Garmin Update

[Dexy5]

Hello all, I did a Garmin Connect update on my iPhone this week , and lost my running VO2max score. Despite the fact I don’t really believe it , i do like it telling me I have the fitness of a 20 year old. So I thought I’d better contact Garmin Support and let them know there’s a gremlin in the update.

Apparently this only affects iOS and they are on the case. Hopefully this saves some of you making the same enquiry.

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Update: Garmin emailed me to say there is a new update and lo and behold they have fixed the problem. Life is back to normal again, and I am still in excellent fitness. It obviously can’t tell I’ve got a streaming cold 🤧

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon]

Annoying!!! Hopefully it will be fixed very soon 🙏

[Beachcomber66 Administrator Half Marathon]

Really annoying!! Mine updates automatically and I have all of the data; the fit 20 year old doesn’t appear through my FR55 . It says my fitness age is 58.5 years old now….more believable anyway.☹️

[Dexy5 10 Miles in reply to Beachcomber66]

Yes when I checked UTS FR55 I spotted that. Maybe it’s just the FR35 that’s a problem.

[Beachcomber66 Administrator Half Marathon in reply to Dexy5]

Needs fixing though; must be lots of FR35s out there….. faithful friends 🙂

[Dexy5 10 Miles in reply to Beachcomber66]

Psst Don’t tell him, but your Garmin age is lower than UTS now. Must be the fact he is only running once a week now.

[Beachcomber66 Administrator Half Marathon in reply to Dexy5]

Must be a fault with his watch 🙂

[cheekychipmunks Half Marathon]

Mine’s ok and I know it updated recently. I’m superior. Top 5% for my age and gender. I think not! 😂

[Beachcomber66 Administrator Half Marathon in reply to cheekychipmunks]

🙂 me too ! It has been stuck on 44 “Superior” ever since I bought it pre Christmas! I yhink that I am age adjusted superior 😂

[Cmoi Marathon in reply to Beachcomber66]

Given that they're based on VO2Max tables, aren't all Garmin's band descriptors age-adjusted? See garmin.com/en-US/blog/fitne... Given that Garmin's algorithm penalises my more challenging runs, and rewards short stop-start runs with the dog, I really can't take it seriously.

[Dexy5 10 Miles in reply to Cmoi]

Yes I noticed that the slow long runs don’t help the VO2 max assessment at all. Your challenging runs exceed anything I do.

My post was mainly to alert people of the problem in case they have lost the information and are as baffled as I was. Funnily it has left me with the cycling VO2 max , and it is a while since I was on my bike.

[Cmoi Marathon in reply to Dexy5]

Sorry, I should've acknowledged the helpfulness of your post Dexy5 . I hope Garmin is able to restore your data soon. Judging by other posts I've seen, they've been having issues recently with updates' having unwanted effects.

[Beachcomber66 Administrator Half Marathon in reply to Cmoi]

It definitely has to be age adjusted Cmoi: I can’t be the same as a 23 year old “superior” in any legitimate measure.

As you say it rewards quick 5ks, but penalises effort hill runs. It is not total nonsense though. At the beginning of last year my score dropped into the low 30 ‘s, all of my long runs were run at about 7:30 per K and my average heart rate was way up. I had been ill and injured over the summer and autumn.

My current 44 does coincide with improved fitness and pace and lower average heart rate on all runs. The routes I run now are common to winter 2023/4. So yes, I am fitter(which I know anyway); but there can be no read across between my 44 and that of anyone else because routes chosen make such a difference to the V02 max score as you say. So I am happy that my score has improved; but I know that it would nosedive if I tried to run in your neck of the woods. Not to be taken seriously as you say.

[Cmoi Marathon in reply to Beachcomber66]

My problem with my Garmin's readings is that they rarely correlate with my actual fitness in terms of being able to cope with more challenging runs. My current VO2Max is higher than it was when I did the Trail du Gévaudan. No way am I fitter now than I was then!

I'm not going to take my data seriously because the ways it's gathered, measured and interpreted aren't sufficiently reliable, accurate or appropriate. While a more sophisticated watch would doubtless do better, I'm not going to get one because data is only a very small part of how I evaluate the success of my runs.

[Beachcomber66 Administrator Half Marathon in reply to Cmoi]

That way lies sanity Cmoi. I do look at heart rate (survival issue!) distance, elevation gain and pace. I need to do between run exercise stuff to keep me flexible, but I am more interested in how I feel post run, what I saw and sometimes who I met.

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Cmoi]

I have noticed that my Fenix 6 VO2 max is much more stable, and not so affected by individual runs. My fitness age is much more realistic and is affected by body fat% ( or weight if your scales don't have that metric), vigorous days per week, vigorous minutes per week and resting heart rate. The Fenix 7 kindly shows where I'm slipping, and I really don't need to be told I'm carrying too much fat, I'm already well aware of that fact!!! Less sure how it calculates VO2 max, but it did drop a point yesterday for the first time in months.

[Cmoi Marathon in reply to linda9389]

Yes, I can appreciate that a Fenix 7 provides more reliable data and analysis than a Forerunner45, and that can be helpful for many people. However I just don't need another set of metrics on which to fail.

Much empathy with "I really don't need to be told I'm carrying too much fat, I'm already well aware of that fact!!!" I've not got on scales for months, mostly because I know that I'm heavier than I used to be. Having that confirmed by a number won't motivate me to lose weight, it'll mess with my head. And in any case, I'm again teaching occasionally at the bakery, and I'm not going to insult them by turning down all the delicious extras they give me!

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Cmoi]

Haha! I wouldn't be able to resist either. My scales are going to become my best friend. I am determined to find a way to lose some of these extra pounds. The old ways no longer seem to work with my aging body !!! I know the principles are the same, it just seems the boundaries have shifted. Ho hum!

[AlMorr Half Marathon]

Annoying Dexy5 but you do have the fitness of a 20 year old and UTS has the fitness of a 21 year old guy😲🏃✅

[Dexy5 10 Miles in reply to AlMorr]

He wishes. 😂. But he is happy that he is still fit enough to pass the fitness test to join the Royal Navy.

[AlMorr Half Marathon in reply to Dexy5]

That's excellent news that UTS is fit enough to pass the fitness test for the Royal Navy, ✅

[Simo_882]

Thanks for the info! I'm not familiar with Garmin, but it sounds like a frustrating experience. Hopefully, they'll make the fix soon!

[Week7 Half Marathon]

Oh no! Although I don't believe my vo2 max I too enjoy being a 20 year old again. It is a massive ego boost . Lots of short fast runs or long very slow runs seem to reduce my "age" nicely. It may be fake but the things I do to manipulate it are another incentive to get out of the door and, actually, good training.

[Dexy5 10 Miles in reply to Week7]

😂