I would agree with you - initally i thought all vo2 tests were longer because my first stess test lasted 39 minutes (but i think the researcher was trying to determine my ventilatory threshold as well as my vo2 so he had the progession go very slowly up the scale starting at 100 watts and bumping 50 watts every 3 minutes)...truthfully I am a moron about all of this and should not be calling someone else one as - i have no background in this field - I don't even know the terminology etc. i only know that in my first test i went to the wall and beyond (my peak lactate reading was 10.6 at the end of the test) Again i don't even know what that means - but it sounds high - from reading some past Tinman stuff - he cites 4.0mm at one point as a training level for your high end stuff. I have tried looking up what others hit at the end of their test but haven't found much - so someone else will have to tell me what 10.6 means or how it compares to others. In my 2nd vo2 test - i have no record of my peak lactate (not sure if one was taken), but do know i did not go any where near my max as the test was pre-determined to end at 15:00 (I did not know this until minute 14 when i was told to sprint) - and that is where the problem is in my opinion because
1) I feel you can't set a predetermined limit (time) to the test unless you are really sure you will have taken each subject to their max. and 2) you can't ask subjects to sprint their way to their max in the final minute for several reasons:
a) most test (i am again assuming) are done where the researcher controls the effort = meaning (if you are running) the pace is set by the researcher and you can go no faster than that level - so you cannot techincally sprint...you can make you legs move faster (if running) or spin faster (if biking) but you are not producing any greater power/speed
b) on the bike test - when you spin faster you can actually "cheat". Let me explain:
have you ever been on a stationary bike and noticed that when you spin slower the effort seems tougher - it is because you now have to produce more power per stroke to keep the machine going at that level...conversly if you spin faster you can (what i call) "overspin" the machine so that you make a harder workload easier...so in effect when i was sprinting in the last minute of the test my v02 level actaully went down (here are my v02 readings in the last few minutes of the test)
14:00 = 51.4
14:30 = 44.9
15:00 = 44.3
that was the last minute...now here is the interesting part (in my non-expert opinion - because i realize i may be the one who is misinterpreting the data) my max vo2 during the test (the 15:00 of progressively harder biking) was 51.4 - coming just before the sprint...during the "cooldown" i actually hit a higher level and here is my explanation of why:
When the test ended at 15:00 I am still biking for another 90 seconds but the watt level is not being reduced - but i am no longer sprinting and am spinning slower and slower = which actually means i am having to work harder per pedal stoke to maintain that wattage/power. here are my final 90 seconds:
15:30 = 50.1
16:00 = 49.5
16:30 = 56.1 (this is where my max was achieved)
I don't think that is how it normally happens and I think that this further supports my contention that i was not at or near my max.
I honestly would like to know more about this stuff - and am willing to listen if anyone here can shed light/explain these terms...furthermore i feel i have wrongly outed Dr. H and should have never used his name in my post (unless he wanted me too) and have ask the moderator to delete/edit my post where i did this). In all fairness i have probably unfairly judged Dr. H. and i would go even further to say:
1) while i may not believe he ran as fast as he claims in 7th grade, i will bet he was faster than me. I bet he won most if not all of the CC races he ran before he got injured...and had he not gotten injured, we might have seen how good he really was.
as yes, i am something of a disgruntled test subject since the results did not support my self-inflated belief that i had a max vo2 of 80+. When i completed that test I did not believe it - i even told the researcher that it seemed too high - i have seen chart which show what certain times would indicate on a vo2 scale and mine consistenly comes out around 74-76 max vo2. i believed the reason my readings were so high was because i my have been overspinning on that first stess test; again i will elaborate:
I am not and never was a "good" biker when i did triathlons...i was a runner - who could outrun pretty much anybody on the run, but would get drilled on the bike (except on the climbs) and swim...i did get better at both but not 80+ vo2 good. My fastest bike races put me at 23.1 mph for the 1/2 ironman one year at Buffalo Springs (that ain't bad, but not world class my any means). A 80+ vo2 would equate in my estimation to about a 28:00 or better 10K run (i have never been remotely close to that) and i have no idea on a bike what that would yeild...but on the stationary bike where there is a wattage readout - i train in the 200's and seldom went over 300 watts - in that fist vo2 test i ended at 600 watts = that doesn't seem possible to me - as i cannot and have never been able to hold 25mph on a bike..and 600 watts = ?? something pretty big.
so, appolgies to Dr.H
i vo2 tested twice (80.9 and 56.1) would love to believe the first but realize a 75 vo2 is more realist, and don't belive the second test results were valid because i did not get the chance to go high enough effort-wise.