VO2 Max and race pace disparity

Hi,

My garmin says my VO2 max is 41 (good) and that corresponds to a 5k race pace of 25mins. However, when I check my most recent races against the VO2 max chart my VO2 max should be around 30 (poor). My 5k pb is 30 mins, 10k = 1hr 2 mins, and 1/2 mara = 2hr 19 mins.

Is the VO2 max wrong or do you think it is something wrong with how I’m running maybe? I cannot go faster than that 5k pb, last time I tried my HR went over 200 and I nearly passed out!!!!

Please help by offering suggestions.

Many thanks,

Vic

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0 Daniel_Ilg over 5 years ago

Hi Vic,

Two things:

VO2MAX is not the best predictor for events longer then 2min
A good VO2MAX and bad running performance is a sign for a not so good running economy

Daniel

0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to Daniel_Ilg

i think you run to fast. try longer distances > 90 minutes. i recommend +- 70% of your maxHr

0 mehmetozturk over 5 years ago

When I trainted for marathon 2017 110-120km/week I could beat the predictor for 5km, 10km(37:27) and halfmarathon(1:21:32). I only couldnt beat the marathon time(2:59:17). You must run your ass off in a race!

0 Daniel_Ilg over 5 years ago

Maybe this article sheds some light on this question: https://www.outsideonline.com/2407295/why-higher-vo2max-isnt-always-better

0 thigger over 5 years ago

Do you have your max heart rate set correctly? (I mean genuinely accurate rather than any of the 220-age nonsense). If it's too high your garmin will estimate your vdot too high.

0 Daniel_Ilg over 5 years ago in reply to thigger

Garmin's VO2max calculation is not based on the HRmax input you provide

0 2895383 over 5 years ago in reply to Daniel_Ilg

Thanks, I’ll go and see a coach after my marathon to check my running economy.

0 2895383 over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

I don’t run too fast hahaha I run at 6:30 - 7:30 very slow.
I’m currently training for a marathon so am running ~35km per week with a long run of 23km

0 2895383 over 5 years ago in reply to Daniel_Ilg

Thanks that’s really interesting!!!

0 mehmetozturk over 5 years ago

https://thesecretofrunning.com/calculator Excuse me but "friends talk hard" we say in Turkey. 35km/week for marathon is a joke. 26-35km longruns, minimum 4 times a week and over 60km/week. Try shorter distances for the beginning. With 2:19 for a half, You need 5 hours and more for a marathon. Worse case "DNF"

Preparation for Hamburg 2017: