I'm in Philadelphia for two days on business. Just jammed a run in between meetings and dinner. There's a test I've been wanting to take called the VO2 Max test. It helps you (somehow - haven't figured out how yet) determine your baseline fitness level. VO2 Max is a measure of the volume of oxygen a body consumes per minute. What you do is warm up a little bit (in my case, I walked for all of 2 minutes because we only had an hour break!) and then run 1.5 miles as fast as you can, but keep to a pace that's still comfortable. (I'm tempted to write some joke here about running being wholly uncomfortable, but it wasn't tonight. I rather enjoyed it; and I'm still thinking of my miserable experience last night with the new shoes, and so was extra appreciative of my cushy Flash Gordons which practically do the running for you.)
I ran the distance in 17:08, which netted out on one online calculator to a VO2 Max of 31.69066, or "Average." Technically, the Population Average is 32.465. I'm not sure I trust that online calculator though because another said my VO2 Max was 24.030827989607814 when I put my time in. Hmmm... I will have to do further investigating when I return to New York.
There were colleagues in the gym when I got down there and I must say, I felt a glimmer of extra respect for them for having sacrificed their hour as I did (or part of it, in my case) to work on their physical fitness. Again, this is just a whole new world to me. Have people been sneaking off to the gym throughout my life and I just didn't know it?
OK - my hair's a total do-over right now so gotta go and doll up! Love n' Philly Cheesesteaks!
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