Active Expert: Gale Bernhardt : Tags : training_volume

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Active Expert: Gale Bernhardt

2 Posts tagged with the training_volume tag

Lance Armstrong VO2max 79.5 at Age 16, Training Volume

Posted by Gale Bernhardt Oct 30, 2009

Those of you that have been following my blog and recent column know I’ve been doing a “look back at training 20 years ago theme.”

Today’s post featuring “Hotshot Lance Armstrong, Age 16, Plano, Texas” has several key features I’d like to point out:

Earlier this spring I read a column written about Lance Armstrong where the author claimed that Lance’s VO2max as a young person had never been documented or published. I don’t recall the author or column title now and it’s not really that important; but, the author claimed that Lance's high childhood VO2max was fabricated and later published to give cover to high VO2max numbers posted when Lance was well into his professional cycling career. I knew I had read about his high VO2max when he was a youngster, but I couldn’t find the information anywhere in my files. I finally found it in a 1988 Triathlete magazine column. At age 16, his VO2max was measured at 79.5 (world class) - documented below.
In the training column I wrote recently, I noted that in the late 1980s people were doing very high volume training schedules. At age 16, Lance was swimming 10,600 meters, cycling 320 miles and running 30 miles in the given sample week training schedule. Doing some rough estimates at 2700 m/hr swimming, 18 mph cycling, and 8 minutes per mile running (all average because not all workouts are done at race pace) I come up with a weekly training volume around 25 hours. This is a big load and is typical for many of today’s professional triathletes.
“Junior” loves his mom.
Prize winnings went into a trust account.
It’s a fun column to read.

(Click on the column to get a larger and more readable view.)

Have a great weekend.

If you find something or someone inspiring, let me know. Drop a comment below.

2,693 Views 0 Comments Permalink Tags: training_volume, vo2max, lance_armstrong, training_schedule

Volume vs Intensity Debate

Posted by Gale Bernhardt Jan 4, 2008

I'm not sure what is bringing the volume vs intensity debates to the surface right now, but I'm getting lots of questions about what is more valuable, increasing training volume or intensity?

The answer depends on your current fitness and goals.

1) If you don't have the endurance to complete an event, then first you need endurance (volume). Heading into very intense workouts without a fitness base increases your risk for injury.

2) If you already have an endurance base, then whether you add more volume or intensity depends on what you are currently doing and your race goals. Let's consider extremes because the issue is easier to see. If you are currently training 10 hours per week, with your longest workout at three hours and your goal event is two-hours long then strategically adding more intensity will likely bring better results for you than adding more volume. If your goal event is 12-hours long then more volume, particularly focused in your long workouts will do you more good than more intensity.

To say intensity is better than volume (or vice versa) in all circumstances is like saying a table saw is always a better tool than a nail gun when you're building something big. Or, a table saw is the only tool to use when building something big. Makes no sense.