Monday, 11 May
Took the day off. Feeling pretty gross - tired, one side of my nose is stuffed up. Yeesh.
Tuesday, 12 May
Cycling workout up at the gym. Did the classic VO2 max test (upwards ramp, 1 minute intervals increasing by 25W until failure at 300W, which I held for maybe 10-15 seconds). There was snot everywhere inside my mask and wearing it made me nervous, so I kind of want to do the same test again. I wasn't pushing it insanely hard, just pretty hard. Then we did a rest where I sat there and tried to get my HR down, and then we did some more intervals.
It looks like my VO2 max is something like 63 (ml/kg*min) which I think is pretty good. I guess the exact number depends on how much weight I've put on in the last few weeks (I gave them my weight at an optimistic 118 lbs) but I'll try not to think about that too much. :) Doyle was excited (his is 61) but then he gave me some whole lecture about how I'm under-performing given the watts I can put out and my V02 max and how I should work on my biomechanics some more.
Wednesday, 13 May
Off, flew home. Feeling like dogshit.
Thursday, 14 May
I think I was off again. My shins are still bothering me.
Friday, 15 May
Feeling much less sick and so I ran easy around Piedmont. My right shin was hurting me this time.
Saturday, 16 May
Similar to yesterday, but the shins are feeling better. Weird how it comes and goes.
Sunday, 17 May
Bay-to-Breakers. What a crazy day! I rocked my bumblebee costume like it was 1999. I started in corral "D" (second to last one) so mostly I just worked my way up. That was actually really exhausting, because I was constantly either shuffling or sprinting through a hole in the wall of people in front of me. Things didn't really open up at all until I got over by the panhandle (about 3 miles in), but even after that I was just hauling ass running serpentine to get through the crowd. Absolutely nuts!
I feel good about my time, because the first mile or two I was alternatively shuffling and surging to get around folks and I ran WAY more than a mile or two because I was weaving around so much. It took a lot of energy. The run seemed to take a long, long time because I was so mentally drained from that part, I think. After the Hayes hill (which is no biggie, by the way, I don't know what the big deal is) when I got around to the panhandle I could weave enough that I didn't have to surge and slow as much which really helped, and around mile 5 was when I didn't have to weave quite as much. By that time, there were almost no costumes around because I'd worked my way up so far so I was a bit sad. I think I must have been averaging well under 7:00s by that point to run the total time that I did (58:34, 7:51 pace). Better than expected!
Also, it was really hot. I saw tons of naked people and lots of sweet costumes, and I got to chill in the elite/VIP tent afterwards with the Aggies. That was awesome! So we drank all the elite booze (sooooo good) and wandered drunkenly around SF for the rest of the day. I even got to briefly chat up my favorite gang of Ryan, Talia, and Dan. Now we're plotting running a centipede some day - anyone else in?
I can't believe I remembered to stop my watch. Should've run faster.
May 12, 2009
Taking things easy
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4 comments:
"Lore of Running" cites Kruss et al. (1989) and Wyndham et al. (1966) in its following statement:
"...VO2 max values measured in otherwise healthy young men are much lower, usually between 45 and 55 ml O2 per kg per min..."
Derek Clayton, the marathon world record holder in 1969 (2:08:34), had a VO2 max of 69.7 ml / (kg * min). Although this was the lowest of the VO2 max values for the elite athletes given in the book, it is still higher than the "elite threshold" value of 67 ml / (kg * min) given by the study of Conley and Krahenbuhl (1980). Frank Shorter and Peter Snell were also on the low end of elites, with 71.3 and 72.3 ml / (kg * min), respectively, and you know how they turned out. In addition, Noakes concludes that while your VO2 max value is mostly determined by hereditary factors, it can still improve from around 5% to 15% with intensive training. Not a lot, but your value of 63 ml / (kg * min) implies that you have something excellent to bundle in with all the other physiological factors (biomechanical efficiency, muscle fiber elasticity, etc.) that determine how fast you can run. Sweet!
(When I say "Not a lot...", I refer to the 5% to 15% range of VO2 max improvement and not your actual VO2 max value of 63, which, in my humble opinion, qualifies as "a lot." Sorry if that was unclear.)
I knew what you meant. :)
The thing I can't figure out is what the difference is for VO2 max with men and women. I read somewhere that for elite athletes, women tend to be about 10% lower than men, but for non-elites it's closer to 20% lower. Why would that be?
Does that mean my dude-VO2 max would be 20% higher = 75? (!!) or even just 10% higher (69)?
It was fun to hang out with you KB!
Also if you want to increase your VO2 Max you should cut off your leg.
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