Anyone noticing VO2max declining as fitness improves?
My temporary location for the past few months provided the opportunity to climb a steep trail which, at my speed, was roughly 20 minutes up. A mid-point plateau provides an opportunity to climb the hill 1x, 1.5, 2x and so forth. In climbing this hill several times a week over a period of months, I watched my objective and subjective fitness metrics improve, including 2-minute heart rate recovery, climb speed, perceived oxygen deficit and breathing rate, and heart rate for a given rate of climb. In short, the hill — difficult at first — became easy and I had to push harder and harder to get a good workout.
At the same time, according to my Apple Series 6 watch, my fitness as indicated by VO2max steadily declined, not by a great deal but by six points over a period of a few months.
Have others encountered this problem? If so, have you found any fixes or workarounds? This is a persistent problem over many months and weekly reboots. I do not think it is related to pairing.
