None whatsoever unfortunately. I’d heard of it but never took any notice of it or ever been in a situation to have it measured. Only now with the watch purchase has it caught my attention. Being asthmatic, with advanced kidney issues and carrying and extra stone or more, in some ways it’s mad that I can do what I do.
Once I get that second wind I’m ok but really suffer on the inclines. I’ll get better but part of me is also fascinated to see how far I can improve it given my limitations. Typically I’m short on patience.
To be honest I’m a bit confused as to why I’ve not had any weight come off. I was expecting some minor but immediate reaction.
VO2max is a cruel measure, because it is rather less responsive to exercise than many. The inclines would draw disproportionately on that sustained ability to flow oxygen, rather than some of the other elements that go into what we would consider as endurance.
Aye, it’s not that it’s unresponsive, its just that its not very tightly connected to what most people think of when they think about increased endurance.
A common example might be the improvement in hiking capability from being knackered after 15 minutes and sore the next day, to being able to go the full 2 hours to the top of a peak without stopping for a break. It’s a clear improvement in endurance performance but would have been achieved with likely no improvement in VO2max.
This is a measure of the maximum rate of aerobic consumption and so think of it more as the strength of the aerobic system, not its ability to sustain low levels of activity for a long period. As such, to get it to increase it tends to require the sort of work most people wont do. In broad strokes, it is going to be more related to the pace of your mile intervals, not the number of miles you can do, and so is going to be more affected by knocking time off those intervals than adding extra miles.
Long road ahead but hopefully I’ll feel some improvement over actually recording anything.
Times are getting better thankfully.
2.65 miles tonight in 26 min. 28 sec. Happy with that as it’s a sub 10 minute mile average. I was previously up at 10min 30sec or even more. I did push it and suffered a bit but good to get it down. I peaked at 8.5 min/ mile at one point (down hill)
Reading up on it a little. Fascination with the units more than anything.
ml / min. / kg by all accounts. To me it looks like losing weight will help enormously.
I am trying to bread free this week and will try to reduce any sugars that I’m still having problems with.
The first food box I’ve ordered has been good to be fair. Apart from the packaging issue, no waste, portion sizes are better than anticipated and most importantly the food is tasty as well. I just hope there’s enough variety in them going forward. Not sure I’ll stay with it, cost wise it may not add up long run.
Was at the local greengrocers the other day… old fashioned type of shop with bundles of local produce stuffed into crates 1m. high all along the pavement outside his shop… ram jam packed inside with a panoply of colour from every vegetable you can name… apparently local farmers are now planting seeds and growing stuff normally only found in Europe… Onions the size of footballs etc
Hardly any floor space to put your foot onto, a type of pick your own into the free brown paper bags he has hanging up everywhere…talk about being fresh though, Mmmmm cant be beaten… So I been calling in there for quite a while now and the guy who owns it is about 80yrs young, shop been in the same spot for almost half a century… What he doesn’t know about fruit and veg is probably not worth knowing… Anyway, he knows from what I buy that it is obvious I make my own soups from time to time… and he says to me last week when I’m in there…
“Are You Making Some Gold Soup Again Are Ya…?”
Not having a clue what he is referring to… and like an idiot in front of 3or4 woman that are crammed in there as well, I replied…
“What is Gold Soup?”
Obviously a new one to me but not to everyone else in the shop that immediately started laughing…
“Any Soup That Has Got Nine Carrots In It…” he says…! :0)
Can’t look at a carrot now without thinking about that quip every time
It doesnt work like that. What is measured is the absolute level of consumption (L/min) and is then converted to a relative measurement for better standardization. If you convert assuming a lower body weight that conversion will look better, but the absolute oxygen consumption measured will also go down making it more or less even out.
If your weight loss results in an improved performance (e.g. you can knock 30 seconds of your mile interval) then it will improve your score in ml/kg/min. Otherwise everything will more or less counterbalance.
I had planned a mountain run for today but was welcomed with the sound of hail battering the windows last night, so ended up compromising and deciding to go “half way up”. Wind was howling, heavy hail showers and damn cold. After getting half way up, I went Gump again and decided to go higher. I then ended up above the snow line now and thought I could go a little higher and come back down through a loop I know. Got there, tried to find an alternative route down which resulted running through a freezing bog, which ended in a cliff. Backtracked through the freezing bog and got back down the normal route which was pretty well sodden all the way down. To finish I ended crossing a river knee deep. Terrier dog was in full “what the fuck are you doing mode” over the whole run and employed heavy delay tactics all the way round until it went down hill. Bit of a rush then.
6.3 miles, just shy of 1600 feet in elevation change. Time was shocking but I find these runs are almost like interval training to be honest.
I think there’s been some subtle movement in the weight but will check tomorrow. Better be.
One issue I am having is some aches and pains in my heels - Achilles linked as they really pull hard when I’m running up hills. Not sure how to tackle that to be honest. No doubt linked to footwear I’ve been wearing indoors etc. over the pandemic i.e. 90% of the time at home.
Dont overdo volume. Pay close attention to pain/tightness and moderate accordingly. It’s probably the most unforgiving area we have that is least tolerant of you ignoring warning signs.
thanks. Just reading up it could be achilles tendonitis. Sounds about right. I’ve been half toying with the idea of some insoles, which are increasingly sounding like a half decent idea.
No more running until Monday at the earliest now and that will be back to 2.5 to 3 miles probably.
