Originally Posted by
waterrockets
Yeah, my point is that a real hour workout in any endurance sport can be as hard as you like, and you can completely gas yourself in 3 minutes as well. Once you're pushing your physiological limit in a given discipline, that's it. Swimming doesn't magically raise your VO2Max just because you use your arms too.
I always figured nordic skiers had higher vO2 based on the nature of the sport. The upright posture, the involvement of all skeletal muscle, etc. It's got to be a more efficient to strip oxygen out of the blood using the full length of the CV system.
Not that vO2 matters in racing.