Athletes live by numbers.

• Running sub 4-minute kilometres on the track to break the 40-minute barrier for the 10,000m
• Staying within your heart rate of 130-150 when training for the marathon
• Cycling at 100 revolutions per minute to increase your pedalling efficiency on the bike
• Trying to reduce your 25 strokes per length in the pool when working on your swimming efficiency

One could go on.

The numbers assist us in setting objectives, overcoming our opponents and racing against The Clock. The Clock never lies. Understanding the numbers helps you beat The Clock, and that results in records. Which in turn results in gold medals, sometimes money, and almost always honour.

Drilling deeper into the numbers game can be quite rewarding, albeit initially overwhelming. You’ll find in every athlete’s diary lists of dates, race times, distances and heart rates. As though there’s a constant search and quest for the Holy Grail that will allow us to control and defeat Time. To push faster and further and stretch the periphery of our limitations.

But of all the numbers, there is one that stands out as the true indicator of the calibre of the athlete. And that number, determined predominantly by your genes, is also conveniently the coolest sounding of numbers - VO2 max.

Your VO2 max is the maximum rate at which your body consumes oxygen in a given minute. In essence the higher your VO2 max, the more likely your athletic pedigree. It’s a number that you can vary over time as your fitness varies, but, to a certain extent, the number is the best indicator there is to determine whether you are average or world-class.

If you were to litmus test the VO2 max numbers for the general population, you’d find that women between the age of 20 - 29 have a VO2 max of 35 to 43, whereas men of the same age would have a VO2 max of 44 to 51.

So, for example, take a college student, strap a breathing mask across their face linked up to the VO2 max measuring machine and run them on a treadmill until fatigue. What the figures would reveal is a V02 max of probably 46. This means that in a minute a volume of 46 millilitres of oxygen, per kilogram of the student’s body weight, is consumed by the student.

Think of VO2 max as the type of engine with which your body is equipped. The elite athlete may be blessed with a Ferrari, whereas your middle-of-the-pack-weekend-warrior may have to work with a Ford Fiesta. Whatever engine you have, it is an engine nonetheless, and engines can be conditioned. A Ferrari left in the garage for a decade may not be as fast as a Ferrari which has been around the block a few times and which has had routine maintenance.

The reason why athletes with a Ferrari VO2 max, can sometimes be beaten by an athlete with a Rover VO2 max is because of various factors like mental attitude, the way the athletes drives his body, and running efficiency.

So athletes the world over want a high VO2 max and will train abnormal amounts just to elevate that number by a few points. The higher the number, the more oxygen supplied to the muscles in your body. And what this translates to is an increase in speed and endurance.

Whereas elite athletes tend to start with VO2 max results in the 70’s, it is cross-country skiers who have the record for the highest VO2 max at 94. The reason for this is attributed to all that healthy exercise conducted at high altitudes which sends copious amounts of oxygenated blood spinning through their Nordic veins.

Lance Armstrong, one of the world’s greatest cyclists ever, is reported to have a VO2 max of 83.8, which must be rather disheartening for the cyclists he competes against at the annual pain-threshold-fest dished out at the Tour De France. Although some may keep their VO2 max figures close to their chest, Lance is confident to release this number to the world knowing it does as much psychological damage to his opponents as would a suicidal lone breakaway up Alp d'Huez.

Another world-great, Paula Radcliffe, recently revealed that her V02 max was in the region of 80. An astonishingly high number which confirms not only her pedigree, but her ability to take full advantage of such pedigree. The previously highest recorded female (once again a cross-country skier) was at a comparably trivial 74. What leaves an impression is that, all things constant, the VO2 max in women is equivalent to 10 points more in the VO2 max of men. Comparing Paula and Lance’s numbers would therefore leave Paula with an astounding 90, 6 more points than Lance, and the gold medal.

The beauty of the VO2 max is not that it reveals your limitations, but that it sets the bar that you need to overcome. Knowing your VO2 max is a good indicator of predicting your performance at various distances, especially in running. For ease of reference (and because I have the numbers to hand) take me as an example. My VO2 max was tested at 61. What this reveals off the cuff is that I’m above the average but nowhere near elite. And from this number you can calculate my potential performance at various distances.

With a VO2 max of 61, this means that I should be able to run a 10k time of 35 minutes. At present my current personal best (PB) at 10k’s is 37:14. So there is light at the end of the tunnel, and the knowledge that a 35-minute 10k is within my potential makes me sweat with a purpose, as I know it is something within my grasp.

Likewise with a 61 VO2 max, my marathon potential is a 2:45. My marathon PB currently stands at 3:01. That sub-3 marathon looks ever closer.

So with hard work and good habits the rewards are there to be reaped. You may not have a Ferrari, but knowing your VO2 max and that there’s plenty of oomph left in the engine should leave you confident that surpassing your expectations and beating The Clock is only a matter of time. And numbers.