𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 …
🔹 Threshold Power and VO2max?
🔹 Running Threshold Power and Threshold Power (or FTP) in other sports?
… 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐬. 𝐕𝐎𝟐𝐦𝐚𝐱
VO2max is a measure of your body’s maximum aerobic capacity. Threshold power (or FTP) is the highest intensity you can maintain without rapidly fatiguing and needing to slow down or stop.
Think of VO2max as ‘the size of your engine’, and Threshold Power as ‘your highest cruising speed’. A bigger VO2max means you could go further and faster, but it doesn’t mean you’ll use that capacity effectively; a higher cruising speed means you can travel faster for a sustained period of time.
Both are important, but of the two, threshold power is considered more actionable, and a more direct and practical predictor of performance.
… 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬
Your running threshold power is unrelated to your cycling or swimming (or rowing) threshold power, even if the numbers appear similar and even though they’re based on your physiology.
This is because different sports use different muscles and limb movements, have different elastic energy contributions (from your tendons being tensioned and released) and use different power meters.
You should calculate and track threshold power separately for each sport – don’t mix and match.
𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆 𝑹𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓?
