What is the lowest vo2 max you have ever seen in a highly trained individual?

MrRay wrote:

So if any of you ever feel useless (genetic wise) then comapre yourself to me to make me feel good :D

*make yourself feel good

That was supposed to say

Guessing you aren't a sub-14:00 5K guy. What are your PRs?

MrRay wrote:

I am 28 year old hobby jogger. Low heart rate (48bpm), high milage(60mpw), low ish body fat (11.5%), low ish bmi (20), great diet and 7 years of running. I consider myself in very good shape.

Not low.

Not high.

Not lowish.

Not lowish.

Probably not great diet.

100M 14.5

200M 31.7

400M 66.5

800M 2:28

1600M 5:30

5000M 19:50

10000M 42:02

13.1 1:39

26.2 3:35

"Highly trained" is the meaningless part.

Do you have small feet for your height?

I’m 5’6 and a size 6 shoe size UK.. So yes if i’m being honest I am a real short ass, pretty much one minor genetic mutation away from being a dwarf.

MrRay wrote:

100M 14.5

200M 31.7

400M 66.5

800M 2:28

1600M 5:30

5000M 19:50

10000M 42:02

13.1 1:39

26.2 3:35

Wow!...those are very impressive times, especially the 1600, for man with a VO2max of only 51! There are dudes I know that can't run those times with a 60 VO2max!

You be da man! ?

How does that match up to your garmin estimated vo2max?

There's nothing to be ashamed of here. Your 5k time is about what the Daniels' Running Formula expects for a vdot of 51 and a lot of people run consistently yet and plateau somewhere just under 20 minutes for 5k.

No good reason to get your VO2 tested. Protocols and results vary widely, and physiologically speaking, just doesn’t tell you much. Some individuals vary as much as 20% test to test and for all sorts of reasons. I’ve seen plenty of test subjects jump to much higher uptake levels when protocol errors are corrected.

In my years of coaching I’ve seen many runners avoiding interval training and suffering for it, or relying on outdated formulas to set the work. Too much slow jogging is not a key to progression. You have to get the lead out. Varying paces, and pushing the overall training pace also adds to the fun.

MrRay wrote:

I’m 5’6 and a size 6 shoe size UK.. So yes if i’m being honest I am a real short ass, pretty much one minor genetic mutation away from being a dwarf.

You’re just living in the wrong century, in 1870 you’d be totally avarrage. Maybe not the feet. You have unusually small feet even for your diminutive height. But, small feet are suppose to be good for running fast, so you have that.

92.5 Greg LeMond, professional cyclist

92.0 Matt Carpenter, Pikes Peak marathon course record holder

91.0 Harri Kirvesniem, Finnish cross country skier

90.0 Bjørn Dæhlie, Norwegian cross country skier

88.0 Miguel Indurain, professional cyclist

87.4 Marius Bakken, Norwegian 5k record holder

85.0 Dave Bedford, 10k world record

85.0 John Ngugi World XC Champion

84.4 Steve Prefontaine,US runner

84.3 "Physiologist in training," 15:12/30:55 runner

84.0 Lance Armstrong, professional cyclist

82.7 Gary Tuttle, US runner

82.0 Kip Keino, Olympic 1500 champion

81.1 Craig Virgin, twice World cross country champ

81.0 Jim Ryun, US miler WR holder

80.1 Steve Scott, US miler 3:47

79.4 "Runningart2004," 15:43 5k runner

78.6 Joan Benoit, 1984 Olympic Marathon Champion

78.5 Bill Rodgers, 2:09:27 marathoner

77.4 Don Kardong, 2:11:15 marathoner

77.0 Sebastian Coe. WR mile, 1500

76.6 John Landy, WR miler

76.0 Alberto Salazar, 2:08:51 marathoner

74.3 Amby Burfoot, US marathoner

74.4 Johnny Halberstadt, 2:11:44 marathoner

74.2 Kenny Moore, US marathoner 2:11:36

73.5 Grete Waitz, Norwegian Marathon runner

73.3 Bruce Fordyce ultramarathoner

73.0 Jeff Galloway, US snake oil salesman

73.0 Buddy Edelen, 2:14:28 world record marathoner (1963)

72.8 Jarmila Krotochvilova,Czech Olympian 400M/800M winner

72.3 Peter Snell, Olympic champion

72.0 Zithulele Sinqe, 2:08:05 marathoner

71.3 Frank Shorter, US Olympic Marathon winner

71.2 Ingrid Kristiansen, ex-Marathon World Record Holder

71.0 Paula Ivan, Russian Olympic 1500M Record Holder

70.3 Willie Mtolo, 2:08:15 marathoner

69.7 Derek Clayton, Australian ex-Marathon World Record holder 2:08:35

67.2 Rosa Mota, Marathon runner

MrRay wrote:

100M 14.5

200M 31.7

400M 66.5

800M 2:28

1600M 5:30

5000M 19:50

10000M 42:02

13.1 1:39

26.2 3:35

This will sound dickish and I don't mean it to be, but I'm surprised these are your times when you've been running for 7 years. I'm 27, 5'6", 160 lbs (yeah, I'm a fatty, working on it), and returned to running in January after 10 years off. I've run ~30 MPW this year.

I've run these times so far this year:

1500m: 5:34 (August)

5000m: 21:05 (August)

10k: 46:44 (my last 10k had a sign pointing the wrong way so I ran off solo uphill and died). (October)

I have a mile, 5k, and 10k race left this year and expect a 5:35, 20:30, and 42:30, respectively. I have to wonder if you're training incorrectly because it seems like you should be a lot faster

I know you said good diet, get your iron (ferritin) tested anyway

lots of things can interfere with iron absorption and that would kill your oxygen carrying ability

alternately start drinking beet-root juice and move to altitude?

Hobby fatter wrote:

MrRay wrote:

I am 28 year old hobby jogger. Low heart rate (48bpm), high milage(60mpw), low ish body fat (11.5%), low ish bmi (20), great diet and 7 years of running. I consider myself in very good shape.

Not low.

Not high.

Not lowish.

Not lowish.

Probably not great diet.

Exactly my thoughts. At least for a runner. Of course, compared with the society as a whole, maybe.

I've got Ryun at 79.2, he then went to altitude for two weeks and lifted it to 80.3, then broke the WR and returned to altitude and lifted it to 80.7.

John Walker's was 82.0 in the mid 1970s.

I thought someone tested Komen and it was in the high 80s.

Notice Landy was higher than Snell but Snell was way better? That is due to speed and strength being a key component.

Wasn't Paula's 72?

I would love to see Mottram, young Jakob Ingebrigtsen and especially Solinsky's at his best.

Off the top of my head Derek Clayton and Cameron Levins are only in the high 60s.

VO2max values vary considerably among runners. I saw results of 3 women runners with 3000 meter times of 9:03, 9:06, 9:08 and their measured VO2 maxes were 72, 69 and 60.4. The 60.4 woman was also collegiate national champion in the 10k