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

I ran (poorly) in college and have a vo2 tested 3x between 54 and 58.

Male. 6'2. 152 lbs (149 when I ran the 8k). Never ran more than 65mpw.

Here are my PB's.

400m: 52h, age =16

800m: 1:58 age = 19

1500m: 4:12 age=21

5000m: 16:42 age=21

8000m: 27:28 age =21

IwishIwasDaveWottle wrote:

I ran (poorly) in college and have a vo2 tested 3x between 54 and 58.

Male. 6'2. 152 lbs (149 when I ran the 8k). Never ran more than 65mpw.

Here are my PB's.

400m: 52h, age =16

800m: 1:58 age = 19

1500m: 4:12 age=21

5000m: 16:42 age=21

8000m: 27:28 age =21

No way this is real. You should not be running anything faster than 17:30, based off your Vo2max.

Everyone's dog wrote:

https://www.google.com/search?q=miguel+indurain+vo2max&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1

Like I said, everyone and his dog gets it wrong.

Your half seems very slow compared to your 5 and 10k times. I can run a 1:30 half but have yet to break 20 mins for 5k.

lenovo1 wrote:

Your half seems very slow compared to your 5 and 10k times. I can run a 1:30 half but have yet to break 20 mins for 5k.

I haven’t trained as much for the longer distances as I have the short. My first 1.5 years of running was more about getting my 800/mile fitness up, the next 3 were about the 5k and 10k and only in the last 2.5 years have I ran local 13.1s/26.2s so I’m not super experienced in those distances yet. I’ve only done 3 marathons, my first one was only 3 seconds under 4 hours.

Hog wrote:

Your comment that velocity at VO2max is what counts is right on. That is a value Daniels invented back in the 1980s. By the way he also tested Ron Clark at 86 VO2max, back in 1968.

When in 1968 did this test take place? From my knowledge Clarke spent much of the year at Font Romeu leading up to the games, only returning to sea level to race at the new track at Crystal Palace.

Subway Surfers wrote:

Hog wrote:

Your comment that velocity at VO2max is what counts is right on. That is a value Daniels invented back in the 1980s. By the way he also tested Ron Clark at 86 VO2max, back in 1968.

When in 1968 did this test take place? From my knowledge Clarke spent much of the year at Font Romeu leading up to the games, only returning to sea level to race at the new track at Crystal Palace.

I wouldn't doubt it, John Ngugi had a vo2 max of 85 according to that list Malmo posted. And John Ngugi PRs are around that of Ron Clarke. And Ron Clarke ran on cinder tracks.

John Ngugi:

3000 Metres 7:41.52 Hechtel (BEL) 18 JUL 1992

Two Miles 8:23.38 Gateshead (GBR) 09 AUG 1991

5000 Metres 13:11.14 Bruxelles (BEL) 10 AUG 1990

10,000 Metres 27:11.62 Bruxelles (BEL) 13 SEP 1991

10 Kilometres 27:29 Bali (INA) 02 APR 1988

Half Marathon 1:01:24

Ron Clarke PRs:

3000 Metres 7:47.2h Västerås (SWE) 27 JUN 1967

Two Miles 8:19.6h London (GBR) 24 AUG 1968

5000 Metres 13:16.6h Stockholm (SWE) 05 JUL 1966

10,000 Metres 27:39.89 Oslo (NOR) 14 JUL 1965

One Hour 20232

Me personally, I believe if Ron Clarke was capable of a sub 13 minute 5000m on modern synthetic tracks.

malmo wrote:

73.0 Jeff Galloway, US snake oil salesman

Thanks Malmo for making me chuckle on a damp gray day.

Sledge_hammer wrote:

IwishIwasDaveWottle wrote:

I ran (poorly) in college and have a vo2 tested 3x between 54 and 58.

Male. 6'2. 152 lbs (149 when I ran the 8k). Never ran more than 65mpw.

Here are my PB's.

400m: 52h, age =16

800m: 1:58 age = 19

1500m: 4:12 age=21

5000m: 16:42 age=21

8000m: 27:28 age =21

No way this is real. You should not be running anything faster than 17:30, based off your Vo2max.

I will vouch for him. I have nearly the same results and body type. Although that's a lousy 1500 compared to the rest.

The trick for me is that I was able to continue to run at high intensity for a few minutes after my VO2 had plateaued.

Marathon PR of 2:37, took a vo2max test 3 weeks later as part of a PhD study, turned out to be 51.

not highly trained wrote:

Marathon PR of 2:37, took a vo2max test 3 weeks later as part of a PhD study, turned out to be 51.

On the other end of the spectrum, I was tested at 66.7 last summer and had my PRs of 17:33 5k, 1:20 half, 2:55 marathon that same year.

r2k83 wrote:

not highly trained wrote:

Marathon PR of 2:37, took a vo2max test 3 weeks later as part of a PhD study, turned out to be 51.

On the other end of the spectrum, I was tested at 66.7 last summer and had my PRs of 17:33 5k, 1:20 half, 2:55 marathon that same year.

I know a guy who tested at 71 when he was running 19 minute 5k's, 15 minute guy now though.

Summer of 68 Clarke spent a little time in California and South Lake Tahoe, where the US runners trained for Mexico City. Ron ran a training 5k with Billy Miles at South Lake Tahoe that summer.

Ezekiel bread wrote:

Me personally, I believe if Ron Clarke was capable of a sub 13 minute 5000m on modern synthetic tracks.

No. Clarke ran on synthetic tracks. He was slower on them.

Komenesque wrote:

Omfg, it's posts like yours which remind why I don't post on letsrun often. Can you guys not just get the point without turning these posts into inane splitting of hairs? I'd ask you to name one mule that could compete with Secretariat, Frankel, Sea the stars or Desert Orchid to name a few but I don't need to because there is none. A mule is physiologically disadvantaged against a thoroughbred race horse and the best Mule will never beat the best racehorse just like the average mule will not beat the average horse.

Don't post then.

Racing mules are an untapped potential faster equine.

Hog wrote:

Summer of 68 Clarke spent a little time in California and South Lake Tahoe, where the US runners trained for Mexico City. Ron ran a training 5k with Billy Mills at South Lake Tahoe that summer.

Okay that sounds credible.

In one of our many doping threads on here, I think it was about this time last year we were debating Armstrong in the early 1990s. They claimed then he had a Vo2Max of 82. I wondered why he Indurain look so big, it was a more modern pic of him at 46 without all his peds.

Since Jakob Ingebrigtsen was named here - he measured 68 VO2Max at 11 years old. 76 a couple of years ago, so

probably high 70, low 80 now...