Testing

A couple of weeks ago (as you can see I'm still catching up), I did a VO2 max test as part of a physiology laboratory study I'm participating in. The objective of the study is to see if sweat rates and body temperature are affected by different types of clothing worn while exercising, or something like that...anyway what it comes down to is that I get paid $200 to get this testing done which normally costs $200!

So what the test encompasses is running on a treadmill, while being hooked up to 10 electrodes and a respirator to analyze the gas content of my expirations. I think I looked pretty goofy, and it wasn't the most comfortable running I've ever done but it wasn't terrible either. The protocol was to run the treadmill at 8 minute miles, raising the grade by 1% every minute until I couldn't go any more, which was at 14%. Thankfully the really painful part only lasted a few minutes.

So, what did all this fancy equipment tell me that I didn't already know? Well, if the results are accurate, and I have every reason to believe that they are, I actually have a pretty high rate of oxygen intake for my weight, nothing extraordinary but there have been olympic marathoners with similar numbers to mine. What this means is that I'm actually not a very economical runner, compared to average, because it costs me the same amount of oxygen to run over a minute per mile slower than these guys! Now, the reasons for this could be many but are probably not related to form (if you want to learn more than you could ever possibly want to about running economy, see this excellent series of posts at the Science of Sport). I suspect that I'm carrying a good deal more leg muscle than your average runner, due to cycling, and that is probably part of the reason it takes more energy to move those legs, but there might be other factors as well. What interesting is that its generally thought that, while VO2 max is hard to raise in someone who's been active for several years, running economy takes much longer to plateau. So, maybe I'll get that marathon time down there someday.

For a long time, I skipped a few opportunities to do this type of testing because I thought I would just use it to limit myself. Now that I know the results, I can't say I feel any more limited, and neither should anyone else who has these numbers. It's most important to remember that awards aren't given out for oxygen consumption, or efficiency, or anything else done in a lab setting. To paraphrase a common sports quote, "That's why they run the race!".