Average Runner vs Science Lab

I went to get VO2 Max and Blood Lactate tests. Not only did I get objective data for where my fitness is right now, I also took the opportunity to test two different types of heart rate monitor to see which is most accurate.

Thanks to @COROSGlobal sponsoring this video. Here’s a link to the watch I’m using: https://www.coros.com/pace3 and the heart rate monitor: https://www.coros.com/heart-rate-monitor

Thanks also to the Human Performance Unit at The University of Essex for testing me: https://www.instagram.com/humanperformanceunit/

🔥 Free 7-Day Challenge: https://bulletproofrunners.com/p/7dc?src=ytvid051123

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➜ The Biggest MYTH About Running Endurance (NOT WHAT YOU THINK):

➜ I Tried Running 5KM Every Day for 30 Days at 265lbs (120kg):

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INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/jamesmgdunne

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ABOUT ME: I’m James Dunne, a runner, sports rehabilitation therapist (similar to physical therapist) and coach based in the UK (Norwich and London).

Since 2007 I’ve been working with athletes focusing specifically on helping distance runners and triathletes overcome injury and improve performance through developing their individual running technique.

Running biomechanics and physical therapy are real passions of mine. I love to help runners run strong and stay injury free.

WEBSITE: https://www.kinetic-revolution.com

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well there I am a very average Runner getting my rear end handed to me in an Elite Sports Performance lab stepping into an exercise physiology lab as an everyday Runner I was bracing for surprises and trust me they weren’t in short supply for my own performance there some surprising truths about heart rate monitors now running has always been more than just a sport to me it’s been a journey a challenge and at times a will struggle I do see myself as a lifelong Runner but for me running fits differently into different seasons of life I’m not one of those people who no matter what life throws at them keeps running as a constant source of stability and almost Comfort I kind of find myself in the opposite Camp although I’m somehow this kind of running guy here on YouTube as soon as life gets hard stressful or otherwise unbalanced rightly or wrongly my own running is usually one of the first things that is pushed right off the weekly schedule right now I’m making a gradual return return to regular running after being sporadic at best with it over the last few years while we all navigated the chaos since 2020 Holly and I got married in the well at the fourth attempt and we jumped headlong into Parenthood as part of me getting serious about my running again I really wanted to get some sort of objectivity about quite how much Fitness I’ve lost and where I’m truly at right now in terms of my running that’s exactly why not being one to do things by halves I booked a V2 Max test and blood lactate test at the human performance unit 2 hours down the road at the University of Essex yeah okay so we’re going to start the test in three 2 one on you go you might think this kind of lab testing is reserved for elite athletes not 265 out of shape dare I say middle-aged men rocking the dadbod but here we are I knew that especially given how much I talk about heart rate training on this channel the least I could do to help myself was to get some proper scientific data to set my heart rate zones as accurately as possible but there was also an ulterior motive to doing this test just in case the team of exercise physiologists at the uni didn’t already think I was a weirdo turning up with a cameraman I wanted to be put through their standard performance testing for runners but wearing two different heart rate monitors simultaneously regular viewers on the channel will know that I’ve been testing the new armband style heart monitor from chos as well as their pace3 watch I’m really enjoying the comfort of the armband but there’s one recurring theme both in the comments and in my mind given that the coros heart rate monitor is an optical sensor on the upper arm and not a traditional chest strap monitoring your heart’s electrical signals how accurate can it really be the huge consensus in the running Community seems to be that if you’re going to get serious about heart rate training at all you need a chest Dr no two ways about it so given that one system is Optical and the other is electrical meaning they wouldn’t conflict with one another I wanted to wear the two together on this test and see the resulting differences in the data quality for myself the test setup is pretty daunting as anyone who’s done this kind of ramp protocol will be able to tell you after a warmup I found myself back on the treadmill wearing a harness with a face mask to analyze the air I was breathing in and out you can get it sort of nestled however is comfortable for you on your face I’m now going to just at this point the double heart monitor situation was the least of my worries as anxious as I was about doing it the test protocol is pretty simple I had to run as many 3 minute reps as I could with 30 seconds rest in between each rep to allow the team to collect a sample of blood from my ear to do blood lactate analysis sounds easy enough right but of course there’s a catch the speed of the treadmill increased by 1 km per hour for every 3 minute rep starting nice and easy at 8 km/ Hour the heart data was collected throughout the gas analysis and the blood lactate analysis in combination would give the team of exercise physiologists enough data to determine my heart rate zones and various different thresholds to help me train with heart rate more effectively just as a quick reminder V2 Max is like your body’s horsepower a figure that reveals the maximum amount of oxygen you can utilize during exercise it’s a key indicator of your