So, I have had the Fenix 5 for a little over a month now, logging about 45-50 activities (runs, swims w/ HRM-tri, elliptical etc) and I have been overall pleased with the watch. One interesting thing I noticed after my 4 mile easy run this morning, which I'm curious if has happened to anyone else, is that my VO2 max went up (it's been bouncing between 54 and 55 for the past month because of crosstraining/injury, mind you) but my performance condition was negative -1 for the whole run.
If performance condition is a comparison of your effort (HRV, HR) & pace to your current fitness (i.e. VO2 Max), how is it that on a run where the performance condition is negative the whole time that the VO2 max goes up?
I have been under the impression that if youre doing 'well' on a run (i.e. your effort for that day is really low for the pace youre running, be it because your fitness is increasing or just because youre having a good day), that the watch measures that and thus your VO2 max should increase. But, if, like today, youre doing 'poorly' (i.e. Performance Condition is negative) on a run, shouldn't your VO2 Max be decreasing?
Ultimately, it doesn't really matter - as VO2 max honestly is just an approximation of what one can do.. with running economy, lactate threshold, etc, all having their own effect on performance and race times. Perhaps my watch is fritzing out because of all of the cross training I have been doing, but I am curious to see how Performance Condition has predicted changes of your Vo2 max so far? Probably a month is not a large enough sample size for anything to be truly representative, but food for thought!
