Today I tried doing a VO2max test for the first time since I stopped playing rugby. That means I last did the test 30 plus years ago.
VO2max is a good overall indicator of cardiovascular fitness. It measures how quickly your body is able to adsorb oxygen in your lungs and get it to your muscles.
When I played rugby we did the dreaded beep test which involves doing 20m shuttle runs back and forth. The person running the test used to put a cassette tape in a ghetto blaster and pressed play. The tape beeps to tell you when to start your first 20m. You start off at walking pace but the pace slowly picks up with each 20m run. If you are really fit you will be sprinting by the end of the test. The test is over when you collapse into a heap on the floor as you can't take any more. When you have recovered you feed how many runs you completed, your weight etc into a formula and bingo, you have a figure for your VO2max.
By the way it is a law or something that you have to put the word "dreaded" in front of the words "beep test". Its hell.
I didn't fancy doing the dreaded beep test again this time round. A quick search showed me that Concept2 who make my rowing machine have a VO2max calculator. https://www.concept2.com/training/vo2max-calculator You row as fast as you can for 2000m (which handily is also the normal distance for competitions) and enter your time and weight and receive a figure for your VO2max back.
There is one crucial difference between the dreaded beep test and the erg test. You decide when the test is over. Your pace / effort / output is controlled by the beeps. Time is more important than effort. On an erg your pace / output / effort is up to you but you don't get to chose when to stop.
That's fine in general but I hit a snag today. I didn't have a clear idea about what level of output I could sustain for 2000m. I do long rowing sessions of 12000m and also interval sessions. Neither of those helped me to come up with an estimate of how fast I can row for 2000m.
So.... I went for it. Of course I set out far, far too fast at the start and /just/ managed to finish rowing 1500m. Technically I have a VO2max of zero as I didn't finish the test.
Basically I let my ego flatter me into thinking that I am far fitter than I actually am. Reality hit hard and I felt humbled by my failure. However I know I tried as hard as I possibly could.
I am going to take the erg test again this time next week. This time around I have a better idea of the output my body can sustain for 2000m. I won't go crazy at the start so I will finish the test.
#rowing #erg #VO2max #DreadedBeepTest #ego #exercise #fitness #ExerciseOutOfDepression #EOOD #FitOver55
