development of vo2 max

In highschool, I participated in a study that involved testing our VO2 Max before and after the Cross-Country season, along with a bunch of other tests.

Before the season, my V02 max was at 63.

After the season, my V02 max was at 69.

I only ran about 25 miles a week, so most of my V02max improvement probably came from the 10 races of the season.

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For a properly aerobically developed athlete it should only take 4-6 weeks of 3 Maximal Oxygen Uptake workouts a week. You can gain a little benefit by doing a 4-6 week build up into these workouts and what I mean by this is during the final 4 to 6 weeks of base, do 1 Maximal Oxygen Uptake workout a week. I've found these to be good in fartlek form, such as 3 minutes hard and 1 minute easy for 20-30 minutes. Then move into 3 Maximal Oxygen Uptake workouts a week. Allow 2-4 weeks to sharpen and taper and you should see some good races.

8-12 weeks and it depends on how you structure the training. In HS we ran intervals (800s, kilos and miles mostly) all through August, and then continued with similar workouts and two 5k races most weeks for September and October. I felt like I was always just about right around Nov. 1st when State Meet was. This might also be influenced by the weather though.

For College it might be harder to judge from the runner's experiences since they run 8k-10k for men (which is less reflective of VO2max than the 5k). But you coach women so they might be good examples.

Can't think of a reason why someone would say 18 weeks, since that would leave too little time for 2 base periods and two development periods (in one year). Maybe they believe it should be patterned to include indoor track and outdoor (Feb., March, April, May ~= 18 weeks) or maybe they include weeks of non-VO2max training in that figure.

But, no, either way 18 weeks is excessive. That woudl be 45-55 workouts or races aimed at developing VO2max. Quite a lot.

Thanks for the input. I would have to agree with you fixer from my own experience. Everytime I ran well for the 5km and sometimes 3k it was after no less than 6 weeks and no more than 12 weeks of weekly interval workouts and/or vo2 max races. This was the case with my girls as well. After that performance would drop if the same emphasis was placed on vo2 training. I don't know where this guy came up with 18 weeks as I can't find that figure anywhere else. I include anaerobic threshold and anaerobic capacity training as well in a good cycle so there wouldn't be room for everything if a full 18 weeks was focused on vo2, at least exclusively.

this might not fully address your specific concern (Vo2 not just the aerobic system) but at a level II endurance certification program we were told that it takes about 20 weeks to fully develop the aerobic system (and about 5 weeks to develop the aenerobic system)

I heard 27 weeks for the aerobic system as a whole, 18 for vo2max and 12 for anaerobic. It was from a level 2 instructor although not at a level 2 clinic.

bd, 18 weeks for VO2 Max & 12 weeks for anaerobic seems very long to me (esp. 12 weeks of anaerobic work). Have read more like 12 for VO2, and as little as 4-6 for anaerobic.

I agree with you Grildo. That has been my experience and what I've heard from most people. I haven't found any research to support either side though, so any links or citations would be appreciated. I hope all is well in the B-lo Grildo.

18 weeks of max VO2 workouts is a bit too long, in most cases. Two max VO2 per week (whether a 5k race or workout of similar quality) done for 8-12 weeks will get the most out of your ability. Then, you have to go back to base building and strength workouts. Figure, as a general rule, that no more than 20 workouts is needed to reach your peak. This is my general rule.

Remember though, you maitain VO2 max with just one workout per week for about 6 weeks, but if you keep doing 2-3 workouts per week at that intensity, you will hit a wall at some point and then slide down. The human body needs variety and new stimuli, so adjusting the workloads, the frequencies, and the intensities will affect the variances of evolution or involution of functional capacity. Tinman

Thanks for all the good info. Anyone have references or published articles on the topic I can get a hold of?

when AI bots bump a 19 year old thread

Honestly a pretty good read though even if the subject has already been discussed pretty extensively.