The number represents your current altitude acclimation.
The arrow to the right of your current altitude acclimation indicates how you are trending from the previous day.
Select your product to confirm this information applies to you
What Is Heat and Altitude Performance Acclimation?
Environmental factors such as high temperature and altitude impact your training and performance. For example, high altitude training can have a positive impact on your fitness, but you may notice a temporary VO2 max decline while exposed to high altitudes. Compatible watches and cycling computers provide acclimation notifications and corrections to your recorded VO2 Max Estimate and Training Status when the temperature is above 22ºC (72ºF)/elevation above 800 m (2625 ft.) at the start of the activity recording. You can keep track of your heat and altitude acclimation in the training status widget.
Heat and Altitude Acclimation
To learn more about heat and altitude performance acclimation check out our science page Running Science - Heat and Altitude Acclimation or select a topic below.
- Compatible Devices
- How Does Heat Acclimation Work?
- How Does Altitude Acclimation Work?
- Where Can I See Heat and Altitude Acclimation in My Garmin Connect™ Account?
- Where Can I See Heat and Altitude Acclimation on My Device?
- Using the Altitude Acclimation Widget Glance
Compatible Devices
Many Garmin® watches and Edge® cycling computers are compatible with heat and altitude acclimation. To find out if your device is compatible search in your owner's manual for "Heat and Altitude Acclimation".
How Does Heat Acclimation Work?
The heat acclimation feature is available only for GPS activities and requires weather data from your connected smartphone.
Location access in your smartphone settings for the Garmin Connect™ app must be set to "Always" or "Allow all the time". For help updating this setting, see - Why Does the Garmin Connect App Need Location Data from My Phone?.
Compatible watches and cycling computers provide acclimation notifications and corrections to your VO2 max estimate and training status when the outside temperature is above 22ºC (72ºF) at the start of the activity recording.
NOTE: Temperature readings for this are based on the weather data from your connected smartphone rather than sensors in your Garmin® watch or cycling computer.Full acclimation takes a minimum of 4 training days.
Heat adaptation will begin to decay after 3 days of no heat exposure training.
How Does Altitude Acclimation Work?
Compatible watches and cycling computers provide acclimation notifications and corrections to your VO2 max estimate and training status when the altitude is above 800 m (2625 ft.).
Location access in your smartphone settings for the Garmin Connect app must be set to "Always" or "Allow all the time". For help updating this setting, see - Why Does the Garmin Connect App Need Location Data from My Phone?.
The watch or cycling computer will report your current altitude acclimation by displaying the elevation that your body is acclimated to based on your current training.
Total adaptation to living altitude occurs after about 21 days and the adaptation is faster at the beginning.
It works best if you have Wi-Fi® enabled and the watch or cycling computer is in sleep mode. In this state, the watch or cycling computer will wake up overnight and check the altitude level to ensure that it is accurate and up to date.
Training at higher altitudes can allow you to adapt quickly to a lower altitude. Example: Training 5 days at 3000 m can bring your adaptation to 2000 m. It would normally take up to 21 days of training at 2000 m to reach that same level.
Altitude adaptation will decay within 21-28 days.
The minimum acclimation value is 800 m (2625 ft.) and the maximum acclimation value is 4000 m (13123 ft.). Your watch or cycling computer will display Inactive or Altitude Acclimation is currently inactive if you are outside of the altitude requirements.
Where Can I See Heat and Altitude Acclimation in My Garmin Connect™ Account?
Historical data is shown in the Garmin Connect app or website.
Garmin Connect App:
Open the Garmin Connect app.
Access the menu by selecting More (bottom right).
Select Performance Stats.
Select Training Status.
Garmin Connect Website:
Log into Garmin Connect from a personal computer.
Select Reports from the Navigation bar on the left.
Select Training Status.
Where Can I See Heat and Altitude Acclimation on My Device?
You can keep track of your heat and altitude acclimation in the Training Status glance. The examples below are from a epix™ (Gen 2) watch, but the widget is similar on other devices.
The number represents a percentage of your current heat and/or altitude acclimation.
The arrow to the right of your current acclimation indicates how you are trending from the previous day.
Using the Altitude Acclimation Widget Glance
Some Garmin devices also have an Altitude Acclimation widget glance. For instructions on adding the Altitude Acclimation Widget to your device, see "Customizing the Widget Loop" or "Customizing the Glance Loop" in your owner's manual. The widget glance gives you a quick look at information on your current elevation and how you are acclimating to the altitude. When opening the widget you will see more information about how you are acclimating, including weekly averages for Pulse Ox1, respiration rate, and resting heart rate.
If the widget is displaying Inactive, it means that you are not at a high enough elevation for the widget to display altitude acclimation information.
Select an option below to see an example and learn about the items you will see in the widget.
The number at the top of the widget is the altitude you are currently acclimated to. The arrow next to it indicates how your acclimation is trending from the previous day.
Current Elevation indicates your current altitude.
The line with dots on the graph shows your daily acclimation average.
The gray graph shows elevation over the week.
The numbers to the left and right of the graph are elevation.
The letters at the bottom of the graph represent days of the week.
The line with colored dots represents your daily average Pulse Ox.
The gray graph shows elevation over the week.
The numbers to the left of the graph are elevation.
The numbers to the right of the graph are Pulse Ox percentage.
The letters at the bottom of the graph represent days of the week.
The line with dots represents your daily average Breaths Per Minute (BRPM).
The gray graph shows elevation over the week.
The numbers to the left of the graph are elevation.
The numbers to the right of the graph are BRPM.
The letters at the bottom of the graph represent days of the week.
The line with dots represents your daily average Resting Heart Rate (RHR).
The gray graph shows elevation over the week.
The numbers to the left of the graph are elevation.
The numbers to the right of the graph are RHR levels.
The letters at the bottom of the graph represent days of the week.
1 Pulse Ox will only display if All-Day Pulse Ox is enabled for your watch. Enabling All-Day Pulse Ox will use additional battery power.