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Vo2 max too low - Race predictions way off

Oskar
over 4 years ago

Hi all.

I am a bit frustrated on how my Fenix 6 pro calculates my Vo2 max. It seems my slower runs or recovery runs (when I’m tired)  affects the vo2 max and lowers it too much and then when I perform well in race tempo vo2 max is lagging behind. 

As an example, currently my vo2max on the watch is 53 and the race prediction for 10K says 42.26 and 5K 19.58. Four days ago I did 5K in 18.30 and yesterday I did 10K in 39.52. Vo 2 max still gave me 53 after yesterday’s PB. 

Clearly I am outperforming the race predictions by far and I’ve heard those are just 1 to 1 mapped to the vo2 max, so the watch and algorithm is completely off. 

I tried setting the vo2max manually in Garmin Connect but doesn’t seem to do anything? 

I mean this is not the end of the world but again I would like stats and data to be accurate and it’s quite silly to be honest that the clock says 42.26 when I just a day ago did sub 40. I mean cmon, how hard can it be?! 

Also shouldn’t the algorithm be smart enough to understand that if I stop a 5K race and let’s say end up in vo2max 54, and then I start a new activity to walk / lightly jog the last kms back to my flat, the watch instantly downgrades my vo2max to 53 again. This is just so LOL, how can it not just understand this scenario? 

Anyone who knows how I can get the vo2max to be accurate again or how to manually set it? 

Anyone from Garmin who reads this, please give me an explanation what I should do here to get this more accurate, thanks! 

FYI I am pairing my watch with the HRM Pro chest strap. 

Best regards, Oskar

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 5135968

    I don't agree with you on the MaxHR right is the key. Max HR has nothing to do with fitness, only with genetics and age. Creating zones based on lactate threshold is way more accurate since LT is increasing (towards Max HR) when you train more.

    My race prediction was also way off when i did a Half Marathon this weekend, with a VO2max of 57 and it predicted a 1:34:15, i actually ran it in 1:28:41, and immediately after i finished my VO2max was downgraded to 56 and the race prediction became 1:33:29 (which was higher than before).. do we still get it?! LOL
    This race prediction is such bullocks.

    Also my automatically detected lactate threshold went down to 172 (from 175), but i ran the complete half marathon with an average of 173, that is really making no sense at all. I'm using my F6 in combination with the HRM Pro, so the heart rate is pretty accurate.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    My VO2Max calc went down 5 points over the last week for no reason. I was at 67 and then with each subsequent run/trail run/bike ride it went down a point - 66, 65, 64, 63, and now 62. I can't figure out what happened. It's been steady in the 65-67 range for the last 3 years and not a whole lot changed in the last week. Any ideas?

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to shandel23

    Maybe pay attention to whether you're starting to get sick this week? I don't know if your VO2Max is really dropping, but presumably the watch is using what data it has as a proxy, and if your HR is going up with the same amount of effort/pace, it could be an indication of something else.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to shandel23
    shandel23 said:
    My VO2Max calc went down 5 points over the last week for no reason.

    I noticed a week or so back, that when running with an F6 Pro on one wrist, and a Forerunner 245 on the other wrist, both connected to the same external HR belt so identical HR data, the F6 Pro would often have me Unproductive / VO2 Max reducing, whereas my VO2 Max would stay the same on the 245 and I was Productive, or sometimes Maintaining.

    Recovery time was also different as well between devices.

    I spent about a week not syncing the 245 at all, just keeping data on the device so Physio Tru-up would not swap data between devices and after a few days, the devices were reporting very different statuses even with identical setup and using same HR data feed.

    I tend not to really trust VO2 Max so I don't know which device was more correct, but I was interested to see my F6 Pro had me almost constantly at Unproductive / reducing VO2 Max.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to shandel23

    Are you running with the trail running profile?

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I hate to complain and be a whiner, seriously but this and other issues make me think the fenix 6 is a lemon; can't be fixed.

    My fenix 5x plus just uses the chart for V02 and race predictions and not all the firstbeat stuff. In my personal experience running a marathon and from what I hear from people here, just that VO2 chart, i don't know who came up with it but it seems more accurate (https://cicerunner.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/garmin-fr620-race-times-from-vo2-max/) I ran my marathon within a few minutes of the VO2 chart numbers. And this was BEFORE I ever owned a garmin, ran it with a Timex, but my VO2 max after using my Garmin corelates with the chart times and my 5x plus times, not the 6 times.

    The wrist heart rate is unusable. Do not disturb is dumb and not what the manual says it should be. The alarms are ridiculous compared to the 5X plus.

    I'm glad I kept my 5X Plus and still use it!

    complaining over!

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to MikeM
    MikeM said:
    I'm glad I kept my 5X Plus and still use it!

    Do you have a Fenix 6? Are you basing your opinion solely on the people who complain in this forum?

    There are people who do not have the problems that some post but sadly the ripple of people who don't have problems is swallowed up by the tsunami of posts from people who do. This forum cannot be representative of the Garmin user base. I would hazard a guess that in general, the people who do not have problems are out there enjoying their Fenix watches.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Roan123

    Understand your frustration. I mean, I can go and look up a race pace vs vo2max table on Google, so I don't really need the watchs calucations. But when you pay like 1k USD for a runners watch and it predicts you do 10K in 42.30 the second after you did it in 39.45, I kinda ask myself what the heck I am paying for tbh. I really enjoy this watch, don' get me wrong, but this is just a scam. I am CHOCKED how Garmin can't seem to get this right, how hard can it be lol.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Dr Phil

    Just want go give my two cents on this one as the thread starter here. I love the F6, don't get me wrong, but it is completely out of my understanding how the vo2max / race predictions can be so completely poorly designed. Better to just have a flat vo2max-to-pace table as that would give me more value than the stupid algorithm which doesn't even know better when the results are just here, black on white, over and over again. "Race prediction 10K: 42.26." I just (2 hours ago) ran on 39.45. It goes beyond my understanding, I'm speechless how stupid it is.