Training readiness would be great for an upcoming update !
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Hello everyone,
I have the Suunto Race for a few months and it is a great watch, very comfortable to wear and the metrics are quite accurate and now especially sleep tracking which has been an issue for lots of people. Even though the sleep stages differ from other devices but sleep and wake up time are on point.
As far as recovery is concerned, I genuinely think that a training readiness score would be great for the users to know if we are ready for our next adventure. All the competitors like Garmin or Amazfit have this feature native or from updated software. It would help us in staying consistent with our sport schedule and achieve our goals better and faster.
What do you guys think ? Do you want a training readiness score too ?
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@d-v You may benefit from this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UULahZUMQM&t=1063s
The following features can be used to determine readiness:
First, your overall sleep data, primarily how long you slept.
Second, your gained resources overnight.
Third, your nightly HRV score
Fourth, your current Form result (the difference of CTL and ATL from previous day)I may be temporarily forgetting some other factors as my coffee starts its morning magic on me.
While I understand this is not one discrete number to use, for me I look at all of this data anyway, and a readiness number would unlikely tell me more than what the above does. I can see where Suunto may want to have such a feature to appeal to new users looking at Garmin, etc. from a feature standpoint, but as individuals, we are better served understanding the above factors for our training.
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@d-v I don’t think it will fit with Suunto’s approach to training - as I understand it.
There is that saying “Your Garmin will judge you”. Your Suunto won’t do this. Suunto will give you all the data needed, as @raven already wrote, and will happily educate you to judge for yourself whether you are ready or not. Also you get the Suunto Coach, that tells you some of the things that you might look closer at.
I think the education and the support to understand what you are actually doing is worth more than such a score. Like telling you the training model that you are following, but leaving you the freedom to decide, whether it is actually a good or a bad thing in the bigger picture…
However, what I love to see is a current recovery time. I’ve seen a video on an older version of the Race software and it seems like it has been in the Resources widget. But in the current version it isn’t there anymore…
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@2b2bff Individual sessions give recovery time information, but yes, it’s weird that does not get added up and displayed. Interesting if that used to be part of resources. I’ll have to poke around and see how that used to look.
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@raven not spectacular, just the amount of hours below the Resources graph in the widget.
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@raven Just reading your post makes me glow. I love being with Suunto for these reasons. I cannot tell you how many times Garmin told me to Rest or Take it Easy when I was perfectly fine and had a great nights sleep. Morning Report is crazy to me when I think about how I feel when I first open my eyes. That would definitely not be the time that I would make decisions about my training on that day.
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@raven said in Training readiness would be great for an upcoming update !:
First, your overall sleep data, primarily how long you slept.
Second, your gained resources overnight.
Third, your nightly HRV score
Fourth, your current Form result (the difference of CTL and ATL from previous day)I agree with this but can certainly see the value in a single score that represents a combined (weighted) sum of the above values.
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@James-Eastwood The question is whether it is possible to reduce it to one number?
I am not sure whether it has any bearing on reality or whether it is just another meaningless number from Garmin watches. -
@maszop it’s not meaningless on Garmin, if you follow the GIGO principle. It’s a useful value that correlates well with reality.
I agree that an engaged athlete with the time and disposition to look at the 4 different metrics and make a sensible choice about training for the day, whilst also considering all of the factors that are not captured by the watch, will make the best choices, but for the more casual user or one that just wants some quick insight, a readiness score can be very useful.
You could argue that the best athletes shouldn’t be using any of the data from their watch at all… least of all the sleep metrics which are notoriously inaccurate on ALL watches.
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@James-Eastwood All my sleep data are very good.
Vertical and 9PP. -
@James-Eastwood It’s really not that difficult. On the main Suunto app page, I have these shortcuts set up:
This alone gives me most of what I need to know. My HRV is in normal range and my min heart rate is also in normal range. For me, getting under 50bpm typically means I can handle a more difficult workout. My sleep is a little under but I feel fine. Note for sleep I look only at overall time slept and do not put weight into the “stages times” given. My 73% resources can be the “single number” if you really desire just one thing to focus on.
