Was going to post this…Garmin uses Firstbeat for most of its metrics and the Firstbeat web site is heavy with whitepapers and documentation explaining how they come up with their numbers, the accuracy, and the inaccuracy of the metrics.
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It’s too bad that there isn’t more interaction with the software. Right now I just look at it as mild entertainment. My vo2max is 46 “top 15% for your age and gender”.
But my training is “unproductive” - too much low intensity. They suggest mixing in “high aerobic” but they don’t reveal what that is. Of course, I can guess. And my 7 day training load is “High”.
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VO2 is one thing; and I do find the Garmin estimate kind of tracks. It is too short term though in my experience. eg if I have a rest week with short low intensity ride my VO2 score falls through the floor. It might come down in a week but nothing like Garmin suggest. But on balance it’s trend if pretty good; but not as good as WKO.
Garmin Training Status is a different story, it is complete rubbish. If it was possible to remove this feature from my Garmin I would. It doesn’t ‘understand’ periodisation; it doesn’t respond to rest weeks; it doesn’t respond to different types of workouts. It is worse than useless.
Almost feel like I need to apologise after that rant! Maybe for somebody it tracks their status somehow; but for any normal athlete on a periodised plan it will fail badly each and every day.
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I hear you on the rant! I particular love being told I’m detraining during a recovery week lol
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If I feed it all my data, I’ve also found that Garmin VO2 tracks with WKO and INSCYD - so good enough for me.
Re: the Garmin rant… I feel that. Mine is a total fun sponge and its favourite game is to wait until I’m 10 seconds into a race and then tell me my performance condition is in the negative.
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Mine tells me I’m detraining 2 weeks into a hard 3 week block 
. All while doing more tss than I ever have.
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I’ve also found the Garmin value to be within +/-2 of my lab tests.
From my understanding, % of max HR at a given power is a pretty good proxy for v02max assuming there aren’t any factors at play that significantly affect your HR- heat, altitude, etc
Like any singular metric it doesn’t tell the whole story, and you’re better off using it to track general trends rather than focusing too much on any one instance.
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You could fix that in online garmin connect and set a max hr that is not to be updated by new data. I had to do that after a couple of windy rides (my HR over 200 while my max is 182) and suddenly my training status makes more sense too.
my vo2 maxes are
58 for running
54 for cycling.
The claim that i can do a sub 18 5k right now is hilarious (and sad)!
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I can see the HR history but not where to edit it, can you screenshot where it is? I’ve looked before and never could seem to find it
Oh, and I did English +5 today (sets of 7x80sec/40sec off at 120%) and my vo2 went to 72 lol
Pretty sure all HR stuff is under Device > User Settings
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got it, thanks!
I was also wondering how or what the Vo2 was exactly on the Garmin. I have a Vivoactive 4S, I have had it 3 weeks. In the Vo2 it says I’m at a 51 (excellent), top 15% for my age and gender. Fitness age is a 20. Sort of shocked me because the whole reason i have the watch is because my wife wants me to get into shape. I am a 36 year old truck driver with quite a belly, haven’t seen “exercise” in at least 8 years. I’ve felt heavy, tired and slow during those 8 years. On the other hand my wife is in shape, eats healthy and works out all the time and her Vo2 is 37 
But i have bought a bike and will purchase a Saris H3 and trainer road next week to get this body moving again!!
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I see 51 for running - and I know that’s total BS. And a 42:15 10k prediction, which is even more BS. That’s the pace I do VO2Max intervals at. I haven’t run a 10k at anything close to that pace in a couple of decades.
So what do you think this tells you? Just because you’re doing work doesn’t mean you’re improving your fitness at the moment, but it will hopefully come after some time and some recovery to absorb the training. It really only shows “Productive” when your fitness (usually the V02Max or run/bike thresholds) are moving in the right direction, which isn’t always happening when you’re digging a hole of fatigue.
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I haven’t checked golden cheetah in a while, their vo2max estimation has me at 58 (vs 72 on garmin), so I’m going to assume I’m somewhere in between, hopefully closer to the higher value!
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@bbarrera is right but I was wrong. You can set the zones in garmin connect. But you have to go into My Stats/Training Zones/Heart Rate Zones in Edge device and for the maximum turn off the detection (if you know your max and don’t want to change it).
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Great post!
thanks for sharing!
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