The Rockport Fitness Walking Test is a way of estimating VO2Max.

Can anyone tell me why you have to walk a mile and not run it?

because it's a walking not a running test?

There are ways of doing it from running speed. There's a website somewhere where you can input race times and distance and it'll estimate V02 max for you. Wouldn't imagine any of them are really accurate enough to bother with though.

I wonder if the walking thing is a way of measuring fitness without the risk of inducing heart attack. Ever done a bleep test? Pain…

I am guessing that any "estimate" is just that at best – otherwise they'd not have to hook you up to a breath analyser and have you make quite a lot of effort to measure it.

You could give it a go on your way to the pub though Steve, and let us know?

i realise its only useable as a comparison tool, just wondered where the boundary between walking and jogging and running was and if it really makes a difference to the calculations.

my own VO2 test is to run to the pub and then blow through a straw, as many bubbles as you can into a pint of larger, in one breath. Your VO2 reading is measured by how much liquid remains.