I’ve done 2 x 2k and today ventured a little further with a 3k so all moving in the right direction 👍💪
Thank you to everyone for your support. I hope to be back up to 5k in 3 weeks or so.
Meanwhile - does anyone know how Mr Garmin calculates recovery time which I was told was 26hrs at the end of my sortie?
In addition my fitness age is now 51 and while not complaining since I’m actually 64, doesn’t really make any sense 🤔 I’m not particularly fussed but the information intrigued me.
I’ve googled it but without any success - can anyone shed light on this for me please ?
🏃♀️🏃🏻🏃♀️
Written by
61Lady
Graduate10
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Unfortunately the algorithm's conclusions don't necessarily make much, if any, sense in real life. My watch downgrades my VO2Max every time I do a longer, more technical hilly trail run, then bumps it up if I run 5k on comparatively flatter roads. Result: my watch decided I was less fit when I completed an over-length trail marathon than after a couple of short, easy holiday runs. Yeah right. Same as how I'm a 20 year old. 🙄🤣🤣🤣
Fitness age is very much watch model dependent. The Forerunners never give you more than 9 years off your current age, but the Vivoactive series tend to go all the way down to 20.
And the venu don't give much at all, mine says 61 is achievable, currently 62 so 5 years below biological age, when I had a vivoactive it said my fitness age was 43
The Forerunners never give you more than 9 years off your current age
My 2 year old Forerunner 45S does, the daft ha'p'orth says I'm 20, and I'll be 63 in early October! It's very occasionally gone up to 24, I think, and after my fall it initially said 38, but it's been 20 for a while. Maybe it's just stuck!
However, my watch's settings are all in French, and I've noticed from a couple of other posts that the way data is presented in French doesn't seem to be identical to that in English.
That would make sense. As I don't wear my Garmin for every run, let alone all the time, the data I have is far from reliable, which suits me just fine.
I’ve got a Forerunner 645 and my fitness age has been 20 for months (real age 62 😂). VO2 max goes up and down within no more than a 3 point range and has never been above 43!
Similarly I think my VO2Max has always been 39-41 Sandie1961 . As mentioned above my lowest scores were during marathon training, and when I completed the Trail du Gévaudan Garmin rewarded me by dropping my VO2Max from 40 to 39. As an indicator of fitness that seems completely screwy to me!
Recovery time seems to be related to both the intensity and duration of your most recent activities. It seems that gentler recovery runs don't add to the hours left if the recovery time they would themselves need is less than the existing recovery hours needed.
Having a some hours left in recovery time doesn't mean you shouldn't run, only that you might want not to run hard or long.
Not sure I’ll be paying much attention to the recovery time - I won’t let a watch dictate when I run but I wonder if it gives a greater time if you ignore it - almost like “I told you so “ 😉
It doesn't give you a greater time if you do what it considers is a recovery run.
I use it as a guideline only. If I have a run opportunity on a day (and possibly will not have one the following day) I will mostly ignore the recovery time.
For example. It's currently 10.30pm and the watch is giving me 16 hours of recovery time. I'm hoping to do a 10km run before I start work, and if the watch is still saying 8 hours in the morning I'm not going to worry much about it.
That's odd. It works even in a text-only browser (w3m) for me.
The text is:
Recovery Time Advisor
Ensure adequate recovery to reap the full reward of your efforts.
What Is Recovery Time Advisor?
Recovery Time predicts how long it will be before your body is fully recovered and ready for your next intense fitness-improving type workout. Of course, you can still be physically active during the countdown, but if improved performance is your goal may be best to keep your workout activities light and refreshing until you have fully recovered.
Recovery makes performance possible. The greater the performance the more recovery is needed. Restoration and adaptation are the work that your body performs in response to physical activity. The amount of restorative work your body needs to do is linked to the intensity and duration of your activities.
Improvements only arrive during recovery, so giving your body time to adapt is vital to reaching the next level.
• Ensure a healthy, balanced and rewarding approach to training
• Gain the maximum benefit from each training session
• Understand the level of training that would benefit you most
• Green-light maximum effort performances at the right time
• Avoid overtraining and decreased performance
Recovery Time Advisor Screen [image of watch face]
How Does It Work?
When you complete and save your session, the amount of time your body needs to complete the work of restoration and adaptation is displayed on a countdown timer. Countdowns range from 0 hours to 4 days. Key elements of the calculation include the Training Effect of your completed session and the amount of time remaining on your Recovery Time countdown at the start of your session.
Recovery times are not simply added together, but are instead re-evaluated by the Firstbeat Analytics engine using performance data collected from your session.
Recovery Time Advice [image of recovery report]
Training Effect related advice lets you know how to keep up your training without losing the fitness benefits gained from previous exercise.
I think the recovery time is garble, and I take no notice of it. If you do two activities on one day, say a run followed by a strength work out, you might get say, 20 hours recovery after the run, but only 8 hours after the workout. It doesn't seem to cope with more than one activity.
For me, I plan my runs to fit in with other stuff in my life, Garmin knows nothing about those!
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
How did your parkrun or (not)parkrun go?
