This discussion has been locked.
You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

VO2 Up, but training status unproductive

Hi all,

Sorry if this is a duplicate, but I don't see this question for someone only participating in one sport. I only run and have been seeing a decrease in my Vo2 max in the last few weeks. Down 5 points. Not really sure why, similar training load etc, but have had a cold so may be related. However, today my vo2 max increased a little, only 1 point, but my watch says the run was unproductive. I don't see how these two can be true based on the firstbeat explanations that  vo2 Max is linked to status.

Anyone seen this or have any ideas? 

Trying to understand why I'm stuck in an unproductive rut.

Thanks,

Steve

  • I always have unproductive runs no matter what I did. When I reset the heart zones it started to show also other statuses beside unproductive. I guess my heart rate zone was not set properly by Garmin watch.

  • If you had dropped 2 VO2Max points, but gained 1, that will still give you an overall negative/unproductive. I'm not sure over what timeframe this is calculated though.

  • Thanks, that makes sone sense. I seem to be stuck in a three week unproductive cycle at the moment. Not sure if it is real and I need to look to address something or not, to be honest.

  • what astonishes me a little is the term unproductive. If I lie in bed, then I am unproductive, but when I run, I am definitely productive, sometimes more and sometimes less, but in any case productive. Or would I have the same effect if I just lay in bed and skip the run?

  • Not all activities are 'productive' in the sense of improving overall fitness. That's often what people fail to understand. And that's why training programs work on different levels of intensity and different duration of cycles.

  • It sounds like your HR zones might not be correct. I’m guessing your weight has roughly stayed the same?

    i’d contact First beat on social media too. Hopefully they’ll get back to you. 

  • Thanks. Yes, weight is similar.  A bit heavier due to Xmas but nothing much.  I’ve checked and hr zones seem right.  Unless the couple of kilos is the issue.  I’ll try firstbeat. 

  • Would you post some detail from your recent activities? How much difference is there in the intensities of the individual activities? How ,much variation in intensity is there in the activities? A change in 1ml/kg/min in VO2max could simply be down to rounding error.

    Your weight is unlikely to affect the results unless you have changed it on the watch or in Garmin Connect, unless it has impacted on your pace. Also VO2max is not a metric that should be chased on a daily or per activity basis. It's a long term metric that should be reviewed over a four to six week period when you've been following a program specifically aimed at improving an aspect of exercise oxygen consumption be it aerobic or anaerobic capacity.

    Note also that improvements to any fitness related metric require periods of rest and recovery. More training is not usually good or productive training. "The more you do, the more you can do" is only true to a point.