I'm Not Happy With My VO2 Number

Four years ago I got one of the greatest gifts ever for the holiday. I'm a runner, as you all know, and my folks bought me a Garmin Fenix 5x watch. I had pined for one of these watches. As I got deeper and deeper into the running community, all of the people I knew would tell me about the greatness that is Garmin. I heard how they are the perfect watch for runners, they have a great GPS system obviously and they are durable as hell. They also have a pretty long lasting battery life.

So, when I opened that gift on Christmas morning in 2020, I was stoked. It gave me excitement in a very tough pandemic riddled world. All of the things I heard and read about the watch rang true, and still does to this day. I run five times a week, but I only have to charge the watch every 9-10 days. If I get confused about where I am on a trail, I use my map. I have dropped the watch, swam with the watch, fallen down with the watch on my wrist and there is no damage done. I'm all in on Garmin.

As I grew more accustomed to the watch, I started to add more fitness items on the app on my phone for the watch. One such item was my Vo2. I am still up in the air on what Vo2 fully means, but I do understand that it calculates your breathing as you exercise. The harder you go, the better your Vo2 max can get. I am usually right around a 43 or 44. I feel like that is pretty good for a runner my size.

This summer the Vo2 max and I have been fighting. I am trying a new thing with my running this summer. It has been very nice here in Saint Louis lately. But, that isn't always the case and it is about to get hot and humid again. So, this summer I am slowing down my pace. I'm taking my time a bit more. I'm not over exerting myself. I have recently started using an inhaler, so my doctor told me to slow down a bit when I run if I feel out of breath. So, I have been doing just that. My pace on the road has gone from 10 minute miles to 11. On the trail I'm at about 13 as opposed to 11 or 12, depending on the trail. It is only a minute, or just a little over a minute in some cases, but if you were to look at my training status and my Vo2 max on my Garmin app, you'd think I was hurt or slacking. I am still at a 43, but it is teetering on the edge of a 42. My fitness age is usually in the low 20's, but that is now averaging about 31. And it is really getting to me. It is making me legitimately angry. I will finish a run, like I did this morning, where I went slow but I feel good, and then get mad when I see my fitness age go up and my training status says "unproductive".

I know I shouldn't let this bother me. I understand that things like this happen when the weather changes. I get that I shouldn't be so invested in an app that is on my phone. I know how I feel after a run. I can tell from home my body feels. But I am really letting this whole Vo2 max thing get to me this summer. It is really pissing me off. I need to listen to the sound advice my sister in law gave me when I first started running. She has been one of my biggest supporters all along this running journey, and early on she told me not to take the numbers on a watch or phone app so seriously. She told me to focus on how I feel, not what an app says. And she is totally right. I ran six miles this morning. That is something I could have never done over ten years ago. And this was a smaller training run for me now. But I cannot help but be annoyed by that damn number on my app. It makes me angry. I get mad that I didn't do enough. I sit there and think about what I can do differently the next time I go out. But in actuality, I should be happy that I did anything this morning. I chose to get up and go run after taking my kids to camp. I could have gone home and sat on my ass, but I didn't do that. I got exercise. I burned almost 1200 calories. I am more prepared for my trail half that I am running in a few months than I was the day before. But, with all those positives, I'm still over here obsessing about that damn number.

Maybe I need to delete that portion from my app. I won't, but it is nice to have that option. I should be content with going out and getting exercise, and that is what I'm going to try to do moving forward. But to say that I won't think about that damn Vo2 max would be untrue. It is going to frustrate me until I decide to let it go. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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