Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was to deter-mine the accuracy of the critical velocity
(CV) test for predicting time to exhaustion (time limit = TL) during treadmill running.
Ten adult males (X̄ + SD of age = 23 + 2 years) volunteered to perform a maximal treadmill
test, a CV test, and five exhaustive treadmill runs at 70%, 85%, 100%, 115% and 130%
of CV for the determination of actual TL. Related t-tests revealed significant (p
< 0.05) differences between the predicted and actual TL values for velocities equal
to 100 and 130% of CV. The correlations between predicted and actual TL values for
velocities above CV ranged from r = 0.957 to 0.980 (SEE = 0.28-0.82 minutes). At 100%
of CV, the subjects maintained the running pace for an average of 16.43 + 6.08 minutes
(range = 9.96-31.90 minutes) while, at 85% of CV, 8 of the 10 subjects were able to
maintain the running pace for 60 minutes. These findings did not support the validity
of the CV test for predicting the actual TL during treadmill running and indicated
that, in 20% of the cases, CV overestimated the running velocity that could be maintained
for 60 minutes by greater than 15%.
Key words
Critical velocity - anaerobic running capacity
