VO₂Max

VO₂Max is the maximum rate of oxygen your body is able to use during exercise and is one key indicator for measuring endurance fitness. For a long time, I have seen this value in different sports watch apps without paying much attention to it, but when I looked into it the other day, I figured that my value (around 50) is in fact quite good, and even among the top percentages of my age group. While Suunto goes as far as suggesting that my “fitness age” is 20 years, I think that is only because my watch does not know about the level of joint stiffness that I tend to experience (which makes it perfectly clear to me that I am no longer in my twenties).

In any case, understanding this value was exactly what I needed in preparation for Borås Ultra Marathon on Saturday as I have started to doubt my ability with everyone from my mother to my old-time colleague Sofie explaining to me over lunch yesterday that I am crazy doing these kinds of things. While they are probably right, long-distance running has given me so much over the years, both physically and mentally, that I simply want to go on challenging myself with ever more extreme undertakings. Today, however, I decided not to run as the race is less than 48 hours away. Instead, I went down to the pool for a quick swim followed by lunch at Café 77 over an old Runner’s World (it is the beauty of these magazines that a spring special from one year is almost indistinguishable from another year's, except maybe for the shoe reviews).