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Trail Running VO2Max / Performance Condition - correlates with how many trees are around

silentvoyager
over 4 years ago

I am recording most of my runs as trail runs, and I've been watching changes in VO2max and looking at Performance Condition graphs from most runs, and my impressions is that the biggest influencing factor is how many trees are around. The pattern seems to emerge is that every time I run on an open terrain my Performance Condition gets a bump up, sometimes by 3-5 points, and every time I run on a forested trail it gets a hit. But overall VO2max keeps slowly sliding down.

One year ago I did road runs infrequently, so my VO2max wasn't tested most of the time. It was 55 at the peak. Now it gets tested on every run, and it went down to 49, and I feel it is about to hit 48.

Considering the correlation with how open terrain is, I wonder if Performance Condition is influenced by pace even in trail running mode, and if that is the case, we all know that pace gets influenced by GPS signal strength, and gets affected by running under tree cover. Can anyone from Garmin comment on this?

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Fenix 7X with multi-frequency enabled really surprises me in terms of distance accuracy when running on trails - quite a bit more accurate than any GPS watch I had before, even exceeding accuracy of Suunto Ambit 3.

    As someone who run really long distances on trails I'd never rely on footpods with their cumulative accuracy issues.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to silentvoyager

    Have you ever tried Stryd? Because mine gives very consistent (yes, precise) result even on trails with substantial ascents.

    And I backtested the calibration of my Stryd not just on a flat track, but on a hilly paved loop with a known lap distance. I ran at different paces to test that Stryd’s accuracy is not disposed to the effect of changing pace  as a normal footpod is in fact. And I found that it gave the same result at any real jogging, running or sprinting pace. I did not test it walking, but I have heard that at really low (walking) cadence it loses some of its accuracy.

    So I dare say that its accuracy is really within +/-0.2% on hard surface at jogging/running or sprinting pace. 

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Former Member
    This leads me to believe it's an individual's running style on trails that affects our VO2Max. 

    If everybody fulfils his promises then any change of altitude (ascent/descent) is compensated in the algorithm. But there is no way to figure out which type of terrain you are struggling on. So as you wrote on a soft, sandy surface one is slower at the same heart rate so his Vo2max has to be lower.

    So if you incorporate the effect of the surface into the “running style on trails” then you are right.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Former Member

    https://forums.garmin.com/members/008d0309999f4e4eb56eaa834e3967bb

    WHO KNOWS,

    you mentioned in another thread, which was unfortunately closed, so I cant post there, that you downloaded an app which shows not just the satellites, but their signal strength, too.

    See forums.garmin.com/.../1049279

    Could you please give its name, now?

    I found what Odie21 mentioned, GNSS View, but you did not mentioned the name, and I could not find it in App Store.

    Thanks.