Terrible VO2Max, any suggestions?

[cbloom]

Hey JR, great stuff. That guy has a whole great page, I found this thing page that directly compares the effects of intervals vs. lactate training for aerobic capacity :

http://home.hia.no/~stephens/interval.htm

This jives with what I anecdotally knew of pro cycling training, which is basically that they try very hard to stay under lactate threshold, and will just do a little interval once in a while. In fact they think that training above lactate is harmful to endurance (I have yet to find the science behind why that might be true).

Basically, VO2Max adapts very quickly, and almost any kind of exercise can boost it (even weight lifting), and in fact intervals are great for it. If you're a fit person who just took a break for a while, VO2Max will come back up very quickly.

Lactate Threshold is much harder to change and takes years of steady state training, and is the limiting factor for endurance athletes. The way that pros train is mainly for LT, not VO2max.

[qdmcg]

I like to think of VO2Max as the ultimate determiner of whether or not a runner, rower, cyclist, etc. could ever be world class.

I would compare this to genetically being tall, athletic, quick for a sport like basketball.

While clearly oversimplified, is this close to accurate?

[J.R.]

Yeah, you pretty much got it.

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This jives with what I anecdotally knew of pro cycling training, which is basically that they try very hard to stay under lactate threshold, and will just do a little interval once in a while. In fact they think that training above lactate is harmful to endurance (I have yet to find the science behind why that might be true).

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Intense interval training *is not* harmful to endurance. In and of itself it will help a person's endurance.

The issue is recovery. Training above the lactate level, as occurs with intense intervals, results in amongst other things, lots of lactic acid. Its harder to recover from, and that presents an issues for *elite endurance athletes* who are looking to train every day.

Basically their is a trade-off they have to make and the preference is to focus on lactate threshold.

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Basically, VO2Max adapts very quickly, and almost any kind of exercise can boost it (even weight lifting), and in fact intervals are great for it. If you're a fit person who just took a break for a while, VO2Max will come back up very quickly.

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Steady state will boost VO2 max, more so the higher the intensity. Intense intervals will boost VO2 max max much better, but the issue is it is easier to get to your VO2 max ceiling than your max lactate threshold, so diminishing marginal returns are abrupt as one approaches the ceiling of their Vo2 max.

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Lactate Threshold is much harder to change and takes years of steady state training, and is the limiting factor for endurance athletes. The way that pros train is mainly for LT, not VO2max.

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This is why they try to limit intense intervals, because they get more return out of focusing their training on their lactate levels. Intense intervals limit the ability to do lactate training by presenting greater recovery issues.

That all said, it still speaks volumes that elite endurance athletes who have been training for years are still incorporating intense interval training, albeit at a lesser frequency than steady state.

I would think anyone looking to improve their aerobic capacity would incorporate intense intervals, especially those well below elite levels.

[BreakfastBurrito]

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It does look (and feel) like the specific problem is a really low LT2.

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Keep in mind that LT2 is a % of VO2max, so of course a poor VO2max is going to mean that you also have a low lactate threshold.

For your intended training plan, you'd be much better served to increase distance rather than intensity once you build up to 5k.

[SmileyEH]

JR do you agree with me that's it's much more likely the OP just had his test screwed up?

[Alex-db]

Maybe it was screwed up, or innacurate, but I am clearly very unfit.

It didn't seem like such an accurate process and was calculated with rulers on graphs rather than anything more advanced.

It was also done on a bike, which I haven't used much, so it sounds from the article like if the test had been done on a rowing machine instead, the result might have been more reasonable (still poor though) due to a higher LT2 in that exercise.

[ottsville]

I'm not certain, but from what you said about blowing into a "fan thingy" I would guess that your test was not VO2Max, but a "submaximal" VO2 test.

For submaximal determinations, an athlete's max VO2 is predicted while their lactate threshold is determined based on physiological tests which do not take the athlete to his or her absolute fatigue point. For maximal VO2 tests, on the other hand, the athlete is taken to their absolute breaking point of muscular and anaerobic fatigue. During the max VO2 test, the athlete's max heart rate will also be gleaned.(from this site)

This page tells how a VO2max test is administered. From the above quote, it could be extrapolated that your low LT may affect your results.