I did my first professional performance analysis for running yesterday.
The company I did it with also coaches me since last year, and has a few German Tri pros under coaching and have them using their assessment.
It was a two step test. Session one was a step test. 5 Minutes at a given pace, and then 1kph added. 30 second breaks to take blood from the ear lobe.
We did this test up to 17kph (or 3:30/km).
The second test was a ramp to exertion. Every 30 seconds a .5 kph increase. We started at 12kph (5:00 pace) and after reaching 20kph (3:00 pace), the speed doesn’t increase anymore, but the grade increases. After 30 seconds at 3:00 pace, I immediately collapsed at 3:00 and 1% grade. Insane how people can run 50K at that speed.
It’s minor, but these test are conducted using my everyday shoes (Superblast 2 for me), so with raceday shoes, some more should be possible).
The results are:
LIT (or FatMax) is: 4:15 (3:00h Marathon pace)
Threshold is: 3:45 (or 6 minute mile pace)
VO2 Max: 69.7 (c’mon, why not 70?).
This also shows how my fat and carb absorbtion alters at different speed, and how my lactate increases. Lactate however for me is super low. Possibly an advantage for long events, bad for short events.
What’s very interesting is, that my VO2 Max clearly isn’t the limiting factor. My engine is too big for the suspension. My running economy is in the normal range, but rather on the lower end.
That can likely be attributed to my low lifetime mileage (sub 1500km).
I still cycle more than I run atm, and the coach says will likely start to alter that over time.
Really cool to get all that insight. And definitely a good way to focus on the things that are the biggest potentials. Currently, one of the biggest other area of improvement is mentally. Apparently, I quit or slow down even when the lactate isn’t particularly high.