Vo2 max

The only way is to reset the watch to factory settings. As it is unclear what gets restored to the watch after a restore, or what gets synched from the backend as your reconnect the watch, I recommend the follow approach:

- do a backup of the watch,

- reset to factory settings

- do not connect the watch to your phone, do not restore a backup

- set up the watch with your profile info. Make sure that Max HR and LTHR are entered correctly

- wearing a chest strap, go run for a few days. During the first run, the watch will establish a "minimum" VO2 Max based on a standard formula linking pace, VO2 and HR. Initial VO2 Max is deducted from HR Max. Then the watch will build its own pace/VO2/HR/HRV model (the learning process). After a few runs, you will then see if your VO2 Max has really changed.

- if the result looks better, then reconnect the watch, and restore the backup. THis approach will ensure that neither the backup nor the connection will interfere, if they can, with the refreshed VO2 Max model.

Cool thank you . I know it’s just a number but I like to see the improvement . I wish garmin would address this issue. I’ve heard other people have same problem . 

Andrew said:

I’ve been running for 2 months , lost 20 pounds , have done 8 vo2 max benefit runs , and have gotten way faster

Congrats on the weight loss! Be careful, the watch might be assessing your runs as VO2 Max, but this assessment can be easily off if the model are based on biased data (not wearing a chest strap, inaccuracy in Max HR or Rest HR, are usual suspects.

When the watch gives you a suggestion for a threshold run, check that you could run at that pace for at least 30mn...

Even if the metrics are correct, you need more time to build your aerobic base. As non intuitive as it might be, the best way to build VO2 Max is to run very long easy runs (mid to lower zone2). The fastest way is to run high intensity intervals, but it is hard on the body. If you do too many of those, your Vo2 Max will not increase because of the level of training stress.

A good rule of thumb is that 80% of your training volume (hours) should be in Zone 2: you should be able to hold a conversation with a running buddy). If you are 50 or above, lower zone 2 is even better.

Is there a chest strap that you recommend for the garmin 265? I’ve been doing some research .!

I was looking at the garmin hrm dual 

Any of the Garmin straps or the Polar H10 will work. The main benefits of the Garmin pro is to add more reliable running power outdoor and indoor, pace indoor and on board data recording for activities where you cannot wear the watch. Running dynamics are not very actionable.

I hope your luck with chest straps is better than mine. I have not tried the HRM dual, I have tried several samples of the regular Garmin strap, the regular Polar Strap and two off brands. For me, none of them registered a correct HR consistently for very long after new. After some use they would not register a good heart rate at the begging or somewhere during the run, they would become flaky. I did a lot of the tests on the treadmill, a more controlled environment than an outdoor run for making adjustments to the straps.

If at the begging of the run, it's frequently due to a lack of sweat, good connectivity between the sensor patches on the skin side and the body, so I'd pre-wet the straps, nothing that I found to be a solution (for me) and though not recommended, I even tried pre-wetting with ultrasound gel. Nope.

Read the care instructions, there will be washing instructions.I think too much sweat (salt build up) in the strap is also a problem. I tried the recommended care instructions (as they were at the time) and it didn't fix my problems, I tried giving the strap(s) a good rinse after every use, no go.  Then a wash with mild soap, after every use, no.

I tried slight variations is the strap position, nope. In the end I got tired of spending money for straps that didn't work for more than a few uses, so I went with just using the wrist sensor. I ran tests using the treadmill with a chest strap hooked to my bike Garmin (for recording purposes) and a FR245 for the wrist reading. The result was; no doubt, the chest strap picks up the instantaneous peaks better but the average between the two were close and the wrist strap readings still picked up the increases, just not as quickly. If I did a sprint, it took the wrist strap longer to get to the peak value. For me, the wrist strap worked better regardless, because it didn't go flaky.

Now this was all done about 7 years ago, so maybe the chest straps have improved..maybe. Maybe, it's the composition of my sweat that created some of the problems and maybe the wrist strap works better for me than some because of the relationship of how the watch sets on my wrist in position to my veins. That was with the FR245.

I did recently do a post where I wore both the 245 and the 265 and posted a comparison of the resulting HR graph side by side. Apparently the version of firmware (19.18) I have in the 265 has a bug. The HR reading starts low and jumps about 10 minutes into a run to what it should be. There is later firmware (which may fix the bug), I'm just waiting for a version to come where the reported bugs for the new version don't affect the features I use in the watch. Hopefully that's not too far off.