"...not even scratched...." LOL. I'd need to put a sign up otherwise I'd be out of bed before I'd remembered to do the test

I've got the polar HR monitor traces for my 1.5mile runs, and the peak my heart gets to has dropped by that amount, like I said it feels like my heart could 'push on' but the legs are unwilling.. I didn't say it was a HRmax test, it's what my heart *gets* to when I run 1.5miles as fast as I can. A HRmax test would be warmup-rest 5 minutes-run flat out for 3minutes.

I only took my heart rate at the beginning before I started the intervals, and now I've taken it again... yeah I guess it could have been affected by other things, caffeine, and alcohol, can't remember if I took it on the Monday after a bender at the weekend!!

EDIT: I'll take the 1.5mile runs from 3 weeks ago, and get the average HR for the runs and post them up, I've done quite a few from then until now... and see how the average has dropped

Flakey - you're right, whilst the peak my heart rate hits has dropped as I wrote originally, the average heart rate during the 1.5mile runs has only dropped by around half that. I am now thinking the original 73 rate measurement is indeed spurious... so much for a controlled test!

Ok, Now I'm fascinated as to what my perfect running weight should be, and what my engine is like. My vital stats are:

I'm 33

6' 1"

11 stone 10lbs

10k 41mins 30secs (relatively flat)

10 mile 1hr 11mins

1/2 marathon 1hr 35 mins (hilly)

full marathon: In my dreams

what do you think?

Not sure if this is particularly relevant... but I thought it was interesting (yet not interesting enough for it's own thread!)

I actually lost some weight recently, and it's definitely made a big improvement, perhaps 15-20 secs per mile after losing 1 stone

Hey, I can get you under your goal this year.

Because ...................... ?

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Premiership by the end of the 2009 :D

Here's one for you,

weight 68kg
Height 181cm
Gender Male
400m 59.5
800m 1:18
5mile 27:03
10km 33:40
5km 16:50
10 mile xc 1:01:05

1/2M (2006)- 1:17:59

What does engine mean, is there anything quantitative. Is it a unit or just a figure with the higher the better, what are the ranges? I had my VO2 max measured in September and am due for it to be measured again in the next month. How do you get the vo2 max from the running speed? just curious.

I'm sure we had to know the formula for that in GCSE P.E. many years ago lol!

Hi there - I used the term 'engine' in here to describe how much power your body can put out in *total*. VO2max determines the power output per kilo, whereas the engine is the thing that pushes your whole body along. Yours is coming out at 4270, which is frankly ballistic!

How old are you?

Some of the numbers are out of sync - for example your sprint speeds are not translating as well as they could to longer distances, however the 10k time is off the curve, as in faster than maths would predict!

From your numbers there, I'm guessing your VO2max around 63ish

Well I have got a lot of training to do.
I'm 24 by the way.
Just need to get into the swing of training as I've only been training properly since October 2007.

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I think you misprinted the 800m time - 1min18?

Yup, the 800 is 2:18, but my new 5km PB is 16:23 care of the Armagh 5km international road race on thursday. Woo!

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If you want to know a bit more about me and what I do then visit my webiste!

very interesting read luthor1, thanks for sharing your knowledge!

can you give me any pointers? numbers?

I've only been running for 6 months or so
was 16 stone, am now 12.5 stone
5 foot 11
28 year old male
the 10 years leading upto when i started running i was a heavy drinker, smoked 10 or so fags a day and ate fairly "casually"

best 5k is 24 min
10k 55 min
i did a half marathon in 2:20 at 13.5 stone in november

i would like to run under 50 minutes in a 10k event in 10 weeks
i'd love to do a half marathon in under 1:50 this year

at 12.5 stone, your engine is looking to be around 3197, and your current VO2max is 40 give or take a point or so.

Since you have been heavy in the past, this bodes well for a much larger engine score. The problem you currently have I bet is your legs get tired and heavy. This is because when fat (as I was!!) your heart is a reasonable muscle, since it's dragging round extra weight. When you train as a large person, your engine grows fast and strong. I started at 16.5stones, and got my engine up to 3950. *THEN* when you lose the weight, the VO2max will sky rocket.

My advice to you is to use this to your advantage, and do 2/3 of your training in a week with a rucksack with weight in it. Start reasonably light, say 6-10lbs and work up to a stone. This will put more strain on your heart and cardiovascular system and it will make good solid improvements to the engine. Then when you shed the weight, you will fly.

Do you have a heart rate monitor? If so keep your heart around 160-170 for 'cruise' running, and 185 on short hill reps. Hills will hurt, but you'll see the biggest gain from them.

Good luck!
PS Always check with a doctor before doing heavy repeats if you've not done them before, especially with extra weight!

Andy