VO2MAX calculator gone??

[Jerome]

My training methodology had improved. In my mid-50s, when I was concentrating more on road and trail running than rowing, I noticed that my times were slipping even faster than age would predict, so I reviewed my training methodology, made some modifications, and saw a significant rebound in performance over the next couple years. But my VO2 max didn’t improve.

Mike,

Without wanting to derail this thread,
did you modify your methodology because of age related factors or balancing multiple disciplines? And what kind of adjustments did you make?

Jerôme

[Mike Caviston]

Without wanting to derail this thread, did you modify your methodology because of age related factors or balancing multiple disciplines? And what kind of adjustments did you make?

So far I haven’t factored age into my training methodology (at least not consciously), but balancing multiple disciplines has been a challenge and I’m always considering ways to tweak things to get the best performances across diverse events. But the explanation for the drop in performance referred to here turned out to be pretty simple and obvious. It serves as a reminder for me to always review my training logs to verify I was really doing what I thought I was doing. I always have a master plan but it is surprising how often I might diverge in little ways for a number of reasons and after a while the seemingly small changes add up. In this case it turns out I had been gradually coming to rely more on short, intense sessions and interval workouts and less on longer, steadier endurance-focused sessions. Even when my competitive focus is running, the bulk of my training is cross-training with rowing, cycling, and stair climbing as well as a few other occasional modalities. I was doing weekly intervals (generally 1-5' per interval, 10-15' per workout) for three modalities (rowing, running, climbing). One of the gyms I used got a Jacob’s Ladder, and I spent a disproportionate amount of time doing speed sessions on that. Meanwhile, I moved from a large apartment complex with a nice gym to a smaller complex without a gym, and I didn’t realize how much I had been using that gym for additional sessions after getting home from work, or on weekends (I primarily did workouts at various gyms available due to my job). So I lost a few 30-40' sessions per week of stationary cycling, Stairmaster, elliptical machine, etc. Finally, I had gradually been relying more on public transportation (trains, trolleys, buses) to get around the San Diego area. I’ve never owned a car so I either get a ride with someone else or ride my bike. I was saving time and avoiding some of the more tedious routes, but I didn’t appreciate how much the transportation miles meant to my baseline fitness.

Sorry if that’s more info than you were looking for. Short answer: too much intensity, not enough volume. As soon as I reduced the amount of interval work and built the endurance volume back up, my race times improved across the board. The thing is, I always knew the best way to train to get the results I wanted, but I had drifted away from optimal so gradually I didn’t realize it until I sat down with my training logs and crunched the numbers. The difference was striking. Now I keep a much closer watch on my weekly totals and yearly averages (which I had always done when rowing was my competitive focus).

[Jerome]

Sorry if that’s more info than you were looking for. Short answer: too much intensity, not enough volume. As soon as I reduced the amount of interval work and built the endurance volume back up, my race times improved across the board. The thing is, I always knew the best way to train to get the results I wanted, but I had drifted away from optimal so gradually I didn’t realize it until I sat down with my training logs and crunched the numbers. The difference was striking. Now I keep a much closer watch on my weekly totals and yearly averages (which I had always done when rowing was my competitive focus).

Thank you for your detailed reply, Mike! This is exactly what I’m very much interested in. In fact, your post directly answers a couple of things I’m personally struggling with in my own training (e.g. finding the right balance between volume and intensity). Thanks again!

[JaapvanE]

I had gradually been relying more on public transportation (trains, trolleys, buses) to get around the San Diego area. I’ve never owned a car so I either get a ride with someone else or ride my bike. I was saving time and avoiding some of the more tedious routes, but I didn’t appreciate how much the transportation miles meant to my baseline fitness.

Here the same. I walked, ran and cycled a lot to/from public transport before the pandemic hit, which clocked a lot of miles. Skipping that during the lockdowns resulted in a measureable drop in my fitness. My VO2Max dropped to 35 in that period. Only when I deliberatly started planning walks and runs, and bought a rowing machine, it went back up again to 45 again. It is a great way to excercise.

I always knew the best way to train to get the results I wanted, but I had drifted away from optimal so gradually I didn’t realize it until I sat down with my training logs and crunched the numbers. The difference was striking. Now I keep a much closer watch on my weekly totals and yearly averages (which I had always done when rowing was my competitive focus).

I'm less competitive these days, so my top priority is making training sessions fun. Such a shift, if it would increase my fun in the sessions, would be totally OK in my book. I do watch my heartrates a bit, as I notice that too many too intense sessions in a week are great fun while doing them, but leave me a bit less energetic for a couple of days (thus result in several less fun sessions in the following week). So keeping my ego in check is important in the long run. But I really start to like the slower long distance stuff as well, so I guess getting the hang of those steady state sessions might help people as well.