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

"Are these zones correct?"

Well your VO2max zone is referred to as your "anaerobic zone" which should give you a clue about how stupid mainstream exercise physiology can be.

Indeed! I was a bit shocked because I had only followed mainstream advice on taking percentage of max heart rate to calculate zones. I didn’t know how much higher my zone 2 can actually go.

So do you always run on the treadmill?? Fundamentally, without question, paces on a treadmill do NOT equate to paces run on the ground. Maybe you don’t know that.

Obviously, iconclusions drawn from pacing tests done on a treadmill are NOT directly translated to ground running paces.

50% of my running is on treadmill, 25% on street, and 25% on trails. Yes, I do know pace on treadmill faster than outside.

The best advice I can give is to gradually increase the amount of running you do.

Experience is worth more than science because your brain is very good at interpretating the information it receives.

Are the zones correct? Well, you had them lab tested so there's that. Marathon pace is ~88% of HR max for a well trained runner. It adds up that that would be right in the low end of your tempo range. Z2 can still be reasonably hard &, even with these established zones, you could still struggle a bit within those zones. Very possible that you would marathon @ 80-85% even with higher potential. The examiner explained maybe not that you can endure a much higher pace immediately but with proper training you have a lot of room to improve. Build to it. My guess is that these paces feel fast today. You know that you can put in the work to feel more comfortable in these different zones.

Thank you! That is helpful insight. Absolutely, need to put in the training now.

That is unequivocally wrong. How long have you been here?

OP, anything else said by this poster is suspect, unless he recants.

So you teach a wiseman, and he gets wiser. But you try to teach a dummy, and he just downvotes in disgust.

Do you know what method they used to determine LT1 and LT2? If its 2mmol and 4mmol then the results are pretty useless (that LT2 is a bit of a red flag, but could be possible, but quite extreme).

Just a note that LT1 is typically the top of zone 2 in a 5 zone model when people describe zone 2 training. Although there's a billion different zone models so that not too helpful. LT1 however is pretty uniformly seen as the boundary between easier and moderate running, and most runners do most of their easy running well below LT1, also fatmax is usually a bit below LT1 too.

Doing all your easy running in what they call the endurance zone is a terrible idea - what people somewhat harshly call 'the grey zone', it has its uses but just not for everyday easy runs!

(@timestamp 14:00)
Aerobic Training Zone:
-60-75% HRmax
-60-70% of vVO2Max (Velocity at VO2 Max).

(@timestamp 16:20) Five Training Paces of Distance Running:
1. Aerobic Base Pace, 70% of vVO2max
2. Marathon Race Pace, 84% of vVO2max
3. Lactate Threshold Pace, 88% of vVO2max
4. VO2Max Development, 98% of vVO2max
5. Running Economy Reps, 110-120% vVO2max

OP, assuming your Max Heart Rate actually is 184bpm, the lab recommendation says threshold is 92-97 percent of Max Heart Rate! That is grotesquely wrong!😑

Thanks for the reply. So, I had this VO2 max lactate test done by a physician in a sports clinic with the usual oxygen mask, checking my blood every few minutes, and the censors. 9km/hr at 1% inclination and then increasing a km every 2 kms. Made it 20 mins before tiring out (due to the breathing restriction). So really no reason to think they messed up the test.

Based on the data (let's assume it is right), what should I aim for BPM wise as an easy run?

I don't know if this additional information is helpful? Just pulling it from the test results:

VO2 Max reached was 4.102 L/min, or 59.5 mL/kg/min with RQ of 1.11

LT1 occured at VO2 2.732 L/min, or 39.6 mL/kg/min (67% of VO2 max reached) at 9.9 minute mark with 153 BPM at 13 km/hr with 1% inclination

LT2 occured at VO2 3.88 L/min, or 56.2 mL/kg/min (95% of VO2 max reached) at 18.1 minute mark with 178 BPM at 17.1 km/hr with 1% inclination

Lactate samples:
km/h FC Borg Lactate (mmol/L)
11 148 4 3.8
12 151 5 2.5
13 160 6 2.5
14 164 7 2.9
15 171 7/8 3.7
16 176 8/9 4.9

Below are recommended zones they gave me based on test:

59.5 VO2 max | 4.102 L/min Max heart rate 184
Zone 1 (no lactate): Up to 13km/h or 4:36/pace and heart up to 153bpm
Zone 2 (endurance): 13-14km/h or 4:36-4:17 pace and heart 153-161bpm
Zone 3 (tempo): 14-15km/h or 4:17-4:00 pace and heart 161-169bpm
Zone 4 (threshold): 15-17km/h or 4:00-3:31 pace and heart 169-178bpm
Zone 5 (anerobic): 17km/h+ or sub 3:31 pace and heart 178bmp+

Oh. So it’s “teaching,” is it? Solid methods.

The data may be “right”, but their recommendations are grotesquely wrong!

Regarding your ‘easy run’ pace, are you reading my posts? Did you look at that video I linked?

The answer to your question is to run your easy runs at 70-75 percent Max Heart Rate. You will need to get a strap in order to train by heart rate, since an optical measurement on the wrist cannot be trusted.

For you, that would top out at 138bpm. Simple test on your easy runs: “Can you hold a conversation?”

Do that for 70-80 miles/week, with some faster stuff over the remaining 20miles/week, and you’ll be on your way to breaking 3hrs, tiger.

Yes! Thanks. Dont know why I took this silly test if all I had to do was subtract my age from 220 and then find 75% of it! Of what use is this data anyway then?