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VO2Max, Training Status and Training Effect?

Egilio
over 5 years ago

Since last week the VO2Max, Training Status and Training Effect on my watch, garmin 935, seem misalign and start behaving oddly.

Last week I did an easy run of 5.3k at a pace of 5:43/km with an average HR of 135, Aerobic TE of 1.6 (Recovery), Anaerobic TE of 0.0 (no effect) and a VO2Max of 55. Which is what I usually see as an Aerobic TE for similar runs.

A few days later I did a similar easy run of 6k at a pace of 5:40/km with an average HR of 130, Aerobic TE of 3.1 (Improving Aerobic Fitness), Anaerobic TE of 0.0 and a VO2Max of 54. A much higher Aerobic TE than usual for similar runs.

A few days later again I did a slightly longer run, 9k, at a slighter faster pace 5:27/k, with an average HR of 138 (I felt really good that day), Aerobic TE of 3.2, and a VO2 Max of 53. Again a much higher Aerobic TE than usual, VO2Max drops, but I felt good.

Did a bike ride that night on the trainer and VO2Max went up on that to 56, from 55.

This morning I did an interval run, 4x 1k at 4:15-4:30 with 500m recovery. Felt well in control (could have done another 1-2 but ran out of time), average HR 150, Aerobic TE of 4.1 (highly improving aerobic fitness), Anaerobic TE of 3.4 (improving anaerobic fitness). I think I only ever had that high effort estimated during races or 20+km runs.  VO2Max down to 52 and a new lactact threshold (4:37 @172HR where it was 4:48 @177). So my VO2Max goes down, but my lactate threshold is going down too (faster)?

How come it is suddenly reporting much higher aerobic training efforts for similar distances and heart rates? And how come it reports improving anaerobic and aerobic fitness while at the same time lowering VO2Max and reporting unproductive training status? The training status has gone from 'productive' to 'maintaining' to 'unproductive' over the last week. I feel great, rest HR has come down last week too.

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    I’d post this too on first beat via social media. A few things. Weather, any major temp changes? How’s your training volume over the past 2-4 weeks? Any changes? Either training more or doing more intense sessions?

    The thing I’ve learned with VO2 is not to get too hung up on day to day or even week to week(I know easier said than done!) but look over the course of 4-8 weeks or longer. 

    I get unproductive when I’ve suddenly ramped up my mileage, there’s been a 7-10 window when I’ve been able to increase it by maybe 30%. It takes several days sometimes for your body to get used to the new workload. Same happens too in the summer if I go to a place that’s hot and humid. Unproductive for the first 5 runs or so, then maintaining. 

    Do you have the performance condition screen? I found it very useful to see real time how my body is performing. 

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to caferey

    I'll try to put it on firest beat through social media too, thanks for the tip. Weather hasn't changed much, usually between 0 and about 8C, I've added 1 or 2 bike sessions in the last few weeks, but kept them shortish and easy as the focus is running right now.

    I'm not concerned about the VO2Max numbers, I'm just intrigued VO2Max suddenly seems to go down, effort seems to go up, with similar intensities and durations.

    Performance conditions notifications have been between -4 (very low for me) and +2 (this morning, when VO2Max dropped again), so they were a bit lower than usual, but nothing extreme. Elevate for Strava in Chrome had my Fitness increase more rapidly the last 10 days or so, than before that, and fatigue increase (~34 to ~55), but the balance, form, hovering between -4 to -15. Fatigue has been increasing the last month or so, but still quite a bit lower than what I have sustained in the past.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Egilio

    For what it's worth. I contacted firstbeat and they said to check if my max HR was still the same as in some cases it might reset after an update. My Max HR was still the same.

    The VO2Max seems to have stabilized, but TE's are still really high. This morning a 5k run with avg HR of 132 was given an aerobic TE of 2.5, 2 weeks ago a 6k run with avg HR of 138 had an aerobic TE of 1.7. Yesterday I did a 15k run with some hills and an average HR of 150, it gave an aerobic TE of 4.8 and recommended 67 hours of recovery. I've really only seen those numbers after half distance triathlons, and I really don't feel that thrashed. In fact, after the run this morning I did a swim and did a CSS test where I knocked off 12 sec on my 400 time compared to the last time I did a CSS test. I haven't really changed my training regime the last couple of weeks, but the estimated training load has shot up from about 500-600 to 900+, with similar length workouts, similar intensity workouts.