VO2 Max, Lactate Lab Testing Etc
6 watchers
7 May
12:39am, 7 May 2025
9,136 posts
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Mark J 🇳🇿
Have any of you done a proper lab test for VO2 Max, lactate etc? I'm going in for one shortly. Quite excited by the thought. I know, I'm odd like that. I was curious as to how you may have found it, the test and the results, especially when compared to what your watches had predicted. |
7 May
1:42am, 7 May 2025
18,743 posts
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jda
Not for many years, but when a student. The physical test is rather unpleasant, the results were not terribly surprising. I do know that the absolute VO2max number from my garmin is wildly inaccurate though it seems to track trends reasonably sensibly (eg going up during marathon training, a good bit lower now) |
7 May
9:05am, 7 May 2025
52,695 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
I think most people who have done them say the watch figures are bobbins. But as jda says the trend in the watch can be useful? Enjoy Mark (if enjoy is the word!?)  G
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7 May
9:33am, 7 May 2025
22,245 posts
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Jef
I did a DEXA and VO2 test some months back and found the information quite revealing. My VO2 was 3 % higher than my Garmin was suggesting I’m 16 kilos lighter now and Garmin says 52% ( vo2 rises as you get lighter ) love to get a retest and see how it stands up now. Can’t quite justify the cost currently |
7 May
9:44am, 7 May 2025
3,341 posts
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Grast_girl
I've done a couple as we have a sports science degree at the uni I work at. Their students are required to do one in preparation of doing them with clients. It was interesting, but not that informative as I'm not really a highly trained athlete even when I'm running my best. My main memory is that breathing into the bag is much harder than normal breathing, so when I would usually be fine running at a certain pace for a minute or so, I couldn't keep it up with the bag in place. If you're going some, make sure you have a harness on while running, so you don't end up in a heap getting treadmill burns. My OH surprised them when he was at the height of his running (2:45 marathon), so they almost ran out of breath sampling bags and I think had effectively maxed out the treadmill they had then. He also has a tendency to bleed a lot after the puncture for lactate so got blood spots everywhere. I haven't ever had a watch to compare to. Not sure what his says, if it does it. |
7 May
9:59am, 7 May 2025
27,266 posts
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larkim
I did one about 18 months ago. The numbers broadly matched what I expected, but good to have it confirmed. VO2Max was the biggest wild difference between what my Garmin said and the actual result. I like the fact that I now have definitive data, even though in the grand scheme of things it didn't change anything about how I train etc. Agree with everything jda wrote. |
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7 May
11:24am, 7 May 2025
27,267 posts
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larkim
Just remember, the results spreadsheet for mine is available via google docs if anyone is interested. docs.google.com |
7 May
11:27am, 7 May 2025
2,524 posts
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auburnette
I've done one. Was 1 point higher in lab than on my watch, but broadly consistent. It's hard to run maximally if you've done the submax (lactate) test right before the VO2 max test. Tbh i think a lot of people get hung up on the vo2 max but unless you have a lot of weight to lose or are relatively untrained, it's just a number that people like to throw around and it probably isn't the limiting factor on performance. I found the lactate testing quite a bit more useful than the VO2 measurement, gave me an area of focus and led me to increase the amount of threshold training i do. Running economy calculated from oxygen consumption also really useful to know, mine was crap in relation to my vo2 max, i'm like some sort of gas guzzler. Working on form and strength training to try and improve this as fortunately it's trainable. |
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7 May
11:45am, 7 May 2025
9,141 posts
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Mark J 🇳🇿
Noice!! Great feedback from you all. Thank you. I shall push ahead and get it done then, but mainly for the lactate result, rather then the VO2 Max. I'll still do that, just out of curiosity, just this once. I'm opting for a combined testing session.
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7 May
12:24pm, 7 May 2025
2,525 posts
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auburnette
Deffo ask the physiologist for a running economy calculation if it's not included as standard (they are already collecting the data that allows this to be calculated). I peeked at larkim's report and don't see it there so maybe it's something that isn't presented as standard even though its implicit in the data. It's the amount of oxygen (VO2) consumed per kilogram of body weight per kilometer (ml/kg/km). It varies at different paces and you'll be more efficient at some paces than others. |
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