Training after Coronavirus

[RocknRolla]

I've just purchased HRV4Training app for iphone, going to give it a go and see what data and feedback I get from it.

 

They say you can use it with a HR Strap or use the camera, I'll try both and see 

yep, we are using Tickr hr belt. Have not used the camera to measure. 

[coppi]

Went on holiday for 10 days to Mpumalanga ( Hazyview and surrounding areas ) 18-28 December........it was supposed to be a very low risk area. My kids got it first, then me......wife nothing and she is a smoker [emoji1787].

Hit me quite bad, slight left lung infection needed blood clotting prevention , luckily no hospitalization. Have not been on the bike since [emoji3525][emoji3525][emoji3525]

Plan to start indoor soon and take it from there.......

[Eugene]

Corona knocked me for a 6. I was extremely ill and weak. About 2 weeks after recovery I started to develop chest pains. Was tested for blood clots and came back negative.

 

Was fatigued for about 2 months after and struggled to do anything that remotely resembled exercise.

 

I'm fine now except for problems with my eyes. Blurry when tired and often itchy. I've been researching this and recent studies are showing that Covid can affect your eyes (not the blurriness, only the itching)

Edited January 20, 2021 by Eugene

[Wimmas]

My ex brother inlaw tested positive mid December.

 

I am not sure of the severity of his infection.

 

Last Sunday he went for a ride, had a heart attack and died that night.

That's bad! Touch wood I have not had it that I know of, and my training has been good the last few months, but these are the types of stories which scares me. If I have to get it and survive, I will be too scared to get back on the bike for a long while.

 

How old was he and did he have any heart issues you know of?

[Wimmas]

Some ongoing research to use HRV to predict both onset of Covid as well as readiness to start training:

https://health.mountsinai.org/blog/mount-sinai-reseachers-use-apple-watch-to-predict-covid-19/

Bit a of derail - Been reading quite a number of comments mentioning HRV. Had no clue what it was and did a quick google search. I have a Polar H10 heart rate strap lying around so I downloaded Elite HRV and hooked up my Polar H10. Did my first reading tonight and have no clue what the numbers mean. I am a 30 year old male and my reading was 69....started in the low 70's.

 

Did another quick search and it seems HRV can be quite complicated. I believe the Polar H10 should be accurate, but some sites mention you need to monitor it in the morning, others saying higher readings not always good, lower readings not always bad etc.

 

Anyone able to explain to a noob in noob terms how I go about it? When to measure, what app, how long, how often etc?

Edited January 20, 2021 by Wimmas

[Edereese]

Bit a of derail - Been reading quite a number of comments mentioning HRV. Had no clue what it was and did a quick google search. I have a Polar H10 heart rate strap lying around so I downloaded Elite HRV and hooked up my Polar H10. Did my first reading tonight and have no clue what the numbers mean. I am a 30 year old male and my reading was 69....started in the low 70's.

 

Did another quick search and it seems HRV can be quite complicated. I believe the Polar H10 should be accurate, but some sites mention you need to monitor it in the morning, others saying higher readings not always good, lower readings not always bad etc.

 

Anyone able to explain to a noob in noob terms how I go about it? When to measure, what app, how long, how often etc?

 

I would like to know too. I am anywhere between 70 - 100 and my wife 20 - 30. If I do the breathing app on the apple watch I get the high readings. If I take the average of my day, between 50 - 70. 

[Long Wheel Base]

Bit a of derail - Been reading quite a number of comments mentioning HRV. Had no clue what it was and did a quick google search. I have a Polar H10 heart rate strap lying around so I downloaded Elite HRV and hooked up my Polar H10. Did my first reading tonight and have no clue what the numbers mean. I am a 30 year old male and my reading was 69....started in the low 70's.

 

Did another quick search and it seems HRV can be quite complicated. I believe the Polar H10 should be accurate, but some sites mention you need to monitor it in the morning, others saying higher readings not always good, lower readings not always bad etc.

 

Anyone able to explain to a noob in noob terms how I go about it? When to measure, what app, how long, how often etc?

+1. I literally just googled it now, busy trying to understand it. I am kind of hoping it just appears in my Garmin Connect app .

[Rowl]

+1. I literally just googled it now, busy trying to understand it. I am kind of hoping it just appears in my Garmin Connect app .

Have been trying to figure out HRV on Connect, but can't seem to do it without downloading an app onto your watch? But it seems like the HRV is used in calculating the rest of the metrics on Connect?

 

https://support.garmin.com/en-ZA/?faq=04pnPSBTYSAYL9FylZoUl5

[The Ouzo]

Bit a of derail - Been reading quite a number of comments mentioning HRV. Had no clue what it was and did a quick google search. I have a Polar H10 heart rate strap lying around so I downloaded Elite HRV and hooked up my Polar H10. Did my first reading tonight and have no clue what the numbers mean. I am a 30 year old male and my reading was 69....started in the low 70's.

 

Did another quick search and it seems HRV can be quite complicated. I believe the Polar H10 should be accurate, but some sites mention you need to monitor it in the morning, others saying higher readings not always good, lower readings not always bad etc.

 

Anyone able to explain to a noob in noob terms how I go about it? When to measure, what app, how long, how often etc?

** Disclaimer*** I'm no medical anything, I have read up a little bit on HRV and this is only my understanding of it.

 

You need to get a baseline over a couple of days, one measurement wont tell you anything.

Once you have a baseline you monitor it daily, trying to measure it under the same conditions every day. The variability will then tell you if something is wrong. This something could be stress, over excursion, lack of sleep etc. Thats where it get complicated and having an app to help.

