same, but is messier all around! I call Uncle mindful of being told that "everyone gets off and two minute later kicks themselves for not trying to last another minute."
At each new speed, Phil and his staff encourage, praise and cajole -- none of which I can acknowledge as I have a tube in my mouth! But four speed increases below LT and seven above LT, 23 minutes later -- at maximum speed of 11.4 mph -- I call an end to my (at this point) suffering. The data has been gathered by a) the ventilator-like machine, b) the HRMs, c) the blood tests. That all needs to get collated and interpreted, charted, graphed and tabulated. I sit down for a few minutes, then head off to shower and change, and we meet back at an adjacent office 20 minutes later.
The numbers (Feb 2006 in braces for comparison (Aug 2005 in nested braces for even more comparison!)):
Mass/weight (lbs): 164.5 (171.1 (172))
%Body Fat: 11.7 (15.0 (16.0)) [elite men <8%, elite women 12-15%]
VO2 Max (l/min): 4.32 (4.17 (3.97))
VO2 Max (ml/kg/min): 57.9 (53.7 (50.9)) [elite men 70-85, near elite men > 60, elite women 65-80, near elite women > 55]
Maximum Running speed: 11.4 (10.5 (9.3)) [elite men 14.5, near elite men 13, elite women 13, near elite woman 11]
Max Heart Rate: 167 (167 (163))
Running speed at LT (mph): 8.8 (8.1 (6.6))
I don't know what other numbers to share (if there is an important number I'm missing, let me know and I'll add it).
Then the results get extrapolated, and move into the speculative with some race-prediction stuff. Most are pretty unrealistic, but the one (from VT & Peak run speed) that predicted a marathon time of 3:19 two weeks before I ran 3:19, now predicts 3:07. The one (from VT) that predicted a 3:10 two weeks before I ran 3:19 now predicts 2:59:48 ...
[Edit: ah, Oops, I spaced out. Two weeks after the Feb 2006 VO2 Max I ran 3:31 (didn't run 3:19 until a year later Feb 2007). So the wildly speculative predictions remain wildly speculative -- or, at least, theoretical!]
Everything seemed to move "up and to the right" like good charts should. Improvements all seemed to be in the order of 6-9% improvement. My training is working.
It was a "fun" experience. For ~$100 it certainly is interesting to quantify where you stand, to see where you've come from.
[sorry about all that verbiage -- I really need to learn what these LJ "cut" things are ...]
The 100 meters sprint ends in a moment of glory for the winner. The pole-vault always ends in failure, even for the winner (the competition ends when the leader fails to clear the next height). The treadmill test is like the pole-vault, it doesn't end well! You run and have blood drawn, increase the speed, run, blood, increase speed, run, blood, speed , until you admit defeat and conclude that you can't take it anymore.
I've twice previously done the test: before and after 6 months of the 2005/06 winter marathon training season. I had intended to do it yearly, but Feb 2007 came and went and I just never quite got around to it. A couple of recent Friends' posts here, plus being at a milestone in my training, nudged me to make the call, and schedule another test.
I can use the results in two ways: 1) as a year-over-year comparison of "how fit" I am -- am I getting fitter? am I losing it? is my training working? and 2) to "more scientifically" set my training zones for HRM training.
I've treated this summer as a base-building and tri-learning period, before this next 6 months of focused IM training. But I've become "scary fit." I wanted to quantify that with another VO2 Max test.
The experience starts (well, after signing away any litigiousness) with some measurements: height (shrinking!), weight (dropping!), body fat (veining!).
There are two flavors of the test: treadmill for runners, and stationary bike for cyclists. As I'm "a runner", and as I've done it before and wanted the comparisons, I selected the treadmill. I've since just read, however, that as "a triathlete" ("now I are one" [sic]), if not doing both tests, that I should have selected my weakest event to measure my VO2 Max (I.e. I should have selected the stationary bike). C'est la vie.
The treadmill test involves wearing a head apparatus that holds an inch diameter tube in place, that tube is placed in the mouth exactly like a snorkel- or scuba-mouthpiece bite-piece -- a little mouth-guard type thing that you bite on with a seal that goes between teeth and lips. And a nose piece -- think office bulldog clip -- that pinches the nose closed. The idea is that all breath in and out goes through the tube from/to the measuring/ventilator machine. Additionally, I have my heart-rate monitored by four HRMs plus the ventilator machine, a single chest-strap sending to all. It's a clunky set-up, uncomfortable, you can't talk, and it's not how you've ever run before. So I have a bit of easy running "to make sure you are comfortable" -- as if!
Beforehand we have discussed my running speeds, performance expectations and agreed on a starting speed for the test (6.9 mph). I will run at a particular speed for four minutes. Then a pin-prick of blood teased from my ear-lobe. Then the speed increased by 0.6 mph, four minutes at that new speed, blood teased, etc. until I hit my lactate threshold (LT). At which point, no more blood need be taken and we switch to 1 minute at the new speed, speed increased by 0.3 mph, 1 minute at the new speed, etc. until I am unable to run for the given time at the new speed. Hopefully I can calmly announce that I am unable to continue, falling off the back of the treadmill signals the same, but is messier all around! I call Uncle mindful of being told that "everyone gets off and two minute later kicks themselves for not trying to last another minute."
At each new speed, Phil and his staff encourage, praise and cajole -- none of which I can acknowledge as I have a tube in my mouth! But four speed increases below LT and seven above LT, 23 minutes later -- at maximum speed of 11.4 mph -- I call an end to my (at this point) suffering. The data has been gathered by a) the ventilator-like machine, b) the HRMs, c) the blood tests. That all needs to get collated and interpreted, charted, graphed and tabulated. I sit down for a few minutes, then head off to shower and change, and we meet back at an adjacent office 20 minutes later.
The numbers (Feb 2006 in braces for comparison (Aug 2005 in nested braces for even more comparison!)):
Mass/weight (lbs): 164.5 (171.1 (172))
%Body Fat: 11.7 (15.0 (16.0)) [elite men <8%, elite women 12-15%]
VO2 Max (l/min): 4.32 (4.17 (3.97))
VO2 Max (ml/kg/min): 57.9 (53.7 (50.9)) [elite men 70-85, near elite men > 60, elite women 65-80, near elite women > 55]
Maximum Running speed: 11.4 (10.5 (9.3)) [elite men 14.5, near elite men 13, elite women 13, near elite woman 11]
Max Heart Rate: 167 (167 (163))
Running speed at LT (mph): 8.8 (8.1 (6.6))
I don't know what other numbers to share (if there is an important number I'm missing, let me know and I'll add it).
Then the results get extrapolated, and move into the speculative with some race-prediction stuff. Most are pretty unrealistic, but the one (from VT & Peak run speed) that predicted a marathon time of 3:19 two weeks before I ran 3:19, now predicts 3:07. The one (from VT) that predicted a 3:10 two weeks before I ran 3:19 now predicts 2:59:48 ...
[Edit: ah, Oops, I spaced out. Two weeks after the Feb 2006 VO2 Max I ran 3:31 (didn't run 3:19 until a year later Feb 2007). So the wildly speculative predictions remain wildly speculative -- or, at least, theoretical!]
Everything seemed to move "up and to the right" like good charts should. Improvements all seemed to be in the order of 6-9% improvement. My training is working.
It was a "fun" experience. For ~$100 it certainly is interesting to quantify where you stand, to see where you've come from.
[sorry about all that verbiage -- I really need to learn what these LJ "cut" things are ...]