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Where Can I See Detailed VO2max Data?

NeilJonesOnline
over 2 years ago

If I go into the Training Status glance and scroll down to VO2max, I get a graph on which it's possible to visually determine VO2max to about 0.1. However, I can't find anywhere else on the watch or on Garmin Connect that gives this degree of accuracy - everyone else it's just reported to an integer value.

Given that once you hit a certain level of fitness, your VO2max changes become very slight, only reporting them as whole numbers isn't very helpful as that might only change once a year - giving the extra granularity of one decimal place would make it much easier to identify trends and understand the impact of your training regime as well as avoid any nasty surprises when there's an unexpected drop.

So is there anywhere else I can see this? Even the graphs on Garmin Connect are clearly only plotting the rounded integer value.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Not sure there's truly more value to be realized from the VO2Max data, by increasing the decimal points beyond the current whole number... Point being, if I'm Garmin, there are more important items on which to spend engineering and development resources - ya know? In a world of unlimited resources, then maybe, but - there's only so much they can work on, and the current whole numbers for VO2Max are fine for just about every user, I'd think.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Neil_Rosser

    I have to disagree. For example, my VO2max has been at 48 for many months now. However, if I look at the Training Status glance, I can see where it's dropped (still within that 48 threshold) when I've been over-training, and for the last few weeks it's been steadily climbing, so I know I'm now focussing my training appropriately. Reporting whole numbers is like only showing your 5K times to the nearest 10 seconds or your FTP to the nearest 10W

    I also don't subscribe to the 'they've got better things to do' approach, both in general as that's got no bearing on the validity of this, and more specifically given the emphasis Garmin puts on this metric as a core performance one and the fact that they're clearly already capturing the data to a more granular level so just changing Garmin Connect or the watch to display this is hardly likely to compromise their other engineering efforts.

    But all that aside, all I asked was if this data was visible elsewhere.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Connect your account with runalyze.com, on their web page you will have VO2Max from Garmin with two decimal places.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Adam-1972
    Adam-1972 said:
    VO2Max from Garmin

    Aren't they rather showing the Effective VO2 Max? Where can I find the Garmin VO2 Max there?

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Neil_Rosser
    Neil_Rosser said:
    Not sure there's truly more value to be realized from the VO2Max data, by increasing the decimal points beyond the current whole number.

    Exactly this for the well-trained athlete. After a period of time there is very little to be gained b y focusing on VO2max. It changes little and will change little irrespective of how much training is done. Once that level is reached and your

    NeilJonesOnline said:
    VO2max has been at 48 for many months now

    then the focus needs to shift to training to increase pace/speed at VO2max, anaerobic threshold, lactate threshold etc. 

    NeilJonesOnline said:
    But all that aside, all I asked was if this data was visible elsewhere

    It might well be available elsewhere but the question that needs asking is what is the best training to undertake now that VO2max has plateaued?

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    No, there is no other place where VO2 max is displayed as a nice, smooth graph. I second your request to have 0.1 granularity. Probably it is not accurate when comparing to a blood test (I doubt that the rounded numbers are...), but Garmin uses these small fluctuations as one input to determine training status. High actual load plus decreasing VO2max gives you the statement nobody wants to see.... And daily training suggestions are based on this, too. 

  • 0 over 2 years ago
    NeilJonesOnline said:
    So is there anywhere else I can see this?

    You can find it for example in the JSON data fed to the VO₂max report of Garmin Connect Web. Not visible directly on the page, but you can access the background data with the help of your browser's DevTools » Network (F12 in Chrome, Edge, Mozzila, etc) - the precise value is stored in one of the XHR streams, under the label "vo2MaxPreciseValue".

    However, taking in account that the claimed accuracy of the VO₂max algorithm is 95% [source], which means more than +/- 2 ml/kg/min at most people, then looking at anything after the decimal point is rather pointless.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Etupes25

    They show effective VO2Max calculated by their algorythm and in next field in the row VO2Max from Garmin file.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Etupes25

    Add it to your display via the settings . The small cogwheel next to teh right of the date/ week area., Select VO2 Max (by file)