12-Minute Run Fitness Test

by Yuri in Treadmill Trainer Running

Psst…

Don’t tell anyone but I’m in the process of developing an arsenal of new Treadmill Trainer running workouts.

One such workout is a running fitness test – similar to the 12-minute run (or Cooper test).

So I thought, it’s been a while since I last ran a 12-minute run, why not hop on the treadmill and give her a go. I would normally run a cooper test on a 400 m track but I live in Toronto and right now it’s about -10 degrees. I’m not one of those hardcore runners who runs outside no matter what.

The treadmill is just fine for me.

I started with a 10-minute progressive running warm-up to get my body warm and ready for running “all out”. I started the warm-up at about level 5.6 and finished at level 8.5 .

I was now ready to run my butt off. I think part of the reason why I wanted to do this test was that Toronto FC just did their pre-season fitness testing last week and the thought of that made me think of the good old pro soccer days.

I still love training like I’m playing.

But now as a coach, I guess it’s pretty cool to be fitter than some of the early twenty somethings on our U of T soccer team.

Alright, let’s get back on track.

The 12-minute run fitness test is very straightforward.

You run as hard as you can for 12 minutes and then note the total distance that you covered during that time.

From that distance, you can extrapolate what your VO2 max is by using the following equation:

(Distance covered in meters – 504.9) ÷ 44.73

So How Did I Do?

I thought you might ask that.

I didn’t do too badly. I covered 2720 meters in 12 minutes. That’s just under 7 laps on a 400 m track. Considering that I only run about once per week right now, I’m actually pretty happy with that.

In fact, the best I’ve done on the Cooper test (way back in the day) was 8 laps (or 3200m). That’s not easy.

So based on the 2720 meters that I covered during the test, my “estimated” VO2 max works out to be:

=> (Distance covered in meters – 504.9) ÷ 44.73

=> (2720 m – 504.9) ÷ 44.73

= 49.5 ml/kg/min

At my fittest, I believe my VO2 max was about 65 ml/kg/min. That would correspond to a 12-minute run distance of about 3400 meters or about 8 and 1/4 laps on a 400m track.

The 12-minute run is one of my favourite aerobic fitness tests to use because it is so easy to administer and extrapolate indirect VO2 scores from. It’s a good test to do about every 6 weeks to monitor your progress.

I encourage you to give it a shot.

Oh, and don’t forget to tell me how you scored.

Tags: 12-minute run, 400m track, aerobic fitness, Arsenal, Butt, coach, Cooper Test, Fitness Test, Fitness Testing, Laps, Level 8, Pre Season Fitness, Pro Soccer, Progressive, Ready To Run, run, runners, running, Running Fitness, Soccer Team, Toronto Fc, treadmill, treadmill trainer, vo2 max, warm-up, workout, Workouts