Ok, interesting - the 10k time and half marathon times work together, as in one leads to the other, they 'fit' and predict your VO2max to be 45.3 and engine power 3669.

The 5k points at a VO2max of 47.9 and an engine of 3879 indicating that you are fitter now than last year. Possibly because of cross training and varied exercise? You can often maintain a fitness surge by doing different training, this means you are still working the engine whilst specific muscles are recovering, ie you can swim with tired legs, still working your engine out... If you did a 5k race now, you may be able to drop under 20mins?!! That would be tremendous for 81kg's...

Your weight is perfect, you are underweight from 'normal' by 4kg's (5% under) and have a good engine! Not much to say with at least 3879 you may be at peak fitness! Certainly if you don't smoke or drink, have a good diet, and do interval and distance work there may not be 'huge' physical gains to be made - perhaps LT training is your way forwards? Would be interested to see your training regime

EDIT: Very much like Steve a few pages ago, good engine, good weight!! it would be fine tuning unless there are any blatant 'holes' in the training, which is unlikely when we all have such great resources as the internet and share forums like these!!

It's amazing, I'm midway through my seventies and never had a clue what my VO2max is, or what my 'engine' is for that matter. Perhaps you could enlighten me?
My vital statistics are: Age 75: Weight 10st: Height 5' 6": Recent racing times: 400m 72.90: 800m 2.46.71: 1500m 5.39.83: 5K 22.24: 10K 45.32: 10miles 76.20:
You mention Horwill in one of your posts. I always thought him a bit too aggressive in his training regimes, tending to overload his athletes and inviting injury. A couple of my friends found his schedules impossible to maintain. I much prefer Daniels whose more manageable training schedules are based on current racing times.
Cheers!

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Give me the hills!

Luthor

since about January I have been training 5 or 6 times per week. 3 swims, 1 or 2 runs and 1 or 2 cycles. Most of my running was 6 milers at an easy pace and my cycling was usually a long cycle (30 - 40 miles) and/or a spin class

This highlights how my improved 5k time mostly comes from cross training.

My aims for winter training are: some weights (to improve cycling strength); swimming technique (coz my swimming is sh1t); and increasing my running mileage ( a little).

Only next summer shall I look to some speed work for my running.

Flakey

edit: hopefully not at peak fitness, I think I can improve my general fitness a wee bit more, then perhaps more running specific training would bring the times tumbling down!

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GIRUY

Could be interesting........................

RunningFox, stunning.

It's hard to work your VO2max from the numbers. You possess blinding speed indicating something in the region of the high 40's, perhaps even 50 dead. I'm going for 49, because it fits best with your 800 and 1500. Your 5k time shuold be a couple of minutes faster, and your 10k about 3mins faster, but that 400 shows impressive ATP and Glycogen use during running. Engine - 3118. I think'll you'll find those figures are excellent.

VO2max is the amount of oxygen you are taking in, measured in Millilitres, per minute PER KILO of body weight. It's like a power-to-weight ratio in a car. So, people with similar VO2max will do a 10k in similar times assuming 'good' musculature fitness, irrespective of their weight or height. It's their ability to move EACH KILO of their bodymass, not their entire body.

The 'engine' is a term I've made up, and I use it to work out the POWER of the body irrespective of the mass. So you multiply the mass in kg by the VO2max and you get basically the power of your heart/cardiovascular system, and again this can be compared with others directly.

What interests me is as you get fitter (faster I mean) it's important for me to differentiate between an advantage caused by weight, and one caused by improvements in the uptake of oxygen. So often people will get faster and lose weight only to *not* realise their engine is not being driven hard enough to maximise the weight loss, since effort is dropped without noticing. How often do you see a 10st athelete coming down the road kicking for breath? Now watch the 17st newbies pink face working for their lives. If the 10st person worked that hard we'd break more records!

RF, you have times I am envious of and am working towards and it's amazing to see that running really is something you can do for a long time

Instead of giving any improvement advice - I think you should go have a sit down and enjoy those numbers!! (joking )

PS Horwill made some ground breaking discoveries about atheletic training, and I enjoy absorbing the knowledge. I agree with you regarding his training regimes, but in his defense he usually works with the "genetically gifted" who are less prone to injury and more prone to breaking world records. I agree - read his work but go a little easier on yourself than he does!!

RF, without any of the Maths I could tell you that you'd be 'A+'

Thanks Luthor. I think sometimes my sarcasm comes across as negative but normally I'm quite a "can do" personality. I think you're probably right and I could do more than I'm giving myself credit for so I might try and push it a bit from now on.

Cheers.

Thanks for the info Luthor1. Surprisingly, due to years of heavy smoking, my lung capacity is quite small. I don't know how this relates to my VO2max. I have one of those meters that you blow into as hard as you can. On a scale of 60 - 800 I can never get it above 500.
I'm not sure I could knock 3 minutes off my 10K time. I have the speed but, as I get older, my stamina diminishes. I'm fairly sure I could improve my 5K and most of my track times with proper training.
Problem is, I can't really motivate myself to 'train properly' any more. I just want to enjoy my running, and carry on winning, with a minimum of pain!
Cheers!

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Give me the hills!

I hear what you're saying RF, it would only take an overtraining session to put you off running for a month or so, then it would be extremely difficult to get 'back' the lost time, however it should be fairly low-risk to do sufficient training to maintain your current form, which I'm guessing is what you're doing.

Do you swim? That can be an excellent way to improve (maintain?) the engine with virtually zero risk of hurting legs. It will get your heart up, help the core muscles (which, by the way, need to be stronger than running alone can make them) and get those lungs working.

Luthor1 i hope you dont think me rude in asking this, but where do you get you knowledge from.
You are obviously confident in what you know, im just be nosey. If you dont want to answer i wont take it personally Hayley

RF This measurement is referred to as Peak Flow. The theoretical value for a 75 year old, 5'9" tall is 525, so you are not that far away. Probably the Capstan Full Strength that did the damage all those years ago. Take note kids!

Flakey

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GIRUY

I don't swim but I have a stretch and exercise routine for maintaining core stability, such things as Cat, Plank, Press-ups and the use of light weights for upper body toning. Upper body strength is important for runners regardless of their age.
Cheers!

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Give me the hills!

Hayley - When I was really large (17.5st, 3 years ago) I had a bit of a 'scare' which made me want to get fit and drop the weight. Since I am interested in motor vehicle technology and I work in I.T I decided there must be a logical way to bring together various aspects of the body to understand them better. Then I just started reading on the internet, found various tools which help turn capacity into minutes and seconds, learning the relationship between weight, speed and time.

I'm very interested in doing the proper courses, getting the accreditation and becoming a trainer, but I worry that people won't take seriously someone who themselves is still a little - podgy

Perhaps in a couple of years when I'm a lean-mean running machine!!

Luthor credit to you for what you have already achieved.Some times in life we need something to scare us to make us change and i think what your doing is really good too.
As someone who doesnt like to judge a book by it's cover, i think you should do what you want to do, not worry about what people think.
If i was you i'd go start these courses now if you can, then maybe that will give you a push start.
Thanks and good luck hayley

What an interesting thread this is! I think I will have a go...

6' 2" Tall 11st 2lb.

5k 17.04
10k 35.46
1/2 Marathon 1h 20m

I find I am a bit stuck at these times, I train regularly (30-40 mpw) with a couple of speed sessions which puts me in reasonable shape but I'd really like to break through to the next level and go sub 35 for 10k. Any suggestions luthor1?

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