What is VMA?
VMA (Maximal Aerobic Velocity) is the running speed reached when your oxygen consumption is at its maximum. It directly reflects your aerobic potential and running fitness.
In practice, it's the speed you can maintain for about 4 to 8 minutes at maximum effort. It's expressed in km/h and serves as a reference for calculating all your training paces.
Why know your VMA?
Knowing your VMA is the foundation for building a running training plan that actually works:
- Customize your training paces according to your actual level
- Avoid overtraining by respecting proper intensities
- Objectively measure your progress over time
- Predict your performance over different distances
How to use VMA in training?
Each session type corresponds to a percentage of your VMA. Respecting these zones is what separates progress from injury:
Common running mistakes
Here are the most common mistakes runners make, especially beginners:
- Running too fast on easy runs: This is mistake #1. Easy runs should be at 60-70% VMA, a pace where you can hold a conversation. Many run at 80%+ and burn out their adaptation potential.
- Neglecting slow paces: 80% of your training volume should be at easy pace. This is where your aerobic base and recovery capacity are built.
- Too frequent interval training: 2 quality sessions (intervals, threshold) per week are enough for most runners. More is not better and often leads to injury.
- Ignoring recovery: Progress happens during rest, not during effort. Respect your off days and sleep.
VMA and heart rate
VMA and maximum heart rate (HRmax) are related but measure different things. VMA is a performance measure, HR is a physiological effort measure.
You can combine both: use VMA to define your target paces, and HR to verify you're in the right effort zone. Typically, easy running corresponds to 65-75% of your HRmax.
How to improve VMA?
VMA can improve by 0.5 to 1 km/h per year with structured training. Gains are faster at the beginning, then become harder with experience.
Here are the keys to progress:
- Follow polarization: 80% easy, 20% intense
- Gradually increase volume (10% rule)
- Include 1-2 VMA sessions per week (30/30, 1000m...)
- Be patient and consistent over several months