Running Metrics and Numbers

For the love of god, stop worrying so much about your VO2 Max.

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The Strava Tax Explained

What do all those numbers mean? Let's find out with in-depth articles, videos, tools and FAQs about all the

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Running VO2 Max Calulator

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Distance (KM or Miles)

Very simply, the total distance you've covered in that run or activity. This will be in...

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Pace (current / average / lap)

How long it takes you to cover a set distance, usually shown as minutes per kilometre o...

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Pace (current / average / lap)

How long it takes you to cover a set distance, usually minutes per kilometre or per mil...

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Acute vs Chronic Training Load

A comparison of your recent training over about a week against your longer-term baselin...

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Heart Rate Zones

Bands of effort, from very easy through to flat out, based on percentages of your maxim...

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Splits (Lap Times)

Your time for each segment of a run — usually each kilometre or mile, or each lap you p...

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VO2 Max

An estimate of how much oxygen your body can use at full effort - a rough proxy for you...

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Elevation / Total Ascent

How much you climbed over a run, in metres or feet. Total ascent adds up every uphill s...

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Heart Rate

How many times your heart beats per minute, shown live and as an average for the run.

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HRV (Heart Rate Variability)

The tiny variation in time between consecutive heartbeats. More variation generally poi...

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Maximum Heart Rate

The highest number of times your heart can beat in a minute. Almost every heart-rate zo...

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Resting Heart Rate

Your heart rate at complete rest, usually measured automatically overnight.

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Body Battery (Daily Energy)

An all-day energy score, roughly zero to one hundred, that charges while you rest and s...

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Grade Adjusted Pace (GAP)

Your pace adjusted for the hills — an estimate of what your effort would equal on flat ...

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Moving Time vs Elapsed Time

Elapsed time is the full stopwatch from start to finish. Moving time pauses the clock w...

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Pacing Strategy (PacePro)

A pre-planned pacing guide for a known course that tells you what pace to run each sect...

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Sleep Score / Sleep Stages

A nightly score and a breakdown of light, deep and REM sleep, estimated from your movem...

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Lactate Threshold (Estimated)

An estimate of the pace or heart rate where fatigue starts to climb quickly — roughly t...

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Training Load

A rolling estimate of how much training stress you have built up recently, usually over...

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Training Readiness

A single morning score that blends sleep, HRV, recovery and recent load into a sense of...

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Training Status

A label for what your training is doing to your fitness — building, holding, peaking, o...

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Grade / Incline

The steepness of the ground beneath you at any moment, shown as a percentage.

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Intensity / Active Minutes

Minutes spent in moderate-to-vigorous activity, often tallied against a weekly target l...

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Race Predictor (Predicted Finish Times)

Your watch's estimate of the times you could run for distances like 5k, 10k, half and f...

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Stress Score

An all-day score, usually zero to one hundred, estimating your stress level from your h...

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Calories (Active vs Total)

An estimate of the energy you have burned — active calories from exercise, total calori...

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Recovery Time

Your watch's countdown of how many hours it thinks you need before training hard again.

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Running Power (Watts)

An estimate of your mechanical effort in watts, a concept borrowed from cycling.

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Cadence

How many steps you take per minute while running. Normally measured in Steps Per Minute...

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Hill Score

A rating of your strength and stamina specifically on climbs. A premium Garmin feature.

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Performance Condition

A reading a few minutes into a run that tells you whether you are performing above or b...

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Stride Length

How far you travel with each individual step.

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Training Effect (Aerobic / Anaerobic)

A score, usually from zero to five, for how much a run stressed your aerobic system ver...

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Fitness Age

An estimate of your biological age based on all the metrics about you your watch has ac...

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Floors Climbed

An estimate of the flights of stairs, or equivalent climbing, you did during the day. N...

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Ground Contact Time Balance

How evenly your ground contact time is split between your left and right legs.

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Ground Contact Time (GCT)

How long each foot stays on the ground with each step, measured in milliseconds. Usuall...

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Vertical Oscillation

How much you bounce up and down with each stride, measured in centimetres.

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Vertical Ratio

Your bounce as a percentage of your stride length — a tidiness score for your running f...

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Endurance Score

A number rating your ability to sustain effort over long durations, built from your tra...

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