Running · 3 min read
Running economy describes the energy required to hold a given pace. It helps explain why runners with similar VO₂ max results can run at different speeds, but it is only one part of endurance performance.
By DVOTION Team ·
VO₂ max describes the maximum rate at which your body can use oxygen during exercise. Running economy describes the cost of maintaining a particular speed. Your thresholds help describe the intensities you can sustain.
These findings answer different questions. If running at a given speed costs you less energy, that can support a faster sustainable pace. A race result still depends on other factors, including endurance, pacing and fuelling. Economy alone cannot predict your finish time.
To assess running economy, gas exchange is recorded while you run at a steady submaximal speed, with enough time for oxygen uptake to stabilise. Results can be expressed as oxygen used per kilogram per minute at that speed, or per kilometre.
For a useful comparison, repeat the same protocol under similar conditions. Changes in speed, footwear, fatigue or equipment can affect the result. A small difference between tests may reflect measurement variation.
Research supports heavy resistance training as one way to improve running economy alongside running training. Plyometric exercises may also help, although findings vary between programmes and runners. Neither approach guarantees a particular improvement.
Discuss how strength work will fit around your running with your coach. Choose exercises and loads you can perform well, then progress them gradually. Adding more work is only useful if you can recover from it and continue the running sessions your programme needs.
A stride that looks smoother is not necessarily more economical. Cadence, contact time and joint movement interact, and a change that helps one runner may increase the effort for another.
A movement assessment can guide exercise choices. It cannot establish your oxygen cost or confirm that a technique change has improved economy. That requires a suitable gas-exchange test.
DVOTION does not currently offer a running economy measurement. Our VO₂ Max Test assesses aerobic fitness and ventilatory thresholds. Endurance Performance Profiling also includes a separate blood lactate profile.
The results help guide training zones and session intensity. Gas exchange during a maximal test does not, by itself, provide a running economy result. The protocol must be designed to answer that question.
Complete Athlete Profiling brings endurance testing together with resting metabolic rate, movement and force assessment, and sweat and hydration findings across two appointments. Your report explains the results and how they can inform your training.
No. VO₂ max and running economy describe different aspects of endurance fitness. Two runners can have similar VO₂ max results and use different amounts of oxygen at the same pace.
Use your training zones to plan session intensity and discuss your assessment findings with your coach. Movement and force results can help guide strength work. Your report will distinguish the findings from recommendations, including where further testing would be needed.
View Endurance Performance Profiling