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Would this VO2 Max be correct?

glennwilson1985
over 1 year ago

Hi there,

I'm a 37yo male, 170cm, 103.6kg (very obese).  Have been using Garmin Forerunner 245 Music and my VO2 Max is showing as 30 with Fitness Age 79.  This was very concerning but figured I work a sedentary job, have put on a bunch of weight and wasn't doing much in the way of exercise that maybe it had got that bad.  Over the past 3 weeks, I've been running a fair bit, eating better and dropped 3.8kgs - however this figure hasn't changed.  I've noticed my runs getting easier (certainly not easy) but I'm doing 5km in around 32 minutes.

Could VO2 Max still be 30 or is something wrong here?  Every run I've been doing lately has come up with "Performance Condition +16 or +20, Excellent!" around the 1km mark and I feel much healthier today than I did 3 weeks ago (still a long way from where I want to be but heading in the right direction).  Every run shows the VO2 with the right arrow symbol (no movement).  And I've been doing a fair few runs - have run 30km over the past 7 days (6x5km runs).

Lastly, if I do the calcs I've found online, I get the following:

Resting HR: 53 avg (past 7 days)
1) Max HR: 220-37 = 183
2) Max HR (Garmin Connect corrected somehow after a run): 187
3) Max HR: 205.8 - (0.685x37) = 180.5

I know Garmin use FirstBeat method but based on VO2 max = 15 x (HRmax/HRrest)

1) VO2 max = 15 x (183/53) = 51.8
2) VO2 max = 15 x (180.5/53) = 51
3) VO2 max = 15 x (187/53) = almost 53

I don't think it would be anywhere near that personally but I feel like it would be much higher than 30.  Wouldn't it?

I have been running occasionally at lunch with some colleagues, another who is a bit taller but similar weight (slightly lighter), similar age, similar running pace etc. and his VO2 Max is 44.

Feeling a bit anxious with a fitness age of 79 and VO2 Max in the bottom 5% for my age.  Is there some setting that I'm missing or do you think that it is in fact  accurate and I just need to keep working at improving it?

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    Just got back from another lunch run - 5.3km 32:40.

    Went into training status on watch

    VO2 Max - 30 (Poor), very bottom it can be on Forerunner 245 by the looks of it

    Scroll down to Training Load (last 7 days) - 2368 High, arrow almost points to the top it can be in the red

    Recovery - 4 days (Recovering as expected)

    Race Predictor - 5km 42:37   10km 1:34:11   Half 3:53:48   Marathon   8:49:07

     

    What the hell….. doesn’t make sense.  Guessing something isn't working but it's got me stuffed if I can figure it out.

    Edit.

    So after my last run, I did some more googling and found a chart which compares VO2 max to 5k, 10k, HM and marathon race times.... going off this, my VO2 max probably is correct at 30.  Depressing but I'll keep trying to improve.  It also means that at my fittest, maybe 6 years ago, the half marathons I ran (2hrs and 2hrs 8min) only had my VO2 max at 40 and 37 respectively, which even still isn't too great.

    Still not sure why the Race Predictor times are so out.

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    Don’t get caught up too much with the numbers. Just keep up on running and as you slowly increase your mileage and become leaner they should start to change. Rome wasn’t built in a day. It takes time, think more weeks and weeks rather than days. 

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    Calculating VO2 max is not that easy. Your formula would suggest that every person with max HR 183 and resting HR 53 would be at the same level of fitness, which is false.

    You have to compare your actual HR when running at certain pace.

    Other than that, what caferey said. Dont let the numbers ruin your runs and progress, which will certainly come!

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to 1608795

    Thanks for the reply. Just out of curiosity, would you expect to see an increase in VO2 Max if I've been running say 30km/wk and lost 6.5kgs over the past 4 weeks? The only changes I've seen so far is my Fitness Age doing from 79 to 76, gradually.  It went 78 and 77 prior so to me it looks as though I'm heading in the right direction... just slowly. Not letting it get to me. Feeling much fitter. Jogged 12kms non-stop yesterday (aerobic zone) which I couldn't have dreamed of doing 4 or 5 weeks ago.

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    There is 12 min Cooper test for estimate of your VO2 max. It can be calculated as follows:

    (Distance covered in metres - 504.9) ÷ 44.73 = VO2 max


    As you write, you run 5 km (5000 m) in 32 min. This means, that you run approx.1880 m in 12 min:

    (1880 - 504.9) ÷ 44.73 = 30.74

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Audrius Gavelis

    Thanks so much. Really appreciate it.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to glennwilson1985

    Interval workouts are good way to improve VO2 max, if you want it:
    ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_training )