Traditionally, it has been assumed that during middle-distance running oxygen uptake (VO2) reaches its maximal value (VO2max) providing the event is of a sufficient duration; however, this assumption is largely based on observations in individuals with a relatively low VO2max. The aim of this study was to determine whether O2max is related to the VO2 attained (i.e. VO2peak) during middle-distance running on a treadmill. Fifteen well-trained male runners (age 23.3 ± 3.8 years, height 1.80 ± 0.10 m, body mass 76.9 ± 10.6 kg) volunteered to participate in the study. The participants undertook two 800-m trials to examine the reproducibility of the O2 response. These two trials, together with a progressive test to determine O2max, were completed in a randomized order. Oxygen uptake was determined throughout each test using 15-s Douglas bag collections. Following the application of a 30-s rolling average, the highest VO2 during the progressive test (i.e. VO2max) was compared with the highest VO2 during the 800-m trials (i.e. VO2peak) to examine the relationship between VO2max and the VO2 attained in the 800-m trials. For the 15 runners, VO2max was 58.9 ± 7.1 ml · kg-1 · min-1. Two groups were formed using a median split based on VO2max. For the high and low VO2max groups, VO2max was 65.7 ± 3.0 and 52.4 ± 1.8 ml · kg-1 · min-1 respectively. The limits of agreement (95%) for test - retest reproducibility for the VO2 attained during the 800-m trials were ± 3.5 ml · kg-1 · min-1 for a VO2peak of 50.6 ml · kg-1 · min-1 (the mean VO2peak for the low VO2max group) and ± 2.3 ml · kg-1 · min-1 for a VO2peak of 59.0 ml · kg-1 · min-1 (the mean VO2peak for the high VO2max group), with a bias in O2peak between the 800-m runs (i.e. the mean difference) of 1.2 ml · kg-1 · min-1. The VO2peak for the 800-m runs was 54.8 ± 4.9 ml · kg-1 · min-1 for all 15 runners. For the high and low O2max groups, O2peak was 59.0 ± 3.3 ml · kg-1 · min-1 (i.e. 90%VO2max) and 50.6 ± 2.0 ml · kg-1 · min-1 (i.e. 97%VO2max) respectively. The negative relationship (-0.77) between VO2max and %VO2max attained for all 15 runners was significant (P = 0.001). These results demonstrate that (i) reproducibility is good and (ii) that VO2max is related to the %VO2max achieved, with participants with a higher VO2max achieving a lower %VO2max in an 800-m trial on a treadmill.
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