New Versa, sudden change cardio fitness score

[doctorfroggie]

Hello everyone, I switched from a Fitbit Alta HR to a Versa a week ago.

I'm new to running. I'd previously done a few GPS tracked runs with my Alta HR and I had cardio fitness 42ish. 

I've done a few runs now with my new Versa, but only did my first GPS run today. This was entirely gradual uphill and my standard slow 7.50 min/km pace for 4 km - just to the supermarket - but didn't GPS track the downhill walk back. My average HR for run was 156, and it reckons my max HR was 202 (i.e. impossible given my max should be 191, i was able to talk so definitely not trying THAT hard)

My fitness score has swiftly dropped in a matter of minutes to 31, the low end of fair. I'm 29, female, my resting HR is 56, my BMI is 25. I exercise 4x/week. I just feel it's inaccurate. If it is though, I am gutted. Is there are glitch in the software? Please say yes...

I spend £199 to encourage me and motivate me not to feel so suddenly low about myself!

[WavyDavey]

Hi @doctorfroggie,

Take a look at this article on cardio fitness score. There's a lot there, but it goes into good detail about how the score is calculated.

To force an update of your score, I recommend doing a run with Connected GPS (since Versa doesn't have onboard GPS), on a flat surface for at least 10 minutes. Community members have reported that uphills and downhills can throw the score off. Hope this helps.

[doctorfroggie]

Thank you WavyDavey.

But doesn't it take account of my other Alta HR GPS connected runs, which still attributed a higher score? This run was no different from previous runs I've done.

And secondly, if I somehow find a flat road in my hilly city (Sheffield, UK) then will this magically override this gently uphill run?

I'm really sad and demotivated, probably disproportionately, but it's a new expensive purchase and made me grumpy! 😄

[doctorfroggie]

So I reset my watch, and deleted the latest run that I did and it has reverted from 31 back to my previous 38-42 cardio fitness. Weird. I really hope the 31 was only a glitch otherwise I'm very concerned. We will see how the next few GPS runs go.