I also do something similar and think that is useful. Let’s assume I have an endurance workout today and a hard workout tomorrow. It is useful to know how long endurance ride can have today while still being recovered enough for tomorrow’s hard workout.
I’m 58 years old and I take a look at my resting heart rate from time to time but don’t make any athletic decisions based up on it. I do my TR workouts indoors during the week and I ride outdoors on the weekend.
I’m intrigued, and have questions for those who do closely track RHR/HRV.
-
You have a scheduled workout (let’s say it’s 3 × 15 at FTP) and as you’re getting ready for it you feel pretty good and are ready to get after it, but your RHR/HRV suggest that you might want to give it a miss. What do you do?
-
Reverse scenario. You feel pretty lethargic, and you’re considering substituting in an easy day or having a day off, but the RHR/HRV suggest you should be in good shape for some hard work. What this time?
I’ve closely tracked RHR and HRV over different times, starting in 2017.
Rarely would it predict performance on a workout. And even if I started out feeling crappy, taking a leisurely 40 minute warmup I was surprised to be able to do the workout.
I’m a fan of using apps like Athlytic to help advise me of off-the-bike stress, and then do something about the stress.
1 Like
I use Garmin Training Readiness and Recovery time. Both metrics will update during the day. The readiness score is between 0 and 100 and recovery time is the number of hours until you are fully recovered (you don’t wait until it is zero, except is you are doing a race or ftp test). I only do hard workouts if I am above a certain level, and swap it out with an endurance ride instead. But my main way of controlling it is that I adjust the length of endurance rides so I can expect that I will be recovered enough the next day.
The good thing is that it takes your sleep and stress during the day into account and that the numbers change as the day goes by.
And you don’t modify at all for how you feel? You base your decision based solely on the metrics?
Sure, but it correlates very well.
2 Likes
I too use those metrics, but mostly as supporting data. I don’t make decisions solely based on the Garmin data.
A good example of when I choose to ignore the data: I was doing a multi-day supported ride. I did 62 miles the first day. The second day, Garmin said my readiness was a 1, out of 100. I did 78 miles that day. It wasn’t my best day but I was able to finish.
I find it is sometimes a better reflection of the predicted quality of the ride, as opposed to the whether or not I ride.
1 Like
In short, if I have a scheduled workout, I at least warm up and try the workout regardless of what the heart rate metrics tell me. I can’t tell you how many workouts I would have skipped over the last 20 years if I pulled the plug based on 1 heart rate reading. I have had some great workouts on days when my watch told me I wasn’t supposed to. Specifically:
In scenario 1, I do the workout.
In scenario 2, I warm up well, if I feel ok, I start the first interval. Will decide to make it an easy day or go home if I don’t feel like I can do quality work.
2 Likes
Basically the same with Athlytic and Apple Watch, just now:
I posted earlier about playing Pickleball for 2 hours and it wasn’t recorded as an activity. That showed up as increased Exertion (didn’t look to see Athlytic picked that up as stress or activity).
I’ve hit a lot of training and power personal bests when fatigued, not always, my best training is a mix of fresh and fatigued. My coach has even commented that some of my best efforts come while fatigued (either long event, or heavy load).
At least for myself, I have plenty of evidence to suggest that modifying schedule because of RHR / HRV doesn’t make a lot of sense. Make that decision on the bike, if it turns out I’m really feeling off.
You know what correlates well, for me? When my TSB drops below -25 (due to a bigger than expected Saturday), and depending on next week’s schedule, its usually time to either insert an extra rest day or move the Monday intervals to Tuesday and rearrange the week. In TrainingPeaks you can peek at forecasted TSB, workout by workout, and make decisions on how to rearrange the upcoming week after a huge Saturday.
If my RHR / HRV has been out of kilter for more than one day and getting worse then I might give it a miss and do anything from rest, recovery ride, endurance.
If it’s just one morning when the previous days / week has been all good and I feel okay, I’ll likely do the workout.
2 Likes
IME HRV is definitely a trailing indicator. RHR, based on overnight tracking, is a bit better for me. YMMV
1 Like
The answer is the same for both times: get on the bike, start and see how it feels. Adjust as I feel. Had this happen earlier this week, where I had a long tempo set and my HRV was through the floor. Got started, and it was one of the best workouts I’ve had in a while, no detrimental effects later in the day or thus far this week.
Maybe I’ll be a bit more dialed in or cautious if my numbers are whacked, but otherwise, feeling trumps all.
4 Likes
I go by how I feel vs what my Garmin tells me. I’ve had some of my best workouts when Garmin told me I should have a rest day or when it gives me a -4 (whatever it’s called about 3-5min into a run) or when my HRV is out of whack for days. I don’t think it’s actionable data, especially if you are only starting to collect the data (new user) or you have been inconsistent in your training.
In some ways, I think it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Your Garmin says you’re going to suck. So you get it in your head you’re going to suck and then proceed to suck. You really want to let your Garmin dictate how you “feel” 
3 Likes
don’t let data or a computer tell you that today is sucky. I was tired tonight on 4th day riding. But yesterday was easy, and after a good warmup I did upper tempo for 40 minutes on the Wed drop ride.
1 Like
Wait - they hold the start of your races until your Garmin says you’re ready?
Check this out. 4 Training Myths for Cyclists 50 and Older - Chris Carmichael and some of the comments are truly inspirational
I’ve generally found that regardless of what metric is being used, I can probably achieve whatever workout is planned for a given day. What I’ve come around to using is the longer term trend from Marco Altini’s Hrv4. If over 2 or 3 weeks, my Rmssd is trending down, I take that as a sign that I’ve got the balance between stress (from riding and life) and recovery slightly wrong and I will make some tweaks to my plan for the coming weeks; this may be in the form of switching one 90 minute ride each week to a 60 minute or make the endurance rides easier. If I get the tweaks right then I generally see the Rmssd starting to trend upwards again. Subjectively, this has also coincided with me ‘feeling’ fresher or not being smashed at the end of harder rides. Nice to see age related posts and also pleased to see masters plans being introduced. IMO, this represents another step in the direction of helping me find out what works best for me.
I wear an oura ring and keep an eye on resting heart rate, HRV, body temp, sleep quality, etc. I don’t put much stock into metrics on a specific day, but I like to watch macro trends (over a period of weeks or months). Yeah, it gives me a daily score for readiness, but I just don’t find it that useful/accurate for a given day. If I skip a planned workout on a given day, that’s going to happen because of how I feel, not what my metrics said that morning. Turning 55 this week, so right in the meat of my 50’s.
1 Like
I use resting HR as a general indicator, and don’t get too hung up on any one night’s number. FWIW, your watch should be able to monitor HR overnight to give you a better and more replicable resting HR.
When I see resting HR up for a couple of days and there’s no obvious reason (i.e. alcohol, stress at work, major fatigue), it’s usually a tipoff that I may be getting sick or that long term fatigue is catching up to me and I’ll take a couple of days off or very easy.
But be aware that there are lots of things that impact HR and stress. The night before a race, my HRV is low, and my resting HR and stress are higher than normal because I’m getting psyched up for the race.
Crux of the matter - HR is useful as a long term variable, but no single reading should typically dictate training.