The Runner's Journal
Why is your VO₂ max decreasing? Discover how heat, fatigue, detraining, weight, ageing, altitude and watch errors can make your score fall. Your watch gave you a VO₂ max of 52 last month. Today, it says 49. You have not stopped running. You may even be training more. Yet according to the number on your […]
A higher VO₂ max can help you run faster – but it cannot tell you how efficiently you move, how much of your aerobic capacity you can sustain or whether your legs will still cooperate in the final kilometres. Your watch has increased your VO₂ max estimate by two points. Excellent. But your 5km time […]
VO2 max for runners explained: learn what your score means, how accurate watch estimates are and how easy runs, intervals and recovery can improve it. VO₂ max is often treated as the ultimate score for running fitness. Watches display it, training apps track it and runners compare it – but the number is only useful […]