Can someone interpret my VO2 Max Lactate results? Rookie here!

9km per hour it started then upped by 1km speed every 2 mins. Always at 1% incline. Your ranges seem to make way more sense to me! Thank you

No problem, if you google "exphyslab lactate" you can input all your values and it'll give you different methods of estimating LT1 and LT2. Personally I favour baseline +0.5mmol for LT1 and modified DMax for LT2, they seem to line up best with my experience. Their zones just don't make sense to me so hopefully you find the above ones helpful!

Subtracting your age from 220 to get your Max Hear Rate?🙄

I guess you weren’t joking about being a rookie.

You will need to actually do some testing to come up with a good approximation for your HRmax.

This is it! Thank you Tester Testing! You rock!!

Easy: Zone 1: 120-136
Fatmax-Z2: 137-153 (LT1)
Steady/Tempo: Zone 3: 154-166
Sub-threshold - threshold: Zone 4: 167 -178 (LT2)
Vo2 max: Zone 5: 179+

Rockstar!

unequivocally wrong?🤔

How long have you been here?🙄

this poster is suspect unless he recants?😕

You're too much 😆

👍

Coach Pollard? Who he?

A successful coach that seems to have actually read, understood, and applied the pertinent training literature. Who he is not is some guy coming on here spouting inaccurate information. If you think he is in error, let’s hear it.

The following paper provides examples where NERunner03533 is correct. 😳

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Heart Rate Does Not Reflect the %VO2max in Recreational Runners during the Marathon

Exercise physiologists and coaches prescribe heart rate zones (between 65 and 80% of maximal heart rate, HRmax) during a marathon because it supposedly represents specific metabolic zones and the percentage of V˙O2max below t...

Open link

.

Wait a second; at the end of that paper, they said they used a Garmin Forerunner, and they don’t indicate or mention they used it with a strap!

“Furthermore, prior study has shown that the difference between Garmin® and electrocardiography HR values showed that the Garmin Forerunner (we used here) can be used at rest, as well as with walking and running activities of light, moderate, and vigorous intensities such as the marathon race [48].”

Hah! That study is bogus if they didn’t use a strap, in which case, there could be cadence-lock corruption of their data!

Hey guys! As you become fitter and do more threshold work - your threshold heart rate actually closes in on your maximum heart rate! This is why double threshold training is so impactful! A lot of runners are limited genetically and talent wise once it comes to VO2 Max. An example you'll see are when the fitter track athletes are doing a double T session and you'll see their 16-24 x 400 near in on 5k-10k pace. Their heart rate might be a lot higher, but this is why they meticulously document their heart rate and lactate levels during their sessions to find correlations and improvements in fitness!

Agreed, and also, there were only 10 runners taking part in this "research." Not a well-designed or reliable study.

Yes, there is some cardiac drift during long endurance efforts (HR increases over time at the same pace), but not many runners (especially recreational runners), can sustain an intensity of near 88% of Max HR for a marathon. Definitely wouldn't want to start out at 88% MHR, as that'd probably be suicidal for a 3 hour race.

Are you new to the internet too? Because it is not advisable to use your true e-mail address as your user handle on internet forums. And especially not advisable to then post personal information (such as medical info). Scammers can have a field day with that type of thing.

I'd ignore heart rate zones and use RPE as Billat recommends, or the Talk Test.

One problem with VO2max (yours is technically VO2peak unless you had a plateau or verification bout) testers is that they ramp up the test to quickly. 1km for each stage I think is too fast for decent runners. I use .1 or .2mph per stage and skip the lower paces, except as warm-up.

Looking at your test you can see that your LT1 seems to be in the range from 12-14km/hr. Wha's up with the 3.8 at 11km/hr??? That's not a very good protocol if that's what you got. Your Borg RPEs help though. Do most of your mileage at RPE 6, with an occasional day at RPE 5 when fatigued. You can do threshold intervals up to RPE 8, and tempos at probably 7. When the RPE gets easier, add more volume to everything for a week or two before you adjust the velocity up. Repeat, but don't bury yourself in too much volume done too intensely.

Velocity at LT1 and LT2, whatever yours actually are, would be worth knowing so that you could do track/treadmill work based off those paces for benchmarks, with RPE adjustments.

Forget the zones too, there are so many different ones, and when you get up to LT2 and above, like another poster said, those get close together, which makes separating them for training difficult because heart rate drifts upwards over time and with heat/dehydration.

