VO2 Max testing

So would taking an average of my fastest (solo) efforts give me a benchmark for vo2 max? Say. Top five?

No because it would be related to you current 5 minute maximal power, which would be less than your maximum VO2.

Also from inrng http://inrng.com/2012/09/junior-world-champion-prospects/

Close though. You could always time efforts from the top of the rise on the eastern side until you get to the mosque lights, to make it more like a 4min effort. Either way, if you want to eke out a bit more VO2Max (it's not very trainable anyway), people generally go for intervals between 3min and 5min in length, intensity adjusted accordingly, roughly 4 intervals with similar length recovery.

Some people mix it up, some thrive on pushing it up with the shorter/more intense 3min stuff, some prefer to pull it up with the slightly more drawn out/less aaaargh 5min stuff. You won't really know which camp you belong to until you've a) seen progress and/or b) lost motivation to do the fucking things.

I know (or have written down) the stats for mine, but I couldn't really care less. If I started banging out 4min HCs in 3m30, I knew my VO2Max had probably been nudged a little, amongst other things like lactate tolerance, neuromuscular endurance, pacing strategy, mental attitude, blah blah blah.

Yeah I thought as much.

I think I'd rather put the 150 towards eventually buying a power device. Or a coach.

It's annoying that pretty much all self coach manuals or programmes seem to take owning a £2000 measuring device as a given. Have been trying to negotiate planning and training for this season but finding it quite frustrating.

Still not cheap by any means, but:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Compact-SRM-for-Specialized-Carbon-Crankset-/281057407838?pt=Cycling_Parts_Accessories&hash=item417053b35e

Not much point. Without power there's no really way of calculating it. And beyond satisfying curiosity it's worthless.

Better off setting HR levels through an all out hour TT. Or by using old data to gauge it. This will allow you to set rough levels to teain in. But if you ride a lot and can guard perceived effort well, this is more valid than HR as of the lag in HR.

If you're really interested for fun, cadence in CP do it fully for £150.

Close though. You could always time efforts from the top of the rise on the eastern side until you get to the mosque lights, to make it more like a 4min effort. Either way, if you want to eke out a bit more VO2Max (it's not very trainable anyway), people generally go for intervals between 3min and 5min in length, intensity adjusted accordingly, roughly 4 intervals with similar length recovery.

Some people mix it up, some thrive on pushing it up with the shorter/more intense 3min stuff, some prefer to pull it up with the slightly more drawn out/less aaaargh 5min stuff. You won't really know which camp you belong to until you've a) seen progress and/or b) lost motivation to do the fucking things.

Thanks, as always you give the best / simple / breakdown of something which is confusing me. Have some rep - I'm going to owe you another bottle of whisky soon :)

I need to stop overthinking things as usual.

Neil, thanks for the link - still the cost of a bike! Or more than a pair of good race wheels for my track bike! The trouble with powermeter stuff is that I know I'll just end up wanting them on all my bikes - which would be crazy investment of money for some data.

Um I think my stupid phone may have conspired to deduct rep rather than give it :/ tits..

That wired SRM is adding needless weight to my now-unused Kinesis...

Have you already killed the kinesis?

Wanna give/lend me the srm? I can pay in reacharounds and beer? :)

As I've said to neil, since getting it. The SRM is the best thing I've ever bought.
Personally it's amazing for me to train with, but I love numbers and stricture

However, you can train without one fine. It's just different.

BMMF the rider in question, from the picture post is at 68kg. So map is low for a pro, but it's not a pro.

Have you already killed the kinesis?
Wanna give/lend me the srm? I can pay in reacharounds and beer? :)

No, I screwed my back up.

It's yours... for about £500 worth of beer. Reacharounds are optional.

Hm not right now, but maybe soon.

As I've said to neil, since getting it. The SRM is the best thing I've ever bought.
Personally it's amazing for me to train with, but I love numbers and stricture

However, you can train without one fine. It's just different.

BMMF the rider in question, from the picture post is at 68kg. So map is low for a pro, but it's not a pro.

I still don't think it's low, especially in an undoped context. Plus they can probably hold a higher percentage of their MAP for much longer than most, so either way, they're a genetic monster.

Can't disagree with the genetic monster VO2.

Maybe I need to re-evaluate my perspective of low, against that I compared the MAP result.

Check out Coggan's power profiles. Again, assuming an FTP that's around 85% of MAP, this would give the athlete in question around 5.75W/kg, which is still in the 'worldclass pro' bracket. It's probably not unreasonable to lower all Coggan's figures by 5% for (95% of) pros in the era during which he gathered his data, which would put the king of the castle value at 6.08W/kg, and move 5.75W/kg squarely into the pro (upper) mid-table.

I'm still waiting to get on the Olympic research rig at UCLH (work in the research office) more out of interest of what my V02 max is and if there's much point in trying to train/race to a higher level. (currently racign 4hour mtb enduro's)

In the mean time, where would you put the upper heart rate as a cut of, I get Vmax is 240 minus age, but I know I can go above this, is it better to slow down at a certina point or let your body decide to slow you down?

Check out Coggan's power profiles. Again, assuming an FTP that's around 85% of MAP, this would give the athlete in question around 5.75W/kg, which is still in the 'worldclass pro' bracket. It's probably not unreasonable to lower all Coggan's figures by 5% for (95% of) pros in the era during which he gathered his data, which would put the king of the castle value at 6.08W/kg, and move 5.75W/kg squarely into the pro (upper) mid-table.

Except the subject of the test above was a Californian Sea Otter

^he's off his tits on EPOtter.

The 220 - age formula is a really crap predictor, gives you at least +/-10 bpm error and in my case 13 bpm too low.

yeah - it's wrong for me too.

Someone on Garmin threw down a 95 which appears to be the 4th highest reading ever recorded.

Vaughters tweeted a pic but won't say who.

it is some 18 year old stagiere

The 220 - age formula is a really crap predictor, gives you at least +/-10 bpm error and in my case 13 bpm too low.

According to that formula my maximum heart rate would be 184.

From today, three laps of RP:

Peak 5 second 211 BPM
Peak 10 second 209 BPM
Peak 20 second 201 BPM
Peak 30 second 192 BPM
Peak 60 second 185 BPM

I don't believe that.
Not calling you a liar.
But 211 is insane, if true.

It might be an equipment issue. Let me check the files.

The highest i've seen was a little chap from my team at 206 or so. And that was high.

You're about my size, so heart should be bigger, so will beat less than a little guy.