vVO2max

vVO2max (velocity at maximal oxygen uptake) is an intense running or swimming pace. In a constant rate exercise, this is the minimum speed for which the organism's maximal oxygen uptake is reached (after a few minutes of exercise at this intensity) ; at higher paces, any additional increase in power is provided by anaerobic processes. In an incremental exercise, it is the first speed at which any increase in exercise intensity fails to elicit an increase in oxygen consumption.

The vVO2max of world class middle- and long-distance runners may exceed 24 km/h or 2:30/km pace (15 mph or about 4:00/mile), making this speed slightly comparable to 3000 m race pace. For many athletes, vVO2max may be slightly slower than 1500 m or mile race pace.

Training

Research by Véronique Billat has shown that training at vVO2max pace improves both VO2max and the economy required to maintain pace at this intensity.[1][2]

Training at vVO2max takes the form of interval workouts. For example, 3 x 1000 m with 3 minutes recovery between each repetition.

Determining vVO2max from VO2max

The formula from Léger and Mercier[3] links the VO2max to the vVO2max, supposing an ideal running technique.

vVO2max = VO2max / 3.5

where vVO2max is in km/h and VO2max is in mL/(kg•min).

Note: This formula is identical to that used to calculate the Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) score for a given VO2max estimation.

See also

References
  1. Billat, Véronique L.; J. Pierre Koralsztein (August 1996). "Significance of the Velocity at VO2max and Time to Exhaustion at this Velocity" (PDF). Sports Med. 22 (2): 90–108. doi:10.2165/00007256-199622020-00004. PMID 8857705. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  2. Billat, Véronique L.; DeMarle, Alexandre; Slawinski, Jean; Paive, Mario; Koralsztein, Jean-Pierre (December 2001). "Physical and training characteristics of top-class marathon runners". Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 33 (12): 2089–2097. doi:10.1097/00005768-200112000-00018. PMID 11740304.
  3. Léger, L.; Mercier, D. (1984). "Gross energy cost of horizontal treadmill and track running". Sports Med. 1 (4): 270–7. doi:10.2165/00007256-198401040-00003. PMID 6390604.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.