Why you should give it a TRI: you're capable of more than you think you are—really

Among the many personal stats that Weight-Loss Diarist Jacqui Stafford reveals to us in the monthly installments of her diet saga is her V[O.sub.2] max: a number I bet a lot of you are puzzled by. I know that I had only a hazy idea myself of what this measure means and why it's important. So I went to www.NISMAT.org, the Web site for the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at New York City's Lenox Hill Hospital, where Jacqui gets her testing done, for an explanation.

Essentially, V[O.sub.2] max rates your cardiovascular system's efficiency in moving oxygen to your muscles as they work. The bigger the number, the better your heart is at pumping blood to keep your muscles fueled, and thus the harder you can exert yourself without tiring. Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong (photo above, center), for example, is revered among elite cyclists for scoring a V[O.sub.2] max of 80 ml/kg/min. Jacqui, as you will see in this month's Weight-Loss Diary (page 162), has achieved a very commendable 46 ml/kg/min. The rest of us are probably in the 30-35 ml/kg/min range.

The nice thing about this number, unlike other stats such as height, age and IQ, is that we can change it. However, in reading NISMAT's question-and-answer section, I ran across a matter-of-fact statement that struck me as both profound and sad: "Few people ever train hard enough to achieve their genetic potential."

I know that I like to think I give 100 percent in everything I do, every day, and I'm pretty sure that you, as a Shape reader, do too. No one walks out of the gym saying, "Well, there's another half-hearted workout out of the way, I'm really proud of myself for putting in almost no effort. Maybe next time, I can do even less!"

Constantly pushing yourself is tough work, though, which brings me to the subject of triathlons-great motivators for challenging yourself. A decade ago I watched a friend participate in an Olympic-distance triathlon in Long Island, N.Y., and even as I stood there believing I didn't have what it took to compete in such an event, I held onto the secret hope that someday I would. When I finally did complete a sprint triathlon (roughly a 0.5-mile swim, 15-mile bike ride and 3-mile run) alongside women of every age and size this summer, I saw that, yes, it's true: We all have a lot more potential than most of us ever begin to explore. Don't let it go to waste!

P.S. For advice on getting started in triathlon training, go to Shape.com/triathlon. Or pick up columnist Eric Harr's latest book, Triathlon Training in Four Hours a Week (Rodale, 2003).

Anne M. Russell, Editor in Chief

Anne@Shape.com

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