[shaper]

I've just purchased HRV4Training app for iphone, going to give it a go and see what data and feedback I get from it.

 

They say you can use it with a HR Strap or use the camera, I'll try both and see 

Been using HRV4T since mid 2018,.  I now have a good understanding of how my body reacts and use the daily recommendations as a general guide rather than fact, and use in conjunction to how am feeling on the day as well as the chart I follow.  Best use for HRV is if you are a data junkie. Download the data and start plotting in conjunction with RHR, TSS etc.  

 

I have use Golden Cheetah since 2014, so is easy to create the chart and import the csv file to analyze.  You can get a good indication if you maybe getting ill and as such will give you an idea of when to back off on the training and take it easier rather than do the HIIT sessions.

 

To give you a basic understanding https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/how-to-use-hrv-to-predict-illness/

Edited January 21, 2021 by shaper

[RocknRolla]

Shaper and Ouzo nailed it. Get a baseline, use it consistently (follow the same routine before you take your reading) 

I was told to take the reading first thing in the morning, within 30mins of waking. I always do it lying down.

Using Elite HRV. Log rides, note sleep, stress etc. There are many tags you can add. 

 

Use it as a guideline for training like shaper said, if it's in the red, try and take it a bit easier. 

 

From my data collection, stress has had the biggest impact, combine this with a high training load, and you can quickly drive your body over the edge, but seeing when things are going a bit sideways before you feel it, has helped me keep on the line.

[shaper]

Shaper and Ouzo nailed it. Get a baseline, use it consistently (follow the same routine before you take your reading) 

I was told to take the reading first thing in the morning, within 30mins of waking. I always do it lying down.

Using Elite HRV. Log rides, note sleep, stress etc. There are many tags you can add. 

 

Use it as a guideline for training like shaper said, if it's in the red, try and take it a bit easier. 

 

From my data collection, stress has had the biggest impact, combine this with a high training load, and you can quickly drive your body over the edge, but seeing when things are going a bit sideways before you feel it, has helped me keep on the line.

It is better to take it in the sitting position than lying down.  Wake up, sit up in bed, get relaxed then take the reading, especially if your are fairly fit

 

We believe that you should measure with the body upright, either sitting or standing if you have a very low resting heart rate. This helps avoid a phenomenon called parasympathetic saturation when lying down which makes trends in HRV more difficult to interpret.

https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/9-common-misconceptions-of-measuring-heart-rate-variability/

 

In rare cases with very high aerobic fitness and/or very low resting heart rates, it may be difficult to get accurate readings while lying down - this event is called "parasympathetic saturation". We recommend sitting or standing in these cases

https://help.elitehrv.com/article/98-how-to-take-a-morning-readiness-reading

[RocknRolla]

My resting aint that low. Recently dipped below 60's. But I will perhaps look at the sitting option. It's difficult to sit up first thing in the morning.

[Wimmas]

+1. I literally just googled it now, busy trying to understand it. I am kind of hoping it just appears in my Garmin Connect app .

Not 100% sure but I do not think you can measure it on garmin connect. On Elite HRV it states it won't work with smart watches. I see a chest strap is recommended and as we all know, they are more accurate, hence a cardiologist will never use a wrist HR monitor. Even a biokineticist uses a chest strap when going for a fitness test.

 

I also have a Garmin Vivoactive 4 and have not seen anything like HRV on the apps. The stress measure is probably something similar as I think it measures how your heart beats, but once again I am clueless. I only know how to start and stop a bike ride, and how to sync it with my phone.

 

Luckily I have a chest strap. Got the Polar H10 a few years ago for R1,200. See they are now at R1,800 already. Measured again this morning when I woke up, lying down and it was 68, so only 1 down from last night. Will check again tomorrow morning.

Edited January 21, 2021 by Wimmas

[gtr1]

My ex brother inlaw tested positive mid December.

 

I am not sure of the severity of his infection.

 

Last Sunday he went for a ride, had a heart attack and died that night.

You must be talking about Stu ??  Very sad. I am sure the Covid had an influence on the events. Combination of doing too much too soon at a stage where the heart was maybe compromised from the Covid. 

[gtr1]

Bit a of derail - Been reading quite a number of comments mentioning HRV. Had no clue what it was and did a quick google search. I have a Polar H10 heart rate strap lying around so I downloaded Elite HRV and hooked up my Polar H10. Did my first reading tonight and have no clue what the numbers mean. I am a 30 year old male and my reading was 69....started in the low 70's.

 

Did another quick search and it seems HRV can be quite complicated. I believe the Polar H10 should be accurate, but some sites mention you need to monitor it in the morning, others saying higher readings not always good, lower readings not always bad etc.

 

Anyone able to explain to a noob in noob terms how I go about it? When to measure, what app, how long, how often etc?

As mentioned you need to get a Baseline which comes after a few days of testing. everything is then relative to that Baseline. And everyone has a different HRV, so cant really compare. There are graphs that show typical bell curve for age groups so you can see if you are higher than normal, average etc.

 

the important part is to see how you react to training and stress etc. And when may not be a good time to do hard training sessions on top of tress situations. Also can indicate the onset of illness.

 

I tested +ve on the Monday after feeling sick from Sunday night. My HRV started tanking on the Sat with an increase in HR. HR went from low 40's to 56 on the Monday. Along with extremely low HRV numbers.

 

HRV can be very technical. I have a coach and we have used HRV for the last 4 years. I rely on him to be the expert.

 

He will use it when he puts training sessions together as it indicates over reaching,  or how well you coping with a training block.