What Is vVO2 Max and Why Is It the Real Gold Standard?
The best predictor of running performance isn't VO2 max. It's the slowest speed at which you hit it. Here's how to test yours.
The number one indicator of running performance isn't VO2 max. It's vVO2 max: the slowest speed at which you hit your VO2 max.
It combines the engine and the efficiency into one number.
The evidence
A study in PubMed put 17 trained runners through a 16K time trial. vVO2 max explained the results 94% of the time, while VO2 max alone explained only 81%.
How to test it this weekend
Find a flat track and show up on fresh legs.
Set a timer for 5 minutes.
Run it all out at an even effort.
Your average pace for those 5 minutes is your number.
Five minutes isn't arbitrary. A researcher named Berthon worked backwards from world record data in 1997 to calculate it. An independent group ran the math again in 2024 and landed on 4.97 minutes.
A lesson from my own test
I ran a 3,200m test last week with an 18-second negative split. By this test's own rule, that means I paced it instead of maxing it, so my number reads slow. Time to run it again.
FYI: your first attempt will probably read slow too. It's a pacing skill before it's a fitness measurement.
The prompt
The prompt digs through your last 6 months, finds any run that could reasonably count as a test, and if there isn't one, hands you the test and builds your plan off the result.
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