I mean he is great and all but I am talking about another Michael Johnson. This one is a lot skinner and kind-of goofy looking but he runs really fast. Not only does Golden Shoes run fast but he can run fast at a really high incline.
We are learning how to administer VO2 Max tests in one of my classes. Fun stuff. Everyone has to learn it, so that means everyone is taking both bike and run tests, multiple times since there are only 14 of us in the class. Golden Shoes went on Tuesday and set the standard for all the non-running guys. They aren't happy. After a little warm-up we let him set the treadmill at a "comfortable" pace. For him it was 7.0 mph. Then his partner ramped that sucker up every three minutes until he almost passed out, or fell off the treadmill actually. I was trying to yell at him as much as possible to encourage him to blow it out, but since I was on the bike getting a sub-max test it was difficult. Turns out my partner was having a hard time taking my blood pressure with me hollering across the room. Honestly I wasn't too concerned with my blood pressure as I was getting a lot of entertainment out of Golden Shoes.
Why? Because at my gym the treadmills only go up to 15% incline. But Michael? He was running at 15% incline and 7.0 MPH like it was NOTHING. HR wasn't even cracking 150. Keep in mind that since this is a graded test, you have to stay at the incline for 3 minutes before you can increase it. His RER (respiratory exchange ratio) was increasing at a snail's pace. It is the indication of what percentage fat you are burning for fuel and what percentage carbohydrates you are burning (at rest 100% fat, at anything above 70% VO2 Max you are 100% carbs)
By the time Golden Shoes was done he was at an 18% grade. His test was the longest I have ever seen at 32 minutes. VO2 Max was 72 ml/kg/min, 75 is considered the benchmark for world-class athletes.
Nothing makes me more fired up then watching someone exercise to the point of nearly passing out. Call me a masochist, but this was fantastic.
VO2 Max essentially means very little to endurance athletes. My professor calls it a "worthless number". He's right. It's all about the lactic threshold for us.
Humans? We really aren't all as great as we thought we were. Siberian huskies that run in dog sled competitions? VO2 Max of 240 ml/kg/min. I'd like to know how they got them to run on a treadmill with a huge mask on their face!
2 comments:
I got a Husky and she can run sure but boy does she get bored. I think huskies lack motivation--at least mine does. I do try to motivate her by saying she will never qualify for the Iditarod with her attitude but she totally doesn't care. Apparently the Iditarod doesn't have the same lure as Boston or Kona does for us.
That's pretty cool.
Do they need any test subjects, or do they happen to offer the testing to students?
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