Marathon training and VO2 max

Though I don't run much, and stick to 1/2 distances or so for workouts, I'm similar. I find that too much LISS work seems to allow my VO2max to slip, and I just don't like it. And similar to you, even though I don't compete these days I like to push hard. So I almost always do at some point, and add in some fairly high intensity intervals and such.

Maybe they have a plan long term, or aren't aware you still want to maintain or improve your short race times. I'd suspect they just don't want you "wasting" training time with intensity stuff when the current goal is distance. That or risk of injury.... though personally I'd say the injury risk increases with miles.

how are you measuring VO2 Max? have you gone and had your zones calculated through an actual scientific test or are you using general zones?

honestly, if you are basing it off like your garmin - i wouldn't worry - that is just a snapshot in time - it isn't a long term measure that i would rely solely on - and is influenced heavily by daily factors; whereas if you have done an actual VO2 Max test - then i would be more concerned

recommend, if you haven't, reading some of Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 training plan info

deannalfisher wrote: »

how are you measuring VO2 Max? have you gone and had your zones calculated through an actual scientific test or are you using general zones?

honestly, if you are basing it off like your garmin - i wouldn't worry - that is just a snapshot in time - it isn't a long term measure that i would rely solely on - and is influenced heavily by daily factors; whereas if you have done an actual VO2 Max test - then i would be more concerned

recommend, if you haven't, reading some of Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 training plan info

Yes, this. Garmin thinks your VO2 Max is decreasing because you haven't been recording many of those types of runs. I wouldn't worry about it. Those long runs will help you to maintain that fitness, if if it doesn't feel like it. That said, just because you are training for a marathon doesn't mean that you need to completely eliminate speed work. I still do one day of hill repeats or speed intervals and one day of tempo at HM pace or faster during my training cycle. I also second reading some of Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 plan info. His plans have gotten me my best race results ever and they incorporate the type of training I mentioned here.

ETA: I am not suggesting that you don't follow your coaches' advice, but if they are telling you to eliminate speed work completely, you might want to have a conversation about it. Many novice plans eliminate speed work to focus on the increased mileage load and relieve some of the stress of heading into that uncharted territory of higher mileage long runs, but if you think you can handle it, talk to them. Just remember, if you haven't already hit those 20 mile long runs, when you do, you will be feeling it.

As lporter said, talk to your coach. If this is your first marathon, he/she may be worried that you can't handle the increase in distance while maintaining intensity, or they may be intending to add more speed later in the plan. Pfitzinger's plans do LT once a week in the early weeks and VO2max in the last weeks, but he also includes strides throughout the plan to keep some VO2 training going on. Strides might be an option to keep you happy while you are adding to your base milege.

Garmin told me 70-74... I just got tested in a university lab....73

If you are training continuously then it’s not going down unless you are radically changing how you work out.

I would disregard the jumps, they are based on HR which is influence by a lot of variables. I have seen numbers as low as 65 and as high as 74 on my Garmin all in the last year.

VO2 is pretty trainable but more than a 20% increase is hard. Also know it’s based on body weight. I am very lean, as being lean is very important in endurance sports. I was actually at 5.5% body fat (water test) when I tested my vo2 in the lab. I was training for a hill climbing race so I wanted to be small.

If you are losing weight and training a lot it will go up. Especially with intervals. But volume can also raise it. If your weight is staying the same the increases will be slower especially if you have a long history training. If you are gaining weight it will obviously decreases.

Also know there is a difference between absolute and relative vo2 max. Garmin measures relative.

So many variables but it’s probably within 10% accurate

John

Races are run, people don't enter a race, announce their VO2, and the highest number wins.