yesterday, i participated in a professional vo2 max test. i kind of lucked out; a professor at a university was doing a study on cyclists, and did the vo2 max test and hydrostatic weighing for free as part of it.
but it left me wondering if i reached my max...
the test was performed on a cycle with gradually increasing resistance until failure. it took 17 minutes. there is a mouthpiece with a gas analysis machine hooked up to a computer.
my confusion lies in what caused my final failure. strength or oxygen delivery?
i was designed with a smaller build, and i am by no means a 'sprinter'. i can spin along with reasonable power for an endurance ride, but successful sprint and strength intervals are very foreign to me. i cried uncle when i just couldn't get the pedals to turn anymore. but here's the weird thing.... my max hr ended up at 186. in a 10k run with a race# on, i get to 198 bpm at the finish line. on the analysis graph, it appears that heart rate, resistance, and vo2 all rise in a linear fashion until failure. vo2 never tapered off, so if i could have done another increment, i could have registered another uptick in vo2 - i think. it seems that if i did the test on the treadmill and went to 198 bpm (and much higher perceived exertion), is that a better opportunity to stress test the vo2 system?
also, i am training for boston right now, and am only spending limited time on the bike, so maybe my legs just weren't ready to take my heart rate up to where i was asking it to go?
or.... is cycling max hr in fact that much lower than running?
It's not easy to juggle a pregnant wife and a troubled child, but somehow I managed to squeeze in 8 hours of TV a day - Homer Simpson
but it left me wondering if i reached my max...
the test was performed on a cycle with gradually increasing resistance until failure. it took 17 minutes. there is a mouthpiece with a gas analysis machine hooked up to a computer.
my confusion lies in what caused my final failure. strength or oxygen delivery?
i was designed with a smaller build, and i am by no means a 'sprinter'. i can spin along with reasonable power for an endurance ride, but successful sprint and strength intervals are very foreign to me. i cried uncle when i just couldn't get the pedals to turn anymore. but here's the weird thing.... my max hr ended up at 186. in a 10k run with a race# on, i get to 198 bpm at the finish line. on the analysis graph, it appears that heart rate, resistance, and vo2 all rise in a linear fashion until failure. vo2 never tapered off, so if i could have done another increment, i could have registered another uptick in vo2 - i think. it seems that if i did the test on the treadmill and went to 198 bpm (and much higher perceived exertion), is that a better opportunity to stress test the vo2 system?
also, i am training for boston right now, and am only spending limited time on the bike, so maybe my legs just weren't ready to take my heart rate up to where i was asking it to go?
or.... is cycling max hr in fact that much lower than running?
It's not easy to juggle a pregnant wife and a troubled child, but somehow I managed to squeeze in 8 hours of TV a day - Homer Simpson