VO2 Rise SK Get it

Connect IQ app for Garmin watches

VO2 Rise

Raise your VO2max with an 8-week interval plan on your Garmin. It tells you, live, whether to speed up, hold or ease off.

Get it on Connect IQ

One-time purchase in the Connect IQ Store. No subscription.

VO2 Rise interval screen: interval 2 of 4, 1:26 left, HOLD, heart rate 172 in the 168-176 band, pace 4:09-4:23

Where you run

Outdoors or on the treadmill

Pick where you run today. Targets come from your Garmin VO2max and heart-rate zones.

Outdoors

Heart-rate band plus a pace range from GPS.

4:09–4:23 /km

Treadmill

The watch tells you the speed to set.

SET 13.5 km/h
Treadmill interval: SET 13.5, heart rate 182, now 14.0 km/h at 1 % incline

The plan

Eight weeks, two sessions a week

Built around the Norwegian 4×4 method, with easier and harder weeks. Long intervals in orange, short ones in blue.

  1. W14×3 minlong30/30 ×10short
  2. W24×3 minlong30/30 2×8short
  3. W34×4 minNorwegian6×2 minshort
  4. W44×4 minNorwegianCheck-testwhere you stand
  5. W55×3 minlong4×4 minNorwegian
  6. W64×4 mina bit faster30/30 2×12short
  7. W75×4 minlong6×2 minshort
  8. W83×4 mineasierCheck-testwhere you stand

Want something else today? The workout library has Norwegian 4×4, 30/30, 6×2 and more, with speed and volume meters.

Check-test in weeks 4 and 8

See where you really stand: a 5 km time trial outdoors, or a step test on the treadmill. The 5 km test sets your new 5 km time (pace targets) and shows its VO2max as a ring in the progress chart; the step test updates the app's VO2max estimate. Both show in the progress chart and history.

Start screen: week 3 of 8, Norwegian 4×4, 40 min, VO2max 47 to 48-50, START
Week and today's workout on the start screen
Week 4 of 8: TEST, 5 km on time, 40 min
Check-test day in weeks 4 and 8
Check-test summary: 5 km in 22:18, VO2max 44, new 5 km time saved
The result: a new 5 km time and VO2max

During the interval

Speed up, hold, ease off

A countdown ring and interval dots show where you are. Lap skips to the next part, the top button goes back.

  • Speed up

    Heart rate under the band: double vibration and a blue screen.

  • Hold

    In the band. Keep going, the watch stays quiet.

  • Ease off

    Over the band: vibration, a red screen and one short beep. The only sound the app makes.

Red alert screen: EASE OFF, heart rate 182 above the target 176

Readiness

Low Body Battery? Go lighter

When your Body Battery is low, the start screen offers a lighter version of today's workout: one interval less (one set less in a multi-set 30/30). It counts in the plan like any finished workout.

  • You decide. It is only a suggestion, START always works.
  • No Body Battery on your watch? The row simply doesn't show; everything else works as usual.
Start screen with low energy: lighter version, Norwegian 3×4, 33 min

After the run

See it move

Summary: Norwegian 4×4, 9:22 in zone 5, 59 %, bars for intervals 1 to 4

Summary

Time in zone 5 for every interval, pace, average and peak heart rate.

Progress, week 5 of 8: VO2max 49, plus 2 from 47, projected 48-50

Progress and projection

Your Garmin VO2max, the app's own estimate and a projected range. A range, never a promise.

Glance: VO2 Rise, week 6, 2×12×30 s, VO2max 47 to 48-50

Glance

Week, today's workout and your VO2max range, straight from the watch's glance list.

Charts in Garmin Connect

Every workout is saved as an activity with charts: heart rate, pace, interval laps and time in zone 5.

Good to know

Straight answers

Garmin updates VO2max only from outdoor runs.

Treadmill runs still count in your plan, but Garmin's own number moves only after runs outside.

The treadmill estimate is the app's own.

VO2 Rise estimates VO2max from your heart rate and speed, also on the treadmill. It is not Garmin's value and not a medical measurement.

Your data stays on the watch.

No account, no network access. Only the activity that Garmin Connect syncs itself leaves the watch. Privacy

Start week 1

One-time purchase in the Connect IQ Store, no subscription. Buy it in the store, install it, run.

Get it on Connect IQ

Works on many Garmin Forerunner, Fenix, Epix, Venu, Vivoactive, Enduro, Instinct and MARQ models. See the full list of supported watches on the store page. English and Slovak, switch in the app settings.