From the resent podcast it seems after all these years heart rate has become an important metric. For several months maybe a year or more I have stopped using a heart rate monitor for TR and outside rides (I had 2 a Bluetooth and a Garmin unit which have both failed). My Garmin watch does track heart rate, but can’t sync to Garmin edge 530 bike computer so I am going to have to buy a heart rate strap to help AI evaluate my performance, fatigue, etc?
1 Like
Perhaps we could reframe it slightly.
I don’t think anybody would have said that heart rate isn’t an important piece of data, but instead they may have cautioned that it is very difficult to interpret correctly due to many confounding factors.
Perhaps it is only recently that there is enough data, and enough R&D done, that it can be analysed and add value to the model and product.
2 Likes
You can set your watch to broadcast hr as ant + your 530 will pick that up. A watch is never as accurate as a HRM though, for instance my HRM recorded a max of 182bpm but my watch has only recorded a max of 168bpm all day.
5 Likes
Yeah it is probably a trailing indicator of performance my Garmin watch shows my lowest heart for the day when this rises it gives an indication that your body is already fighting a virus bug.
I have for heredity reasons a very constraint heart rate (my VO2max is low) I am hoping with AI this will help improve my FTP with out smashing me VO2max work out after VO2max.
I did try this with my watch but thought it was BT not ANT+ I’ll still need HR for the TrainerRoad workouts
Thanks 
A while back, TR said HR wasn’t used by their system for anything, instead relying on post workout survey responses. I thought that was a major shortcoming of the platform. IDK for a fact, but I believe the New and Improved AI does use HR, which should be major advance. Yeah. Watch HR isn’t as good as decent chest strap. A lot depends on which watch, how it’s worn, and the ride. Jiggling around on the wrist on rough terrain is a challenge. Riding trainer is less so. One thing I do on mine is tighten the strap a notch or two and that seems to help. I’ve worn mine and a chest strap, recored both and compared the traces. The watch seems to lag a little and sometimes miss the peaks and valleys, but overall, it’s been good enough for my purposes. I have a Polar optical arm band HRM and it’s better than the watches. Of course DCR does a lot of quantitative comparisons.
3 Likes