Couch to 169K..... or bust

[Graham Breeze]

It's worth mentioning that I tended to put on a lot of weight during the winter going up to a peak of around 10st 7 or even 10st 10 at this time of the year. (It doesn't sound that much, but it is a big percentage gain).

Mmmh. I was 10.7 this morning (66.6) kg at 5'10+" which is 3-4 lb higher than when I was racing.

And thinking of you (and Pantani): I have just been looking at my haematocrit (measured last month) which is 0.411(X76tb). "Normal" is 0.4 to 0.52 and I was wondering if it had been lower than 0.4 if I could have persuaded my GP to prescribe EPO to get me up to Pantani level (and win a few prizes).

[Hank]

Was very happy to recently have been properly measured at 170.5cm. That crucial 0.5cm admitting me to the 5'7'' club.

[anthonykay]

I think I was in the super-scrawny category when I was running: 5'8" and 8st 11 to 13 in the summer.

It's worth mentioning that I tended to put on a lot of weight during the winter going up to a peak of around 10st 7 or even 10st 10 at this time of the year.

I'm the same height as Marco, and my weight in my peak racing days was only a few pounds more than his racing weight. Now all this discussion has led to me getting the bathroom scales out of the cupboard, from where they haven't seen the light of day for some years. I'm up to around 10st6lb now (those scales aren't particularly accurate), which is about 7lb more than in Summer 2017 when I was weighed properly as a participant in an experiment.

[Mike T]

VO2 max is related to weight - if you lose 5% of your weight, and it is fat you lose, not muscle, then your VO2 max will go up by 5%, and your running speed - roughly - will increase by 5%. A great incentive to get back to "racing" weight.

[anthonykay]

VO2 max is related to weight - if you lose 5% of your weight, and it is fat you lose, not muscle, then your VO2 max will go up by 5%, and your running speed - roughly - will increase by 5%. A great incentive to get back to "racing" weight.

So my VO2max has decreased by about 5% since it was measured at 52 ml/min/kg during the experiment in Summer 2017 that I mentioned in my previous post. I was in a cohort of "physically active 50-60-year-olds", and they told me that of the 9 people in that cohort whom they had measured so far, my VO2max was the highest.

[Mike T]

So my VO2max has decreased by about 5% since it was measured at 52 ml/min/kg during the experiment in Summer 2017 that I mentioned in my previous post. I was in a cohort of "physically active 50-60-year-olds", and they told me that of the 9 people in that cohort whom they had measured so far, my VO2max was the highest.

There are tables where you can put in your times for various distances and it will give you an estimate of your VO2 max, assuming average efficiency. In my late 40s these said my VO2 max was 50-ish; I have not run a formal flat distance for years, but by Garmin tells me it is now 42.

PS: I have added a photo to counter the "scrawny" label - for some reason it can only be seen on my profile.

[noel]

There are tables where you can put in your times for various distances and it will give you an estimate of your VO2 max, assuming average efficiency. In my late 40s these said my VO2 max was 50-ish; I have not run a formal flat distance for years, but by Garmin tells me it is now 42.

PS: I have added a photo to counter the "scrawny" label - for some reason it can only be seen on my profile.

Yes, that's more "lean but ripped". I'm more along the lines of: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ETJh0qPLkx...00/scrawny.jpg

[Graham Breeze]

Yes, that's more "lean but ripped". I'm more along the lines of: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ETJh0qPLkx...00/scrawny.jpg

Gee Noel! Ladies visit this site you know!

[noel]

Gee Noel! Ladies visit this site you know!

Lol!

[Travs]

My VO2 max based on current running times would be around 55-56 (using a very basic online calculator).

But using a similar calculator for indoor-rowing shows a VO2 max of more like 65-67.

Either...
a) online calculators aren't really that accurate
b) i'm nowhere near the potential i could reach at running
c) i'm more suited to rowing

I'm pretty convinced the figure based on running is the most accurate, as it seems to co-incide closely for all distances from 1mile up to 10km.