Using heart rate variability to know when to rest etc?

[Mudsimus]

Resting heart rate might not be the best, but it works for me as well. And similar to mudsimus: around 5 beats to high when i wake up means i need to chill. 10 or more and the cold is coming.

 

Heart rate variability also sounds great, but just more difficult to measure accurately except with great watch as far as i'm aware.

The thing with resting HR is consistency. Measure it the same time every day. I measure mine as soon as I wake up, that way you don't get any external variables.

[madmarc]

If you on STRAVA, then use the Elavate (Stravisitx) add on in chrome, sync it with your strava account and it will produce a Performance Management chart. then go read this article how to read and understand the chart.

 

http://www.runningmatters.me.uk/2017/01/06/stravistix-making-strava-even-awesome/

 

I watch the fatigue graph, when it goes below -40 i rest or take it easy.

[V12man]

Has anyone tried tracking heart rate variability and using that to decide when to rest? How well does that work?

 

Knowing when I should rest is something I struggle with.

It works quite well if you are reasonably fit and calibrate your device properly at rest - but if anything it will be conservative and give you more rest than I suspect you need for habitual trainers.

 

There are other measures that work better for me - so although I watch it, i generally just ignore it unless it has a big change that is not explainable - in which case I am normally getting ill - but that's not based on a lot of data points.

[V12man]

That would work but automagic sync is much nicer but I suppose even manual entry would be ok as a start. I would like to see how HRV matches up with training load charts.

 

Anyway I remembered to do my first measurement this AM, so we will see.

HRV is beat to beat variability - and at least on the garmin devices, it does not record at that level of detail - so you cannot do HRV in arrears off the recording - strictly a realtime thing at the moment as far as I can figure out.

[davidtinker]

If you on STRAVA, then use the Elavate (Stravisitx) add on in chrome, sync it with your strava account and it will produce a Performance Management chart. then go read this article how to read and understand the chart.

 

http://www.runningmatters.me.uk/2017/01/06/stravistix-making-strava-even-awesome/

 

I watch the fatigue graph, when it goes below -40 i rest or take it easy.

 

I already use the PMC chart in Intervals.icu but that only includes measured training load (from power output or heart rate) and doesn't know about stress from work, lack of sleep and so on.

 

With any luck HRV can give some insight into all the other things that impact training which is why I would like to add it to my PMC chart.

[Pulse]

The long and the short of it is that this measure isn't good enough to guide training yet.

 

We trialed HRV4 and were in contact with the developer. We do know that measures of HRV do change after hard training or racing but the nature and amplitude of change is too complex to spit out a number on what our training should be.

 

The PMC is your best tool for monitoring load and subjective measures such as daily questionnaires (fatigue, muscle soreness, mood etc.) are actually superior to objective measures such as RHR.

 

 

Do you know what components it uses for analysis?

[Tristand]

The problem with HRV is interpretation.

It is not a case of more(or less) is better.

It is all about context which includes things like life stress, anticipation for the race, moods, etc, etc, etc. For example at least one study showed that competitive cyclists performed better when their HRV was somewhat suppressed, which is not all that surprising when you consider that they were probably very psyched up.

 

On top of all that HRV cannot be used directly. Instead it is fed through an algorithm, RMSSD is the most common but there are countless others like LF/HF.

 

Long story short, it is complicated.

[davidtinker]

Hmm. At least the app only cost me R150 If I can remember to take the measurements properly I will report back on my experience ...

 

The long and the short of it is that this measure isn't good enough to guide training yet.

We trialed HRV4 and were in contact with the developer. We do know that measures of HRV do change after hard training or racing but the nature and amplitude of change is too complex to spit out a number on what our training should be.

The PMC is your best tool for monitoring load and subjective measures such as daily questionnaires (fatigue, muscle soreness, mood etc.) are actually superior to objective measures such as RHR. 

 

[Starvin' Marvin]

Normally for me its 10% above my RHR I need to chill and relax.