A guide to improving your running training by measuring performance

(VO2 max and so on—what does it all mean?)

Maybe you’d like to know a little more about the science behind running training. When researching most running apps and websites, we see a lot of ‘over-prescriptive’ training plans and tips that are heavy on instruction but ultimately light on explanation.

It's a bit like school, when facts were dished out like fliers for a new business—but with little explanation about the logic that explained why things worked the way they did.

This learn-by-rote methodology never sat well with us here at Kaizen—and anyway we like to approach running a little differently.

So in this post we’re going to focus on one very specific topic: the different ways to measure your training performance and the logic behind each one.

We’re going to explore how measuring your performance in different areas can provide a variety of benchmarks useful for analysing improvement. And we’ll answer questions like this humdinger: what does VO2 Max actually mean?

Before we go into specifics, here are the different focusses for measuring progress:

Heart rate at a set pace
Pace at a set intensity level/heart rate
Distance per week
Distance you’re able to run in one go
Average pace
Predicted VO2 max from your watch
Kaizen!

Now, let’s take a closer look at each one.

1. Measuring heart rate at a set pace

Your exercising heart rate is a measure of how your body responds to the energy demand of whatever activity you’re doing. Your heart is meeting this energy demand by beating and delivering oxygen to your body’s working muscles.

So if you run faster, the demand for oxygen increases. And the heart beats faster.

The fitter you are, the more powerful your heart is, so it can meet the same level of demand with a lower heart rate. Put another way, with less effort your heart delivers the same amount of oxygen.

So—the first measure of performance improvement is running at a set pace and noting the improvements (hopefully there are improvements). With consistent training the heart rate should reduce over time when running at a set pace.

2. Measuring pace at a set intensity/heart rate

This is the inverse of the point above, and the logic is exactly the same. (We’re going to tie all this together nicely at the end, so definitely stick around!)

Here, on any particular day, you pick a heart rate. As you train you attempt to keep your heart rate consistent—say, at 150 beats per minute. (But it could be any heart rate).

You exercise for however long like this—while maintaining the heart rate—and measure your distance or average pace.

After more training, a few weeks later, you repeat the activity: you exercise at the same set heart rate and measure your distance and average pace. If your measurements have improved, then it means that your heart is able to do more at the same heart rate—it is able to deliver more oxygen with the same level of effort.

There’s no need to over-complicate things with different ‘zones’ or ‘anaerobic’ or ‘aerobic’ exercise or any of that hoopla. As we say often—at Kaizen we’re all about eliminating that kind of ostentatious wordplay designed to make people look more clever than they (probably, maybe) are. We like to keep running simple and enjoyable.

3. Measuring distance per week, or maximum distance in one run

We’ve combined these for a reason—because they’re effectively the same thing, only that one of them is analysed on a more ‘zoomed out’ timescale.

Measuring the distance you’re able to run is the most obvious and easy way to discern your progress.

You put in a certain amount of effort and as you get fitter, you’re able to run further. Over time, you build up your weekly ‘long run’ to cover a progressively longer distance.

This is a reflection of you becoming a stronger runner.

An underappreciated fact is that increasing the maximum distance you’re able to run cumulatively over the course of a week works in the same way, just over a longer timescale. When you start running, doing 10k in a week can be challenging, but soon you’re doing a 10k every few days. And by then, you’ll be aiming for 20/30k a week or even more.

That there is some impressive progress.

4. Measuring race performance

One of the more fun options is to measure your performance in races—either against other runners or against yourself in a time trial. Obviously the routes you take have to remain consistent, but most Park Runs or their equivalents provide this opportunity.

Are you beating those PBs consistently over time? Are you performing better on that weekly 10k as you meander through the countryside to the nearby town? Or around the same route of your city?

Ultimately, you’re measuring how fast you can run at a set distance.

5. Measuring VO2 max

First of all, what is VO2 max?

VO2 Max, or maximal oxygen consumption, is a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen your body can utilise during intense exercise.

The significance of this measurement is that it reflects your cardiovascular fitness and endurance capacity.

And exactly how is VO2 Max measured?

Traditionally it’s measured through laboratory testing where oxygen consumption is monitored during strenuous exercise. We’ve all seen footage of people undergoing these kinds of tests—footballers during their medicals and so on…

Modern fitness watches can do nothing more than estimate VO2 max based on heart rate and a few other parameters during workouts—heart rate variability, duration of exercise, workout history, exercise intensity.

Basically, when giving a VO2 Max reading, wearables are doing their best with what they have available in an attempt to do some serious science far above their station. Truth is they don’t really have all the necessary kit.

The main thing to know is that a wearable, be it your watch or another device, measures how challenging you find a certain distance or pace, and calculates your fitness based on that analysis.

The thing is unless you have access to a lab, this measurement ultimately—because of the lack of equipment—has accuracy issues. A lot of guessing is going on.

On the plus side, regardless of these concerns, measuring VO2 Max is still useful enough for most runners—you track a number on your phone or your watch, day by day, week by week, and if you see improvements, then you know (roughly) you’re on the right course.

6. Using Kaizen

Now every time we write a blog post, we feel the need to stress that the blog’s reason for being isn’t just to promote our app. We love our sport, and the truth is that it doesn’t take much encouragement to get us talking about running.

We also know that Kaizen is very useful.

That’s why it was designed—to be useful—and that’s why we’re working hard to spread it’s good word.

The Kaizen race prediction combines multiples of the measures in this post into a single, very accurate race prediction. (See, now we’re tying all the points together).

And if your prediction improves—visible in a graph on the app—then you can see how well you’re progressing. The algorithm analyses millions of data points after each run and compares the data to your previous performances. And it’s so effective that we’re keeping its inner workings a secret, because other running apps might very well like it for themselves.

The bottom line is that Kaizen accurately shows you your fitness level, and gives you a bonus of a race prediction too. (And vice versa).

And that’s your lot!

Each of these measurements are useful in different ways and for different types of people.

For a runner who’s just getting started, measuring the maximum distance they’re able to run each week, or each run, is an excellent way of measuring improvements in their performance. For one, it’s incredibly simple to do.

It doesn’t even require a wearable.

But over time, this becomes a less useful measure.

Next on the scale of usefulness likely comes measuring average pace or heart rate, just as long as you have a wearable capable of doing so. But even then, it’s important to keep certain external variables the same—you’ll need to take your measurements during the same weather conditions each time, and so on. Hot weather, for example, will increase your heart rate.

To cut a long story short, we believe Kaizen is the best method of them all. All you have to do is track a number: your improving race prediction.

The app analyses all the details for you—you don’t even have to think. (sports scientist Josh, the developer of the algorithm and the app, has done the thinking for all of us).

The great news is that you can try it out for yourself for free for a month.

And if you have any more questions, you can chat to us on our Discord and Strava.