Keep up some short stuff too, strides, 400 meter reps with short rest (improves running economy).

Since the tester did gas exchange they should have VT1 & VT2 with velocities at those thresholds. Use those to guide your pace for tempos and intervals along with RPE. You can also manipulate your RPE by decreasing your recovery between intervals, even having different RPEs for legs vs lungs (breathing). Example, 400 reps with short rest, your legs might feel like RPE 8, but lungs like RPE 10 toward the end of the session. That's better than 400 reps at leg RPE 10.

What was the testing protocol?

The more I learn about lab tests, the more I think they offer nothing but false precision.

HI i have done a lot of testing myself and with others, so i hope i can help you with some practical information:

First your max hr is probably a bit higher than 184. That number is the max value you reached during this protocol. Vo2 ramp tests are not for finding max hr, even if you run until you cannot complete the last step.... have you measured hr during a 3k or 5k race (cheststrap)?
With that your zones dont seem off physiologically. Also 184 max and 178 LT2 is impossible.

In the very beginning after starting exercise lactate can spike a little up, but settles down quickly after a few minutes, likely what we see at 11kmh.

Based on lactate values and rpe, LT1 seems also correct (lactate spikes considerably for the first time + rpe goes from 6 to 7).

Your LT2 confuses me a little bit though. It states LT2 occured at 17.1kmh... but right below the list says that at 16kmh your lactate was 4.9! Lactates at LT2 are individual but the rise from the step before (3.7 to 4.9) and the rpe of 8 or even 9 indicates clearly that you were above lt2 at this point. Strong continues rises in lactate like this occur after crossing lt2.
I would interpret your LT2 around 15kmh or 4:00/km pace wise, which would aligne much better with someone that has sub 3 as goal. 171 hr at LT2 is also more realistic if 184 is indeed your max hr. Another indicator would be your 5k time. Based on your given rpes i expect it to be between 16 and 17kmh pace. If thats true, obviously your LT2 is not 17kmh and also not 16kmh.

My advice would be:
do easy runs by feel! or stay under 11kmh whcih you gave a rpe of 4. So your estimate of 6min/km was correct for an easy run.
if you want to do sub t, stay between 14 and 15kmh, dont go over 4:00min/km.
If you want to check if max hr alignes, go run a 3k, maybe 5k allout with a cheststrap on and see what you measure for a max.

Let me know if you want to know anything!

Thanks, almost wish I hadn't taken this test, feeling more lost than found. Here's just my personal experience, take a look and see your thoughts after reading:

Treadmill runs:
Easy: 10km/hr (5:00) treadmill is where I had been doing most of my long runs and feels like walking. 1 hour of this and heart BPM average is 131, never getting over 136.

What I thought was speed: I had thought 15km/hr (4:00) treadmill was my highest speed possible. I can do that pace for 40 mins without stopping, in the first half my heart BPM is in mid 160s and in second half it creeps up to 170, but only goes over 170 in last 5 minutes to around 174. I consider it a challenging pace, but not pushing me to the absolute limit.

Intervals: I just started doing intervals two weeks ago of 18kms/hr (3:20) for 2 mins followed by 2 mins rest. Usually 5 of these and heart BMP is 170-175, but it feels controlled and not crazy. And then after this, 20kms/hr (3:00) for 1 min followed by 2 mins rest. 5 of these and heart BMP is 170-175. Feels tough, but not out of control.

After the test, I started running 12km/hr (5:00) treadmill to see, and that is super comfortable, will maintain 151 BMP easy for over 1 hour.

Also tried 13km/hr (4:37) treadmill to see, and after about 20 mins I'm in 155 BPM territory, and can maintain that an hour easy in low 160s. This pace feels just great, like I can go on forever, talk casually, and it's not boring. Feels like being in the zone.

Outside runs:
Last month, half marathon in 1:45 (trail, street, hills, rain, difficult terrain)

3 weeks ago, 5k trail run with 100 meter gain in 21:38 (was difficult and pushed hard). 1km was 140bmp
2km was 155bmp
3km was 166bmp
4km was 168bmp
5km was 172bmp

Last month, 5k street run pretty flat in 20:06 (pushed it hard).
1km was 134bmp
2km was 152bmp
3km was 153bmp
4km was 166bmp
5km was 173bmp

Don't know if anyone has thoughts just based on these real data numbers?