Endurance Fitness: Lower Your Biological Age and Get in KA Shape
Hello 100 Year Athletes!
Welcome to February 2025 and the opportunity to lower your biological age by 10+ years and get in KA shape!
In January, we explored why it’s important to balance your strength and endurance training. Today, we dive into the endurance training side of the equation.
Aerobic endurance fitness is defined as the body’s effective use of oxygen to meet the energy demands required to sustain a targeted performance for a given amount of time. How much time are we talking about? Anytime you exercise for greater than 3 minutes, your aerobic system is the primary contributor to your performance.
So, whether you’re focusing on 10-minute AMRAPs, a 90-minute cross country mountain bike ride or an ultra marathon, it’s important to understand how to optimize your aerobic performance. The three factors that most impact our aerobic fitness are aerobic capacity, lactate threshold, and exercise economy. Let’s tackle each one.
What The Science Says:
The factors in lowering your biological age and crushing the hill climb you dread
Aerobic Capacity is a measure of how much oxygen you are capable of processing per minute relative to your weight, when exercising at a sustained, maximal workload. The scientific notation for aerobic capacity is VO2max, and you may recall that we discussed this as a key longevity indicator in the Shift’s first edition (1). “Your fitness age as represented by your VO2max is probably a better indicator of your body’s status than your chronological age” according to author and endurance coach Joel Friel (2). (For a detailed breakdown of typical VO2max values by age and sex, check out this Mayo Clinic study.) (3)
The most accurate way to measure your VO2max is in a lab while performing your primary sport. The Park City Hospital and University of Utah both have VO2max testing labs that are available to the public. If you prefer a DIY approach, you can use a formula developed by Danish sport scientists: VO2max =15(HRmax/HRrest). Be sure to use actual HR values, not estimates.
In aerobic endurance events with athletes who have similar VO2max values, the winner is often the one with the highest lactate threshold, which we’ll designate as LT going forward. A high LT (measured as a percentage of your VO2max) is critical for athletes because it allows us to sustain aerobic energy production for a longer duration without accumulating lactic acid in the muscles and blood, which feels like a burning sensation or your exertion redline. Among untrained individuals, the LT threshold is often in the range of 50-60% of VO2max, and 70-80% in aerobically trained athletes(4)(5).
When performing your endurance training, especially, VO2max and LT work loads, it’s important to understand the intensity required to achieve the targeted adaptations. Typically, the required intensities are measured as a percentage of your max heart rate or functional power threshold (FTP) - we’ll cover these topics in detail in a coming Shift edition. Also, because VO2max and LT workouts are very taxing on your body, they should account for no more than 20-25% of your endurance training volume.
Exercise economy is similar to the miles/gallon or miles/charge that you get from your car. For our bodies, the less oxygen we use for a given level of exertion, the more efficient we are. Increased heart stroke volume is a great endurance training adaptation, as is the ability to more efficiently utilize fat for energy. Our weight, which is a variable in the VO2max lab tests, is critical to exercise economy, as are body composition, mobility, technique, and equipment.
My Experience:
You can realize massive improvements, even in your 40s, 50s and beyond.
In the summer of 2024, I followed a structured endurance training program for the first time ever. The endurance program included VO2max, LT, and long slow distance (LSD) elements in preparation for a 90-minute cross country mountain bike race and 2k indoor row competition. I also did concurrent strength training, which we’ll cover in a late Shift edition. The outcomes from the training include:
25% improvement in bike power efficiency at zone 2 heart rate.
Raised LT target heart rate to 149, from 137
Increased functional threshold power (FTP) by 10%+
Admittedly, I missed my target weight by 1.5kg (due to diet management), so I didn’t optimize efficiency. Assuming an increase of 2-3 Watts per reduced 1kg, who knows, maybe I would have won gold instead of silver.
Three Things You can Do Today:
Get to know and assess your endurance performance factors: VO2max, LT, and exercise economy. And begin to track this data in all applicable workouts.
Build an aerobic fitness base building program with your 100YA coaches.
Think about using the summer months to do a comprehensive aerobic training program. We are currently building 100YA summer programming for mountain bikers, so stay tuned and please feel welcome to share your input! Your needs and ideas could shape the program.
Are you ready to up your aerobic game for 2025? I welcome the opportunity to partner with you on that journey.
Best,
Brian Allison
NSCA CSCS
brian@100yearathlete
650.996.8803
Related Resources You May Find Helpful:
Scientific Formula for Aerobic capacity: VO2max = milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute, or VO2max = mLO2O/kg/min
Friel, Joe. (2015). Fast after 50: How to race strong for the rest of your life. VeloPress.
This is a great book, even if you aren’t yet 50
Joyner, M. J., Barnes, C., & Welch, H. G. (2015). The cardiovascular benefits of exercise: More than meets the eye. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 90(12), 1603-1605. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2015.10.004
This is the database of VO2max values categorized by age and gender.
Cerretelli, P., Ambrosoli, G., & Fumagalli, M. (1975). Anaerobic recovery in man. European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology, 34(3), 141–148. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00999926
Farrell, P. A., Wilmore, J. H., Coyle, E. F., Billing, J. E., & Costill, D. L. (1979). Plasma lactate accumulation and distance running performance. Medicine and Science in Sports, 11(4), 338–344.