endurance capabilities bloodle at on the other hand tells us about your lactate threshold the point at which your body starts struggling to clear the lactate in your bloodstream during intense activity it’s crucial for understanding how to train smarter not just harder to begin with once I was used to running with the mask on which wasn’t anywhere near as claustrophobic as it looks running at 8 then 9 then 10 km per hour felt very comfortable I was definitely running within my comfort zone after all 10 km/ hour was 6 minutes per K or roughly 10 minutes per mile which is roughly where I normally do most of my easy Zone 2 runs at this point but oh boy it didn’t take long for life to get a lot harder as the travel got faster and faster with every 3 minute rep up to 14 km per hour which having done the math after the fact I now realize is 3-hour marathon pace 2 one man call it there J right let start start the next one see how you get [Music] on he remember safe position when you P enough okay 5 4 3 2 1 next day wonderful work yeah it felt quick as as the treadmill sped up rather unsurprisingly so did my heart rate each 3 minute increase in Pace brought a new challenge and it wasn’t just the speed it was the anticipation the Curiosity of how my body will react and what story the data will tell the chorus armband snugg on my arm and the polar chest strap tied across my chest were both just there silently recording every single heartbeat but here’s where things took a slightly unexpected turn good I knew there’d be a difference in data between the two heart rate monitors but I didn’t expect what I saw upon reviewing the data one of the two heart rate monitors produced a very stable set of data throughout the test whereas the other showed glitches spikes and dips that honestly had and still have me asking some awkward questions and re-evaluating some beliefs but more on the heart R monitor head-to head in a moment after the physical push comes the analytical bit here in the Cal After the Storm I’m reviewing the results of the test it’s a revealing look of where I stand after a challenging couple of years the vi2 Max and lactate threshold numbers are more than just metrics they’re kind of signposts on my road back to Fitness due to the fact that on a medication for high blood pressure and they’ve got a family history of some heart issues the team didn’t want to let me go to all out exhaustion like they might do with an elite athlete so I’m not putting too much faith in the V2 Max figure shown but the heart rate training zones lactate and anerobic threshold figures are great data for me to work with they’re using a four Zone heart rate training model and I’ve set my zone 2 endurance Zone as being between 106 and 153 beats per minute with my lactate Threshold at 153 beats per minute and my anerobic threshold at 69 beats per minute the bottom line with this is that I’ve got a fair bit more wiggle room in my pacing when it comes to training endurance than I thought if anything capping my Long Easy runs at the high 130s or low 140s in terms of beats per minute as I have been is potentially holding me back a little bit I could be working harder on those easy runs while still improving my endurance to get the most out of this type of testing I need to view this test as a a kind of before test a opportunity to put a Line in the Sand I now need to go and train using this data and come back for a retest in 6 months time or so that’s when we’re really going to see and be able to quantify the improvements now back to that head-to-head between the two heart rate monitors this chart tells you pretty much everything you need to know the data plotted on the red and blue lines are the 5sec averages for heart rate measured simultaneously throughout the test the blocks at the bottom bot of the chart are the 3 minute bounce of exercise they get faster as we go from left to right and you can see the polar chest strap in red and the chorus armband in blue before I started running with the armband a few weeks ago if you’d show me this graph without a color key and asked me which was which I would have guessed the opposite results in line with what seems to be the common wisdom in the running world I believed that the chest strap data was unquestionably going to be more reliable but having run with the armband for a while now the stability you can see from the Blue Line the chorus heart rate data doesn’t really surprise me what I am shocked about though is how the hardware considered gold standard by most people the polar chest strap is wildly unstable obviously this is an nals 1 One Time One Man experiment I’d be silly not to point that out but it makes you think right this test at the University of Essex was more than just an assessment it was a wakeup call as I looked look at these results I see not just numbers but a start line for a new chapter in my running the goal for the coming year is now really really clear I’m aiming to get back to Marathon Fitness in general I can’t really be more specific as our family plans with a second baby arriving in February mean that realistically I’m not going to be committing to training for a specific spring marathon on a specific date in a specific City but I want to get the mileage back in my legs to be Marathon ready in 2020 4 the long-term goal of running sub 3 has never felt further away than it does right now but I do have some solid data now to work with in terms of heart rate zones I know that the road ahead won’t be easy it’s about consistency building up my aerobic fitness and getting back to a healthier weight but with the right approach I’m confident thanks to coros for their support in sponsoring this and recent videos on the channel and for providing me with a tool that’s really now proving it worth remember remember this was a single test a snapshot of a single day in the lab yet it’s given some invaluable insights into not just heart rate monitors but also my own Fitness as it currently stands onwards and upwards