VO2 Maxed Out?

Sports Performance Training Blog

Have you ever wondered what profesional sports performance training can do for your racing? This year Bon Secours In Motion is helping the ladies of Tradewinds Racing acheive their potential. Throughout the year we will give you a peek at what we are doing and how it is helping our performance.

First on the to-do list is testing, this helps us to know were we start out at the begining of the season, and also how much room there is for improvement throughout the season.

VO2 MAX

In Motion strapped me into the oxygen mask and cranked up the power on the stationary bike in short increments. A computer next to me kept track of all the data as I worked harder and harder. The test itself was pretty short and very hard effort, it was about 100% effort right at the end.

The results provided me with VO2 Max and ventilatory threshold. The VO2 Max in a trained athlete is not a predictor of performance, but can give you an idea of your physiological potential. Ventilatory threshold was also calculated and can tell you how closely you are working to your VO2 Max, this number will change depending on training and is similar to your lactate threshold.

I learned that my VO2 Max is actually pretty good, and it motivated me to train harder and push my ventilatory threshold closer to that VO2 Max. Before, I always figured my VO2 Max was lower than other riders' (and I had some pretty good reasons for this assumption), but I was wrong and now I know I just need to train that area harder. Next up... lactate threshold!