My other sport is golf. One of the most impressive achievements any golfer can aspire to is “shoot their age”, which means completing 18 holes with a score equal or less than their age. So, in theory, it should become easier with each birthday.
I’m 61 so won’t be doing that any time soon. perhaps if I live to see a cake with 3 figures I might…
But I’m a much better cyclist than I am a golfer and yesterday I did a VO2max test and set a new PB of 67.
Which got me thinking that there is a slightly different challenge for cyclists, but one that gets harder as you get older unlike its golf equivalent.
What’s oldest age at which anyone has had a VO2max result greater than or equal to their age? From some of the riders in Zpower I would guess it’s in the 70s but if anyone has hard facts it would be fun to know.
Quite apart from fun it would also be an optimistic message. My result yesterday was a lifetime best, up 4 on my last test 7 years ago. So contrary to received wisdom my VO2Max has improved rather than declined with time. If I can do it I’m sure others can too so perhaps the sample on which the wisdom is based is wrong.
I’m 47 and when I had my comprehensive work medical at the start of the year I had to do a ‘test’ on the Wattbike at the facility that extrapolated a VO2max of 48
I questioned the accuracy and was told it was good to +/- 5%
I’m heavy so was pleased enough to have a 48 score - if I got back to my ‘fighting’ weight it would have been around 54 according to the assessor - so something to aim for I guess
Not really clear on how it was calculated though so am a little sceptical …
I don’t think that there is anyone in the world who can “shoot their age” at 70. The highest I recall seeing would be in the low/early 60s, maybe mid-60s.
Rowing and cycling power are pretty far apart, unless you are well trained for a number of years in both sports – I’ve seen Concept2 numbers for 6-20min that match up with cycling numbers, but both guys had been doing both sports concurrently for a number of years.
For cyclists, your FTP is pretty darned close to what you can hold for a 2k on the erg, but it takes training to get there.
ACSM formula done off of an 8min power test with no spikes at the start or finish would get you pretty close to the WKO+ modelling. An evenly-paced 12min effort would be better.
(Coggan has long maintained over on Wattage that your 12min power is your real VO2 max power — 5-6 minutes has waaaay too much anaerobic interference)
Absolute because I live and train in flatland, don’t usually look at W/Kg since around here its about raw watts, and more importantly I need to lose weight and protect my ego Full disclosure my relative vo2max is 41.3 now and 45.5 at target weight. Aerobic capacity has been growing nicely since start of season in September, figure I still have a lot of headroom to grow aerobic capacity.
that ACSM formula only “works” if you look at the “flatline” part of a power test – a 5min effort with a big spike at the start and finish is going to overestimate. In the second edition of TARWAPM Allen and Coggan offered that you could use a well-paced 5min effort, but you had to look at the even paced flatline (for example, I’ve done 425w for 5 min, but take out the twin peaks and it was a 400w effort in the middle – exactly what I could hold for 8min at that time, in an even paced effort, while the Coggan 12 minutes of truth was down to 390).
I’m 67 and have considered a V02 Max test at the local university. What actionable information did it give you, other than a data point to compare down the road to see how much you’ve retained? I would like to improve my VO2 if I could to avoid getting dropped on hills with my younger cyclists buddies. I usually can keep up with them except for hills.
I just (2 days ago) upgraded from WKO+4 to WKO+5. Where do you find the WKO+5 modeling? I’ve done a gas exchange which ended up between the two methods you both posted. It doesn’t matter but, I’ve got all day and want to mess around and see what WKO comes up with…
edit: I see the estimate with the power metrics…Is this what you’re referring to?
The calculators are just guesstimates. Using power numbers to estimate o2 consumptions is making some big assumptions about the relationship between power and o2 uptake (efficiency and fitness has an impact). You need to go into a lab that can measure your o2 uptake if you want to know your actual vo2max.
I"ve done a couple lab tests in the last year and my v02max was essentially the same for both test, but my power was significantly higher during the 2nd test when I was more trained. A calculator would have given me a much higher vo2max estimate for the 2nd test even though it was actually about the same.
I’m still shooting higher than my age, but I"m only 51. If the OP got a lab result of 67 ml/min at the age of 61, that would definitely be on the pointy end of the curve.
Our university does the tests for $80. I did them mostly out of curiosity and to compare results when I’m in OK shape vs. good shape. As stated previously, my vo2max didn’t move much, but my ability to work at a high percentage of vo2max increased significantly. Good or bad, it showed that my FTP was reaching the “typical” upper limits as a percentage of vo2max. In theory, that means I should probably focus on more vo2max work to raise the roof more before I can raise my FTP ceiling further. I did a bunch of vo2max work heading into that test, so I’m not sure how much further my roof can go.
