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VO2 Max and walking?

I bought my 945 the first week after it's release. I just started wearing it again for the last month after not wearing it for more than a year following a knee injury. If I remember correctly, the watch will give me a VO2 max estimate while recording a walk activity. Is this correct, and if so has anyone been able to accomplish this? I had a total knee replacement and even though I can start running again, my surgeon recommends against it. I'm now cycling and walking. I do not use a power meter for cycling and I've been trying to get my VO2 max to change while walking. I went from a VO2 max of 42 (which was 1 pt from excellent for my age) prior to my injury to a 29 (very poor) since I started wearing my watch again. I have numerous speed walks with my HR in the proper zone/time, (70% of MaxHR for 10 continuous minutes) but there's no change in my VO2 max and no training status. My HR zones are set correctly too. Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks!

0 e7andy over 2 years ago

What does your VO2 max graph look like? https://connect.garmin.com/modern/report/21/all/last_four_weeks

A link to a walk activity would also be great so we can have a look at it.

0 tess over 2 years ago in reply to e7andy

It's a straight line at 29 for the last 4 weeks. Why it started at 29 after not using the watch for a year + is beyond me. It should show no data in the graph until the watch generated a VO2 max, but it started day one when I started wearing the watch again and did a weightlifting session of all things. Connect is also showing no training status for the past month because the watch won't give me a VO2 max estimate. Another odd thing is with a 29 being very poor for my age group, Garmin still has my fitness age 1.5 years younger than I actually am. I expected with such a low VO2 max it would have been much higher.

0 e7andy over 2 years ago in reply to tess

You can get a VO2 max value from daily heart rate so that might be where it gets the value 29 from.

What Is VO2 Max Estimate and How Does It Work?

You will not get a VO2 max value from running or walking unless it is higher than 29.

An idea I have is that you will only get training status if you get a VO2 max from running (or cycling). Not from walking or all day heart rate, but I don't know if that is how it works. Walking is not mentioned on the tranining status support page.

"To receive a training status, record and sync 1-2 running or cycling activities per week that generate a VO2 Max."

What Is the Training Status Feature on My Garmin Device?

0 BrightScully over 2 years ago

Despite your watch doesn't show you the VO2Max (due to, for example, some training inactivity) the value is still calculated (even for walking or cycling without power meter). You can see it with this free software:

github.com/.../vo2max-tracker