July 26, 2005
The Science of Lance Armstrong: Born, and Built, to Win
From The National Geographic:
His oversized heart can beat over 200 times a minute and thus pump an extraordinarily large volume of blood and oxygen to his legs. His VO2 max—the maximum amount of oxygen his lungs can take in, an important measurement for an endurance athlete—is extremely high. Early in his career Armstrong showed only average muscle efficiency—the percentage of chemical energy that the muscles are able to harness to produce power. Higher muscle efficiency means greater production of power. From 1992 to 1999, the year of his first Tour de France win, Armstrong was able to increase his muscle efficiency by 8 percent through hard and dedicated training. Coyle says Armstrong is the only human who has been shown to change his muscle efficiency.
More here.
Posted by Azra Raza at 05:13 AM | Permalink
Comments
Lance will be dearly missed.
Posted by: von aurum | Jul 26, 2005 10:43:06 AM
Is it also true that he only competes in that one race?
Posted by: Thomai | Jul 26, 2005 11:47:21 AM
No, Lance has won the World Championships and a number of other important races. He does target the tour. some say that he isn't as good as the legendary Eddie Mercx, but it is impossible to say. One way to find out would be for Lance to try the Hour Record, which consists in riding a bike as far as possible for an hour. Recently a rule change disallowed technology significantly different from the kind used by Mercx in his historic Hour ride. This rule change makes a direct head-to-head between the two riders possible. Unfortunately, I don't think Lance will do the Hour ride. But keep in mind that Mercx himself said that without cancer Lance would be an even better rider.
cheers! thomas
Posted by: thomas | Jul 27, 2005 9:34:46 PM
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