Results from Running VO2 Max Test... what do they mean?

Triathlon Forum
1

This is my first time ever taking a test, and probably the last one I will for a while (uni student and it was for a study) so I don’t know what it all means. First thing that came to note is that it took too long to ramp up to a decent pace and actually stress me. I was hoping someone would be able to give me some insight into how I should structure track workouts with this new information. Goals are to put down a respectable (sub 40 minute) 10k in a flat olympic, or a 42ish at Wildflower. 6’ tall and 165 lbs (155lb goal for race season)

Thanks in advance!

Daniel

Test Protocol: Treadmill test

Started out very slowly and built up to a comfortable point of 8.2 mph at a 3% grade (8th minute) by ramping in .5 mph gradations. I functionally consider the first 5 minutes warmup and the 3 minutes thereafter a brisk but maintainable pace. In addition to the ones labelled, I have METS and REE if you’re really curious, or it’s critical to the analysis. Steepness and speed were added on the minute start.

Time-HR-VO2(L/min)-VO2/kg (ml/(kg*min))-RER-Speed-Grade %

8:01 159 3.87 52.0 .95 8.2 3

8:30 143 4.07 54.7 .98 8.2 3.9

9:00 165 4.09 55.0 1.00 8.2 4

9:31 155 4.16 55.9 .99 8.2 5.4

10:00 168 4.27 57.4 1.01 8.2 5.5

10:30 171 4.44 59.7 1.01 8.2 6.8

11:00 174 4.53 60.8 1.02 8.2 7

11:30 177 4.68 62.9 1.04 8.2 8.4

12:01 180 4.83 64.8 1.08 8.2 8.5

12:30 182 5.04 67.7 1.11 8.2 9.8

13:00 184 5.01 67.2 1.12 8.2 10

13:32 186 5.17 69.5 1.15 8.6 10

14:00 186 4.59 61.6 1.19 7.8 5.6

14:30 174 3.54 47.6 1.33 3.1 0

15:01 156 2.94 39.4 1.40 4.9 0

15:30 147 3.05 41.0 1.25 5.9 0

16:00 141 3.05 41.0 1.15 5.5 0

Questions: What does MET, RER, and REE mean? I noted that my heart rate recovery was rather slow, is it a function of me not completely stopping, but slowing down a ton, but still shuffling? What can I meaningfully draw from this information? I made it comfortably up to the max steepness at 8.2 mph, but the second the tech brought the speed up to 8.6mph, I cracked… why is that so?

Thanks again,

2

Looks like you have a VO2max of 69.5, which is good. Are you relatively untrained? I ask because your height/weight/VO2 all point to a better 10k run than you’re targeting. As a point of reference, my pb is 35:30, I’m 6’, 170lbs and I would suspect I don’t have a higher VO2 than you, though I’ve admittedly never had it tested. Usually the ability to run a faster time for a given VO2max is the result of long-term training to push anaerobic threshold up. I’ve only been training for a year, hence my suspicion that you’re fairly new to running. I could be completely wrong of course, but your test suggests good potential.

3

Corelation between high VO2max (69 is not very high:)and fast 10k speed is not proved very good.

But high Anaerobic threshold speed corelates well with a fast 10k speed.

My point is you can have a high VO2max and still run slow on a 10k. What limits your speed is how close your AT is to your VO2max,

4

Which is essentially what I said above. 69 is not an international class VO2max, but it will put him in the top 1-2% of the general population. Average for a sedentary individual is 35. Derek Clayton set a marathon world record in the 60’s with a 69. Frank Shorter had a 71. International class women runners are rarely above the low 70s.

5

Corelation between high VO2max (69 is not very high:)and fast 10k speed is not proved very good.

69 is very high for the group you will be racing Wildflower with (Colligiate Olympic?). No physical reason you can’t go 39 minutes at Wildflower and 37 on a flat course.

Train hard…

6

YOu did the test too long. Someone must have not liked you very much. If that is the beginning of your test, you either started out too quickly, or you are very poorly aerobically developed. Your RER is super high for the the beginning. Ask you tester if you have any other components that were measured.

Eric

7

Don,

 I would call myself a relatively untrained runner.  I did cross country and track in HS, but I was entirely a wimp, so my racing ability and general training.  I switched over to crew until I got injured, and only last year have I restarted running, when I started doing this tri gig.

I wouldn’t know my left from my right as far as structuring a track session for optimizing a 10k run. This fall I did a marathon, so I did lots of long slow running, but no strides etc. I feel that I’m leaving a lot out by not knowing how to run “fast”. Running last year was a twice a week max event, so technically, I’m not there.

So I guess a better question to ask is: How can I structure a good run plan knowing the above to maximize my running ability?

Thanks!

8

MET is a multiple of your baseline metabolic rate. At 8.2 MPH you should be putting out 15-20 mets or so, which means that your calorie burn rate is 15-20 x your resting calorie burn.

RER is respiratory exchange ratio, which is VCO2 (carbon dioxide production) divided by VO2 (oxygen consumed). Normal is in the 0.7 - 0.85 range at rest. When it gets above 1 it means that you are making more CO2 than you are consuming oxygen. It helps the tech tell whether you are hyperventilating at baseline (many people do with a large bore mouthpiece and in anticipaiton of the test). In a normal athlete, it’s not that informative otherwise. Above 1 late in the game is a fair indication that you are working hard.

I don’t know what REE is without a little context. Sure it’s not RPE (rating of perceived exertion)?

