Merging my notes from Scientific Triathlon and Endurance Innovation podcasts
Basis for relating VO2max to basic aerobic training volume:
- need stress to promote growth
- how much? minimum and maximum
- theoretical basis traces back to late 1800s (Wilhem Rusch spelling?), and more recently the work of Alois Mader
- It is theorized from protein syntheses processes within the cell and how much stimulus (kilojoules of work) these processes need to adapt as well as how big of an overload they can handle.
- works very well in base training
Basic algorithm:
- Mader’s formula for amount of VO2max you can use in 24 hours
- take a % of that to get best growth
- convert %VO2max-24hours to KJ
- based on KJ recalculate the protein synthesis to see how fast you recover
(implies some iteration of steps 2-4 if recovery is >24 hours or substantially less than 24 hours)
Example 1 (ignoring influence of vlamax)
- VO2max of 70, optimal stimulus is ~12,000-14,000KJ/week
- zone2 of 210W is ~750KJ/hour (210W * 3600 sec)
- they said ~15-18 hours max where 12,000/750 = 16 hours; 14,000/750 = 18.6 hours
- the numbers given don’t completely add up, so without more detail its a rough order of magnitude
Other examples:
- VO2max of 60, average z2 power of 180W, 13-16 hours max (up to 14,000KJ/week)
- VO2max of 45, average z2 power of 140W, 11-15 hours max (6500-8000KJ/week)
So an example closer to my numbers would be VO2max of 45, average power of 170W (612KJ/hour), and therefore MAX base endurance hours of ~10-13 hours/week.
@iamholland did that help clear up the VO2max-volume relationship?