Enhancing VO2 Max for Runners: Run Faster for Longer

Improving your VO2 max is important for runners. As it increases your body’s ability to deliver oxygen to your muscles, helping you run faster and sustain effort for longer at a given intensity. High-intensity interval sessions, like the Norwegian 4x4, have been considered highly effective for boosting VO2 max.

What is VO2 Max?

It may sound complicated, but essentially VO2 max, or maximal oxygen consumption, refers to the highest amount of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise. It is a key indicator of cardiovascular fitness and aerobic endurance.

Why is it important?

Improving VO2 max is crucial because it affects how efficiently your body delivers oxygen to your muscles during exercise, boosting both endurance and performance. Here are a few key reasons why it is so essential:

1. Improved Endurance: Whether you're running, cycling, or engaging in any other endurance activity, a higher VO2 max enables your body to use more oxygen, helping you maintain physical effort for longer without feeling fatigued as quickly.

2. Faster Recovery: A higher VO2 max helps your body recover faster from intense exercise, meaning you can train harder and more often.

3. Better Cardiovascular Health: Regularly training to boost your VO2 max strengthens your heart and lungs, lowering the risk of heart disease and enhancing overall cardiovascular health.

4. Improved Efficiency: With a better VO2 max, your body becomes more efficient at using oxygen, leading to better energy use and less strain during physical activity.

In short, improving VO2 max enhances your athletic performance, supports long-term health, and boosts your overall fitness.

How to improve your VO2 max?

High-intensity interval training (HIT) is widely recognised for its effectiveness in improving VO2 max, and many workouts are designed with this goal in mind. Personally, I prefer time-based intervals over distance-specific ones. With one example being the Norwegian 4x4 method, which is often regarded as a gold standard for boosting VO2 max. What makes the Norwegian 4x4 stand out from many other interval sessions is that it doesn't require access to a track. This workout can be done anywhere, whether that is indoors on a treadmill or outdoors on the roads.

The Norwegian 4x4

The Norwegian 4x4 (also called the Norwegian Protocol) consists of four high-intensity intervals, each lasting four minutes, followed by a three-minute recovery period. This cycle is repeated four times in total.

Each 4-minute effort should be run at an intensity you can maintain for the entire 4-minute duration, typically around 85% of your maximum heart rate. The 3-minute recovery period that follows should involve very low-intensity jogging, allowing your heart rate to decrease in preparation for the next rep. Ideally, you should aim to keep a consistent pace throughout all four efforts. If you struggle to sustain your pace in the third or fourth interval, it’s likely that you started the session too quickly. On the other hand, if you find yourself able to run faster in the second half of the session, you’ll know for next time that you can push a bit harder at the start.