As the other posters have mentioned, you have a good ceiling and with good threshold training over a couple of seasons you should be able to get a lot faster in the 10K. With an absolute VO2 of ~5.2 L and a good TT position you should be able to develop very well as a triathlon cyclist as well if you work on your threshold.

9

His RER at the start wasn’t that high, he was already at 78% VO2max. The data is not from the beginning of the test, it is after a “warm-up” that brought him to 78% of max before data recording/reporting.

10

Eric,

It seems you have a decent grasp on the units and their meanings, so do you have a link (or could you explain) about RER, METS and generally how to interpret this test as far as aligning my training with this data?  It doesn't appear my ability to process Oxygen and exhaust carbon monoxide is my limiter.

I was too lazy to write the 1st 7 and a half minutes of the test. It was a buildup from 5.3mph to 8.2mph on 0.5 mph increases per minute. Lowest RER I see on the chart is 0.87, and I have no idea what it means.

The data I have is:

Time

HR

VO2(L/min)

VO2(ml/(kg*min))

METS

RER

REE (Kcal/min)

Treadmill Speed (mph)

Treadmill Inclination (%)

This was the first time I have ever done this test, so I had no idea what to expect, so the tech was very conservative in bringing me up to speed. Since this was a nutritionist study, I didn’t (and don’t) expect her to have multiple test regimens for different populations. I suppose it will be beneficial in the future if I take another test later.

Thanks once again,

11

What were you trying to get out of the test?

Eric

12

Looking at the units on REE, it seems like energy burnt per unit time in Kilocalories per minute.

Thanks for the heads up. Sounds like I have no excuses about not going faster… dang :slight_smile:

Thanks everyone,

13

I just ask, because you should be able to get a fairly accurate number for your AeT, and an approximation for your AnT. Those would be the numbers that you would want to know. Other than that, the VO2 max is kind of worthless. It will tell you your baseline ability (which can actually be increased slightly), but nothing else.

Eric

14

Eric,

It was a blood chemical study at the university I am at, so it was a part of that process. I didn’t really have an agenda going into the test, and don’t know what do to with the information. (yet!) So I treated it as a free opportunity to get a running VO2max test, along with blood chemistry, bod-pod, and such.

Pretty good deal all in all for just participating in a person’s Ph.D study.

Thanks,

15

Rate of energy expenditure or something like that then. It must be of interest to the nutritionists that recruited you.

Since your initial question was about a training plan, get yourself a copy of Daniels’ Running Formula. It’ll tell you everything you need to know.

16

Steve-

do you commonly see RER values b/w 1.3 and 1.4? I don’t know if I ever have, but normally I don’t leave the mouthpiece in so long after max.

17

69 is not very high

Yes it is.

18

It depends. After a VO2max 1.3 is not uncommon, but if only doing the max, we usually pull of the head gear, or at least the mouthpiece before we would see those. So, not always, but not uncommon under those circumstances. Currently, we are doing a study, though, where we are leaving them in longer and 1.4 is pretty typical.

19

why didn’t it show up??

lucky me that I CTRL-C into Word before posting…

20

RER stands for respiratory exchange ratio. The gas analyzer got that number by dividing the volume of CO2 produced by the O2 volume intake.

The greater that number is to 1.00 the more you rely on the comubstion of carbohydrates. Were you to completely rely on the lipid metabolism the number would have read ~ 0.70.

If you wonder why those numbers are 1.00 and 0.70 here are the equations:

Carbohydrate metabolism:

C6H12O6 +6 O2–> 6CO2 + 6H20

Number of CO2 produced: 6

Nubmber of O2 consumed: 6

6/6 = 1.00

Lipid metabolism:

C57H104O6 + 80 O2 → 57CO2 +52 H20

Number of CO2 produced: 57

Number of O2 consumed: 80

57/80 = 0.71

A MET stands for the metabolic equivalent, or the amount of energy required for the resting metabolic rate, it is approx 3.5 ml/ kgmin. When you consume 7ml O2/ kgmin you would use twice as much energy as during rest. At VO2 35ml/ kg*min you would exercise at 10x your resting energy expenditure, thus 10METS. Don’t worry too much about the METS though…

Anyways…your body will respond to endurance training by going through physiological adaptations. Those include increase in mitochondria (energy producing cells), increase in capillary density (where gas exchange takes place), increase in oxidative enzymes (that help convert lipids into energy), etc. All those physiological adaptations will help you to shift your energy needs toward the lipid metabolism.

For example, today at 8:00min you had an RER of .95, indicating that at the intensity you were running most of the energy came from the oxidation of glucose/glycogen. With training you should be able to reduce that number so when you are taking the test next time you can run at the same speed but you will rely less on carbohydrate metabolism as you shifted your means of energy production towards the lipid end of the spectrum. Or, when getting in better aerobic condition you will be able to run faster for the .95 RER.

You might wonder why it would be important to rely less on carbohydrates during a long distance event. The answer is simple. Think about when you bonk and why. When your body depletes of glycogen stores (carbohydrates) it can no longer maintain a certain blood sugar level and the rate of energy production will decrease. We humans have plenty of lipid stores that can be oxidized to yield ATP (energy) but lipid oxidation yields less energy per time unit, meaning that you are forced to slow down. So by training and allowing your body to go throught the above mentioned morpholocal changes you can shift your energy needs and rely on more lipids. Doing so you will use less glycogen and delay the point at which you bonk and continue to finish the race in ~ 100% lipid mode.

hope this helps.

btw. who did that testing? Did they not explain the results to you and why would they choose this testing protocol?