From: harry@cv.hp.com (Harry Phinney)
Subject: Re: VO2 max (was Re: Heart Rate Survey: Results)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 18:43:20 GMT

praetzel@marconi.uwaterloo.ca (Eric Praetzel) writes:
:   In Kineasology they are very hesitant to try to compare various people with
: each other (due to any lack of predictability) and prefer to compare people
: to themselves.

I think you'll find many researchers are also reluctant to compare
people tested on different apparatuses or with different protocols.
The measurement techniques can significantly affect the results.

:   I would hesitate to relate VO2 max to anything like sprinting ability.

I would hesitate to relate VO2Max to much of anything.

:   VO2 is directly related to power.  _directly_
: As long as the mechanism for generating the energy is aerobic the volume of
: CO2 out or O2 uptake is directly related to the rate of fuel oxidization 
: and that is directly related to power.

Yes, but.  The power output at VO2Max is not all produced via aerobic
metabolisms.  Everybody's VO2Max point is significantly past their
anaerobic threshold.  A person's ability in a TT will correlate fairly
well with their power output at AT, but not with VO2Max.

: Most ergometers are not able to handle the
: power of a Cat 3 never mind a Cat 2 or 1 caliber person.

A Monark ergometer is quite capable of being used for a VO2Max
test for anybody on this planet.  I will grant that they are not
particularly cheap.

:   Power vs VO2 is consistent as long as the work is aerobic and you are
: burning fat.  Once you start to use a significant amount of glycogen and/or
: go into oxygen debt the VO2 will not be a good indicator of power.

The fat metabolism is not the only, nor the most powerful, aerobic
metabolism.  The aerobic carbohydrate metabolism will be producing the
majority of the power just prior to AT.

<I lost the attribution for this question>
: >By the way, I recall that the USCF was once using VO2 max as a screen 
: >for members of the national team.  Is this so, and is it still done?

This is true to an extent.  At one time, a rider's test results could
make the difference between going to Europe with the national team, and
being sent home.  This is not the case now.  The USCF still performs
VO2Max tests, but in general no longer selects national team members
based on the results.  They use the tests more to identify weaknesses,
to help plan an athlete's training program, and to measure the athlete's
progress.

: My experience is that my aerobic power does not
: change throughout the year.  However, each year I watch people who I beat
: for the first month get faster and faster until I can't draft them.  That
: includes Jay when he was 16 and Yorn who is almost 50 now and only took up
: cycling 2 years ago.  My conclusion is that I am at my aerobic peak (or close
: to it) year round due to interval training while my friends are more into
: cross training.

I think it is less a matter of your friends' cross training, and more
related to their utilization of an annual training cycle.  If you
maintain a constant, consistent training regimen year round, you will
reach a fitness plateau, and won't progress significantly.  You will not
reach your "aerobic peak", or any other peak, with such a program.  I
know no coaches who would recommend doing interval training year round.
Most interval workouts are not intended to increase one's aerobic
capacity as much as they are targeted toward the anaerobic capacity
and/or anaerobic recovery ability.  The typical "interval" workout for
increasing one's AT involves "on" periods of at least 10 minutes at a
pace slightly below AT, and relatively short rest periods.  Doing
something like 1'/1' intervals will stress one's ability to recover from
anaerobic efforts, but unless the athlete has previously developed both
their aerobic capacity and their anaerobic capacity the intervals will
not be very effective.  Both anaerobic capacity intervals and anaerobic
recovery intervals are very stressful, and incorporating them into your
training program will reduce the total amount of training one can do.
For these reasons, most coaches will recommend avoiding interval
training until the athlete has developed good aerobic fitness through
less intense, but longer duration types of training.

Again, I strongly recommend you get a copy of both Eddy Borysewicz's
_Bicycle_Road_Racing_ and Rob Sleamaker's
_SERIOUS_Training_For_Serious_Athletes_.  Eddy B knows much more about
bicycle road racing than does Sleamaker, and I feel Eddy B's book
outlines better workouts and weekly training patterns than Sleamaker's,
unless one is interested solely in time trialing.  Sleamaker's book has
the better ideas and procedures for laying out a training plan for a
year (or longer).  Adopting the programs layed out in these books will
do far more for your cycling ability than any number of VO2 or power
tests, and will cost no more than the price of the books.  Be prepared
to slow down through the winter.  Your fitness will decline just like
your friends', but you will also find that it will increase more like your
friends' come spring time.

Harry Phinney   harry@hp-pcd.cv.hp.com
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles