I'm No Lance Armstrong

Today was my trip to the Human Performance at Meredith College. It was absolutely fascinating... I discovered that my maximum heart rate is 191 instead of the previously measured high of 186. I'm guessing my ability to ride while in pain has increasing as opposed to my actual heart rate. My VO2Max was measured at 60 which was higher than expected based on my age (38) and my general lack of physical activity until two years ago (I lost 65 pounds early last year). To put this in perspective, Lance Armstrong's VO2Max was measured at almost 84 and I believe his V02Max power is somewhere on the order of 800 watts. Unfortunately, my VO2Max power--at least as measured by this test in which wattage was increased by 40 every three minutes--was only about 365. Is this something I can improve with training or am I genetically limited? Only time will tell.

Regardless, my LT (as measured by the 4 mm lactate level via a prick to the ear every few minutes) was only 285 so that means I've got some room for improvement before I start reaching my VO2Max. (This jibes with today's 20 minute average power measurement of 305 watts, incidentally). I also found out that at just under 6'0" and 165 pounds I'm still at 14% body fat so I could theoretically get down to 155 pounds (i.e. 70kg) without too much difficulty, thereby increasing my W/kg numbers somewhat.