Tuesday, September 9, 2008

VO2 Max test. Is it worth it?

On Sunday I went for a long ride in the Litchfield hills, on my usual Middlebury-Waramaug-Morris-Middlebury loop. I eneded up meeting up with Greg,a hardcore roadie/ cyclecrosser whom John Hirsch has been trying to convert to the darkside. ( oh John and Mandy he says hi, and tri-geeks still don't know how to ride.) Any way as we rode for a while we got to talking, first about the dire condition of public education in America, to my possible career routes, to tri and fitness, to the infamous, "don't take this the wrong way but tri geeks don't know how to ride." Anyway as we ground up Hopkins road, and I told him my age, after the " You still have a decade before you peak." comment He suggested that I get a power and VO2Max test done to see if my plan of conditioning myself until I hit my peak is worth it. Part of me really wants to get this done, so that way I can see if I have the talent to justify to myself getting a coach. The other part of me is afraid that it will be like all my other experiences with organized athletics. That the results will confirm what most people have told me all my life. That I have no place in athletics. So I'm going to price it out and see if I can justify the expense next season or in the off season, but as much as I'm looking forward to it, I am also dreading it.

R.D.

2 comments:

Runner Leana said...

I'm trying to figure out the same thing at the moment. My coach would like me to get one done. She suspects I'm really good at low heartrates but that I haven't been pushing my anaerobic capacity that much. They are expensive though, so we'll see when it gets done...

GetBackJoJo said...

You don't have to have a high vo2 max to get a coach. I think you should get one if it's low!~ Then you'd need more help! ha ha
We all need coaching. If you could afford anything, that's what I think you should get.
How can a stupid test tell you if you're an athlete or not?