My habits are that I tend to do some kind of workout every morning. On my rest days this will be limited to “stretch” activities like yoga, as well as local walks, etc. On more normal days I have “speed” activites (i.e. cardio based) that focus on outdoor running (typically 5km to 10km), indoor rowing (typically 2km to 5km), or cycling 30-90m, and also “strength” activities (dumbbells, kettlebells, gymnastic rings, and bodyweight exercises) and random things like indoor rock climbing, slack lines, balance boards, and more.
Even with a single “train now” number — what should I train, exactly? Is it a rowing tabata day? A long tempo run? Some skin the cat and front lever drills on the rings? Should a high training readiness number override my internal feeling of DOMS from my weightlifting from yesterday?
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You all may find this interesting as well. I do not believe a single number is a good idea.
Morinaga and Takai - 2025 - Heart rate variability-guided aerobic training without moderate-intensity enhances submaximal and maximal aerobic power with less training load.pdfVector/T6c/Ambit 3 Peak/S5 Copper/S3/S7 Ti/S9 baro Ti/S9P Ti/S9PP Ti/Vertical Ti/Race Ti/RaceS/Ocean/Wing
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A “readiness” score might not even be a number. It could be a simple
or 
binary, if the goal is to appeal to someone completely new and starting out that wants no ambiguities. Or there could be a third state 
️, if there’s conflicting data, which I’d find amusing. It’s the watch saying “you’re not sure what to do; I don’t know either.” Even if numbers are used, is it a “five star” scale, a 0-10 scale, a 0-100 scale (which one can do of course with 0-10 if one allows decimal tenths), or something else? If the desire is just “duplicate what Garmin does,” then one might just get a Garmin.On the complete opposite end of the options spectrum would be something like a real personal coach who would analyze all your data — your recovery numbers, your previous workouts, your goals, what you have access to today, what your plans are in the next few days, etc. This is somewhat in the area of the Suunto Coach feature, but even more detailed and personalized, and in my opinion, needs actual human interpretation. This is where I think one should educate themselves, but if a billionaire wanted to spend money to hire an entire coaching team, just to say “looks like you can do that parkrun today,” then more power to them, I suppose. As a watch feature, this seems impractical at the moment.
Today I decided to do an hour of indoor cycling at a moderate effort. I wanted to do more ZoneSense testing so was staying at the middle to upper end of the green Aerobic zone and was a comfortable ride. After that, I continued with some upper body dumbbell weights (bicep curls, shoulder raises, rows) then a short yoga session with standing balance poses that doubled as a cooldown phase. I’m not sure how a single number or emoji score would have informed me to do that combination of activities.
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My “problem” with training readiness is what does it mean. Which action should follow?
I feel good, but readiness says: no you aren’t. Shouldn’t I go for an easy run?
I feel not that good, but readiness says: You are good to go. Should I run?And as @raven said: Ready for what training?
I think Suunto reinforces that get a feeling for your body kind approach. Even more so with ZoneSense…
Suunto Race S
Garmin Epix Pro -
@Brad_Olwin This great study validates why ZoneSense’s HRV-driven algorithm enhances my fitness—by tailoring intensity based on daily autonomic readiness, it optimizes performance and recovery. Thanks for sharing.
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I’m recently new to Suunto with the Race S model, and I did consider others, including Garmin before I made a decision. The main watch I was looking at was the Forerunner 265, which does have a training readiness feature; however, other models I looked at like the Forerunner 165, Venu 3, and Vivoactive 6 do not have this feature.
If the hypothesis is that this metric is more important for people new to fitness, then Garmin is doing a poor job in not having it available on more entry level models. If we assume that folks getting the 265 and more advanced models like the Fenix series are more informed enthusiasts, then they don’t necessarily need this kind of summary if they are going to drill into the detail anyway.
