Hello everyone and welcome to the Extra Kick podcast brought to by Runners Connect.

I'm Coach Laura and today we're going to be talking about your GPS watch

and its Race Day predictions.

We've all been there before.

After a quality workout, your Garmin beeps

and tells you you've reached a new V02 Max.

That's great, right? We all know that V02 max. That's great, right? We all know that V02 max is a measurement of how well your body transfers

oxygen through it. A higher V02 max, the better and the more physically fit the athlete is. So it's

great that Garmin is giving you this number but when researching how Garmin comes

to this measurement they're not sharing their secret. The calculation that they

use includes pace and your heart rate, but that's about all they're willing to

share with us. Unfortunately, however, the only accurate way to have a V.O2 max measured is in the lab.

So the first thing to know here is that these calculations on your watch are not completely accurate. I have a friend who was recently tested in a lab for

her V02 max and it was eight points lower than what her Garmin said her V. Max was. Another friend did the same test and her

results were nearly identical. So let's get back on track. Garment takes your

estimated V.O2 max and calculates times that you can reasonably expect

to run given your fitness.

And this is where it gets a bit confusing for some runners.

If you go out and run your workout and come back and

Garmin says you can run a sub three marathon, that doesn't mean that tomorrow

you'll be able to run 26 miles in 259.

Instead, it means that given your current fitness with proper training, you should be able

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