A Physiologically Driven Performance Paradigm
Imagine we have two runners, John and Steve. Both John and Steve have a VO2max of 80 ml/kg/min. This VO2max value represents the maximum integrated capacity of their pulmonary, cardiovascular, and muscular system to uptake transport and utilize oxygen. Despite these athletes having identical VO2max values, John beats Steve in a 5k race when they go head to head. How do we reconcile this?
I’ve heard one camp of coaches make the argument that a high VO2max is everything and that the results of races are predetermined before they start. A different camp of coaches asserts that VO2max is meaningless because it can’t predict finishing places among elite runners. In reality, both of these camps are right. If two runners show up to a race and one has a VO2max of 50 ml/kg/min, and the other has a VO2max of 80 ml/kg/min, we can bet that the later will win. But, when two athletes with high, but similar VO2max values race against one another it’s a toss-up. That is, unless we account for other fa…
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