Garmin’s page on the feature is here: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/garmin-technology/running-science/physiological-measurements/training-readiness/
It is a 1-100 point system that breaks into five categories: poor, low, moderate, high, and prime. At a glance, it could be simpler. Looking at the watch screen’s “summary text” they have moderate as “good to go” while high is “ready for challenges” and it’s unclear what level of activity for me would separate those two.
Worse, the page’s description describes situations where their feature is simply wrong. For example:
“If you are using a block-based training model, then a lower training readiness score during a deliberate overload period likely echoes that work. Against that background, you should still check to see which factors are driving that lower score. Higher than normal acute training loads and longer recovery time estimates can be expected during block training. Reduced readiness caused by other factors (e.g., sleep history or high stress) might be reason to re-evaluate your approach.”
So basically if one has a low training readiness score, go and look at all the metrics that feed into the score and make your own evaluation. Wait, there’s more:
“Does a less than prime readiness score mean it is time to scuttle your pacing strategy and lower your expectations? There will be times when you may notice a link between training readiness and performance, but strictly speaking the training readiness analysis is not designed to predict performance. Many athletes report sleeping poorly the night before a big event and go on to achieve impressive results and set personal bests.”
Garmin does not mention the possible psychological effects of seeing a low training readiness score on a race day, for those who have not bothered to review this page. Being told “you probably can’t do well” isn’t going to be great motivation, although perhaps others will be more “I won’t let this watch tell me what to do.” Does this make for a good feature?
To be clear, I’m not fully opposed to some kind of summary information, but not at the expense of not knowing the details that derive the score. If Garmin were to “break out” the score – showing a “88 / High” score as the result of adding X from sleep, Y from predicted recovery time, Z from HRV, Q from acute training load, etc. then can better determine if they need to make a modifier.
If Garmin thinks my recovery time for an event is two days or 50 hours, and I know from history I typically am fine with one day for that level of effort, then I could “bump up” to the next range. However, as Garmin does not show their homework, the only thing I can do is do my own work myself, negating most of the feature’s usefulness.
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TrainerRoad has a good approach where they have red, green and amber days.
Red days - recommended rest or very easy. Amber - don’t push too hard (I wouldn’t do intensity on one of these days). Green - good to go.
A simple system like that would work well enough.
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@raven said in Training readiness would be great for an upcoming update !:
Today I decided to do an hour of indoor cycling at a moderate effort. I wanted to do more ZoneSense testing so was staying at the middle to upper end of the green Aerobic zone and was a comfortable ride. After that, I continued with some upper body dumbbell weights (bicep curls, shoulder raises, rows) then a short yoga session with standing balance poses that doubled as a cooldown phase. I’m not sure how a single number or emoji score would have informed me to do that combination of activities.
It wouldn’t. That’s not the point, it’s not an AI coach. The idea is to show you whether, based on the data at Suunto’s disposal, you are good to go full gas or should hold back or rest.
It’s a guide, like much of the other data provided with similar caveats (sleep cycles, resources etc).
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@2b2bff said in Training readiness would be great for an upcoming update !:
I think Suunto reinforces that get a feeling for your body kind approach. Even more so with ZoneSense…
I think ZoneSense is great but it tells you nothing until you are 10 minutes in to a run. Completely different use cases.
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@raven said in Training readiness would be great for an upcoming update !:
To be clear, I’m not fully opposed to some kind of summary information, but not at the expense of not knowing the details that derive the score. If Garmin were to “break out” the score – showing a “88 / High” score as the result of adding X from sleep, Y from predicted recovery time, Z from HRV, Q from acute training load, etc. then can better determine if they need to make a modifier
This is a great idea. That way for example if it is due to your sleep being rated only 70, but you woke up feeling fresh as a daisy, you can ignore that. However if your sleep is rated 50 and your HRV is in the red, you can probably trust it telling you to take a rest day.
