Raptor <[email hidden]> wrote in news:[email hidden]:
Quoted message said:For example, could pretty much any able-bodied human train themselves
into condition to ride a 4-hour century, given adequate time and
motivation? I'd say 5 hours definitely
5 hours is sustained 20mph solo for 100 miles. Many people cannot achieve
this no matter how hard they train. 6 hours is more like it. Some people
are born with low VO2 max and wattage capabilities. Training them hard just
raises them to average.
From http://home.hia.no/~stephens/vo2max.htm
"However, the biological reality is that there is a significant genetic
component to most of the underlying physical qualities that limit just how
“Citius, altius, fortius” we can be with training. VO2 max is no
exception. The reality is that if an adult male with a natural, untrained
VO2 max of 45 ml/min/kg trains optimally for 5 years, they might see their
VO2 max climb to around 60-65 ml/min/kg. This is a huge improvement. But
,alas, the best runners have a VO2 max of 75 to 85 ml/kg. So our hard
training normal guy is still going to come up way short against the likes
of these aerobic beasts. If they were to stop training for a year, their
VO2 max might fall to about where the average guy’s topped out after years
of optimal training. How unfair is that?"