The Physics of Performance - Part Three

More on Absolute VO2 Max

At the start line of a recent 5K race.

The trick is not minding that it hurts.¹

Before we get into Power Profiles, I want to finish our discussion on the factors impacting Absolute VO2 Max (directly) and race performance (indirectly).

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How Fast Feels

Last time, I shared that my son has exceptional discomfort tolerance. He can’t remember a time when he didn’t race. This is going to give him a lifelong athletic advantage.

Talk to any middle school cross-country coach and they will confirm that many kids are concerned they are going to die if they get their heart rates up. Not just kids. I have felt exactly the same way.

• When I started out.

• When I returned to serious training after a break.

• Whenever I think too much about my pals, who have had heart problems.

I get scared, I want to slow down and it reduces my maximal output.

It’s not just the sensation of our hearts pounding in our chests.

Once again, have a look at Zone 5

The feeling of breathing rate tending towards max, the pH balance changing in our muscles and a sensation of muscular strain… taken together, these are alarming to many of us.

So, it can be argued, that an important benefit of a VO2 Block, is getting our minds used to how “going very hard” feels. It’s not something we experience in our day-to-day lives.

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How Each Block Feels

Let’s bring back our block periodization summary.

There are mental skills associated with each block.

1. Endurance and Strength - How Fatigue Feels

2. Race Specificity - How Race Pace Feels

3. VO2 Max - How Going Very Hard Feels

4. Rejuvenation - Coping Well When Backing Off

It’s more than learning the sensation. It is coping with it, accepting it, and building mental pacing strategies for our events.

Coping - Accepting - Pacing

Fear, Panic and Opportunity

In the context of Absolute VO2 Max, an important component of our block is being able to cope with how going “very hard” feels. We are training our minds, as well as our bodies.

We all have mental limiters.²

Keep your eyes open when you bump into one.

An important signal will be a feeling of rising panic. As I head towards max heart rate, I find myself needing to settle these feelings. I breathe through the anxiety. Other athletes, such as my son, relax into the sensation knowing the feelings are simply how it feels to go fast.

In my Guide to Going Long, I warn readers to avoid fatigue caused by training sessions they won’t use on race day. I want you to apply that same principle here. If reading this section made you realize you are “a bit soft” in Zone 5 that’s probably not a problem. However, each time we have a block (or session) that makes us feel uncomfortable, we can improve the mental skills associated with that block.

How might you know if you have a specific mental limiter?

• Start by considering your favorite sessions as well as protocols you dismiss. We tend to embrace what comes naturally and shy away from things we find difficult.

• When you crack, in public or private, learn the lesson from bumping into your limit.

To the figure I’ve been sharing… we should think outside the physical realm and consider the impact of mental fitness on training and race execution.

Push your limits rarely, but when you do, push them hard.

- Mark Allen

Hercules (left) & me (right)

Power Profiles

From last time…

Power: excels in short, explosive efforts. These athletes perform better the shorter the duration. Fast twitch dominant, enjoys maximal strength, speed and power training.

Every so often a sprinter gets the urge to run a marathon or race an Ironman. Some of these athletes come from backgrounds in swimming, criterium riding or track & field.

• If you happen to have a Power Profile then you will have a fear of “losing your gains” despite being more explosive than 99% (or more) of the population.

• If your dream event involves running (marathon, 70.3 or Ironman) then you are not going to like what run volume does to your vertical, explosiveness or sprint.

G-man, these long runs are salami slicing my sprint to nothing…

- A former elite cyclist I coached

Power athletes can be built like high jumpers, or throwers. We don’t need “size” to be explosive. Just like last time, look to your training response, more than what you see in the mirror.

For endurance sport, a key determinant is where your LT1 pace/power (the top of Zone 1) sits relative to your Zone 5 pace/power.

• You’ll find lots of information on finding your breakpoints in our Training Zones and Lactate Testing chapters.

• Below is a video on Fractional Utilization of VO2 Max the associated article is here. Once you know your breakpoints, the video will help you assess where you stack up vs your competitive level.

Now for the tough part. To turn a Power Profile into an endurance athlete, we need to dial down the traditional strength and power development work. My writing partner (John Hellemans) would take you down to zero (!) gym work but I realize that might be a non-starter (it was for Hercules, photo above).

Energy allocation is a better way to think about it.

• I know how much effort it took for you to get strong.

• I know how much pleasure you derive from your muscles and explosiveness.

• We want to maintain your strength, while layering metabolic fitness on top of it.

We want to shift your energy usage towards becoming more efficient at race pace, which is going to feel surprisingly slow if you’ve selected a long duration event.

So, you get 10% of your total training time to allocate towards “power maintenance” on the condition that it doesn’t interfere with your endurance training.

In Part Four we will discuss which athletes need a VO2 Block.

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1. From Lawrence of Arabia, via Grok. The full quote is: "The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts." This is spoken early in the film by Peter O’Toole as T.E. Lawrence, when he extinguishes a match with his fingers and explains his indifference to pain to a fellow soldier. It’s a defining moment that sets up Lawrence’s character as someone who masters himself to endure hardship for a greater purpose.

2. See my chapter, Training The Mind.