HRV Recovery and Stress

[Brad_Olwin]

Here is an excellent article about swim athletes and Whoop, whether the interpretation of strain and stress from the band is accurate…short story it is not. It is unfortunate that the public demand requires that manufacturers include these in wearable devices with the conclusion that It is important to make a distinction between “measures” of things that can be measured (such as heart rate or HRV) and “estimates” of unknown parameters. Some of these unknowns are impossible to measure and assigned a specific number, such as “stress”, “readiness”, “recovery”, “body battery”, or “sleep quality”. At best, those will be educated guesses.
Concern over how the watches/bands and rings measure HRV, sleep and stress, whether the numbers are correct and using these to decide your training is questionable IMHO. Listen to your body, you have lived with it your entire life.
https://trainright.com/new-study-reveals-holes-in-wearable-device-scores/?utm_source=ctsnewsletter&utm_medium=email&inf_contact_key=87f512c030ad314ce4319b03eeb075fb1b0a3f0fd3ee5d9b43fb34c6613498d7

[Swaddy61]

Couldn’t agree more!

Some of the data (like TSS, CTL, ATL etc) are directly measurable and can provide background info, but how you really feel should dictate how you train.

I usually train to my heart rate, not pace or distance etc - i.e. sometimes I have to work harder, or sometimes less hard for the same HR for a given exercise, usually backed up by how I actually fell on the day. It works for me!

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

We need more numbers and data to increase the anxiety even more. And more devices. And algorithms. AI in sports watches in 3… 2… 1…

[Brad_Olwin]

If Suunto made a Vertical or Race that did not have OHR making it lighter and longer battery life I would buy it in a heartbeat:).
Seriously, I use the HR belt when I need HR measurements.

[Swaddy61]

@Brad_Olwin So you don’t do 24/7 tracking then?

I have been doing 24/7 for about 4 years and I have found it very interesting, but that is a side effect of wearing my watch 24/7. i.e. I wear the watch anyway, and for the last 4 years my watches have given 24/7 OHR data, so why not see the data?

[A Former User]

@Swaddy61 said in HRV Recovery and Stress:

I have been doing 24/7 for about 4

crazy, that would drive me mad!

[Steven Limmer]

@Swaddy61 Me too. In fact, I’d love to be able to dictate to Suunto that my HR is the key TSS metric they should base my workout on, not pace or power. I ran easy yesterday, HR averaging around 137 (right in the middle of Z2 for me), but because my pace was fast, the run got tagged Aerobic/Anaerobic. Annoying

[Brad_Olwin]

@Swaddy61 said in HRV Recovery and Stress:

@Brad_Olwin So you don’t do 24/7 tracking then?

I have been doing 24/7 for about 4 years and I have found it very interesting, but that is a side effect of wearing my watch 24/7. i.e. I wear the watch anyway, and for the last 4 years my watches have given 24/7 OHR data, so why not see the data?

I only do it because I field test for Suunto. The only HR data that I care about is my minimum and average overnight. Those correlate well with my training and when I am getting sick. But frankly I know when I have had a hard workout and I know when to take a day off.
I am ramping up training for a race in 24 weeks. Last week I did two 5 3/4 h hard SkiMo days on Friday and Saturday. I had an easy run scheduled for Sunday. I decided to take a day off and not exercise based on how I felt without any input from numbers.

Also my point was not measurable metrics, pace, HR, HRV (although I think HRV is still debatable for interpretation) but Resources on Suunto, Recovery time, Body battery, etc. The most valuable metric I use for workouts is feelings, that tells me how the workout went and will affect how hard I go the next time in a training block of intervals for example.

[Brad_Olwin]

@Steven-Limmer said in HRV Recovery and Stress:

@Swaddy61 Me too. In fact, I’d love to be able to dictate to Suunto that my HR is the key TSS metric they should base my workout on, not pace or power. I ran easy yesterday, HR averaging around 137 (right in the middle of Z2 for me), but because my pace was fast, the run got tagged Aerobic/Anaerobic. Annoying

You can select HR for determining TSS on all workouts, select HR for TSS in the Suunto App and the app will ask if you want all future workouts of this type based on hrTSS.

[Swaddy61]

@Brad_Olwin & @Steven-Limmer Yes, my TSS is set up for HR, and I use my HR to determine how hard to work!

[seanvk]

My impression was that issues with the OHR sensor on the Race and Vertical for some customers is not affecting stress / HRV measurements as that uses different types of readings. So your stress / HRV readings from the watch are not impacted by the issues seen with the heart rate measurements. Is that valid or am I mistaken?

[fluca]

After several years of being addicted to this gimmicky, I have learned that all this stuff is good to get accustomed with certain concept as a beginner and to get very long term trend insights, but if you get too much attached, they are un-educational, preventing you to benefit from the most important gift you can get from sport: mind<->body connection.