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VO2max and performance acting strangely

Rob Runs
over 4 years ago

I just did my first ever recovery run. In fact it was the first run I've done where I targeted low aerobic activity, I've owned a Garmin for 4 months.

Here's the weird thing, while doing my recovery run (which might still have been a little fast as Fenix 6 tells me I targeted base not recovery) my performance came up as -5 fair. That's the lowest I've ever seen it, it's nearly always positive. Then my VO2max dropped when I finished and my status changed from "Productive" to "Overreaching". It's nearly always been "Productive" and has never been "Overreaching" before.

Why did this slow run have this effect? I know it's a bit precious but I'd almost made the superior VO2max bracket and one slow run brought it down.

What gives?

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I see the same (though with F5+, not F6), and I've seen others saying the same; You don't get much "credit" from slow runs.

    Main input for VO2max calculation is HR vs. pace, and for slow runs the watch seems to think that given your current VO2max, the HR should have dropped more based on the drop in pace. This gives negative perfomance condition, which in turn gives a reduction in VO2max.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I have experienced the same as SAHO. Now I register my slow & recovery runs as "trail run" so no VO2max calculation is done, although training load & intensity is updated normally.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    really  strange, because i notice the total opposite. Since i am working out for marathon and doing quite a lot slow (long)runs with low effort my  VO2max  is rising and rising. Before it was about 60,  yesterday i reached 65. Highest i ever reached.

    What does your pulse say and are you using a strap? Is it constant and in the zone you are expecting, or "flipping around"/high?

    (Because i focus my  training on HR Zones i just run with a HR Strap, because it is and always be just more accurate)

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I had the same issue today with a recovery run - I got -6 on my VO2max on a single run !

    usually run 20 km at 4’30 per km with bpm 150 > vo2max 55

    last run 17km at 5’30 per km with bpm 122 > vo2max 49

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    You are bound to eventually reach your potential and plateau. Sooner or later. Having said that, although the algorithm for vo2max is usually dead on according to my lab tests, under certain conditions it could be misleading (ie many trail runs, windy days that force slower pace etc). Ultra running is mainly trail running which is excluded from vo2max calculations