Huge difference between Cycling Vlamax and Running Vlamax

Triathlon Forum
1

So I have been tested by Staps in the lab for a second time. I have been lactate-tested much more often, but Staps (a german company) offers a package that
doesn’t only measure Vo2max and lactate scores, but also estimates Vlamax.
As a triathlete moving up from Olympic format to half-distance, I would ideally want an Vlamax in the 0,3 ballpark. This nearly holds for cycling (down to 0,35 from 0,41),
but for running I was presented with a value of 0,8, which might suit 400/800m runners, but is horrible even for oly-triathletes.
The first time I was tested I had written it off, as I was not used to treadmill-running at all. But even now, having trained a bit on a treadmill, the result didn’t change much.
My Vo2max was virtually the same for both disciplines.
Now finally my question:
Is such a huge difference between cycling and running remotely likely or possible?

2

Did you do run test straight after bike test?

3

No. Usually Staps does it the other way around. So at my first test it was first run, then bike.
This time it was done on two seperate days.

4

Why not ask them, when you pay them alot of money for it?

5

Well, if I had been given an answer that would satisfy I wouldn’t have asked. But rest assured, I took the trouble to ask. I was presented with two options:

  1. I still can’t run on treadmills.
  2. That this was how I responded on that day to the test (Yes, not informative at all).
    I thought some variation could be explained due to different training regimes for the two disciplines (maybe too much speedwork for running) or maybe because
    of bad running technique at slower speeds. I am not only interested in the specific question I posted at first, but also at getting to know how much variation is to
    be expected.
    Hope that helps, bentus. But you are surely correct that the first one to ask are the guys that did the testing.
6

Can you post the test file? Occasionally there are mathematical errors in tables etc.

There is also debate on protocols etc, Sebastian Weber is on here sometimes. I bet if you posted raw test data (and pm’d) him and others might chime in.

Maurice

7

There are ways from the basic lactate information to tell if you have a high VLAmax or not. Prior to the computer models used by Staps, VLamax was estimated by the amount of lactate produced after a short all out effort. If the numbers are correct then you should see substantial differences in max lactate readings after short all out efforts between running and cycling.

Unlikely this is true since glycolytic system would have to be extremely different in cycling muscles than in running muscles. Many are the same muscles.

8

Hey Mark

Thanks for posting this.

I am pretty sure why this is.

Have chatted to the CEO of STAPS about it. I send you a PM to put you guys in touch and fix this.

Thanks a lot

Sebastian