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Training Status stuck on Unproductive

LoyalTortilla

Hello,

Garmin Connect has been showing Unproductive on my Training Status for quite some time now. I am currently trying to stay inside the green zone in the Training Load graph. Still I am not able to get out of the Unproductive Training Status.

One thing that is really weird is that directly below the big Unproductive text on the Training Status page, it says that my Load Focus is Above Targets. But in the explanation text it speaks about Training Load, not the Load Focus, but even on the days where my Training Load is low, the explanation text says that the Training Load is high.

Shouldn't the Training Load be my overall load, and the Load Focus say how my Training Load is distributed among different zones? It seems like all zones of my Load Focus can be high and at the same time my Training Load is still low, which does not make sense to me at all. Below are some screenshots from the last few days as a reference. Keep an eye on how my Training Load is mostly Low or Optimal, still the Load Focus says I'm doing too much.

How do I correctly interpret these values? Is there something I’m missing, or is something weird with my status?

Thanks!

And for those who will say that I should listen to my body, yes I do, I am still curious how the Training Status is calculated :)

  • 0
    LoyalTortilla said:
    I am still curious how the Training Status is calculated

    It is explained here: Training Status | Garmin Technology

    In brief (and simplified), if your VO₂max declines, the training is tagged unproductive. HRV and possibly some other factors play a role too.

  • 0 in reply to trux

    But how can it be that (e.g. on day 5 before training) my Load Focus is generally to high but my Training Load is low?

  • 0 in reply to LoyalTortilla

    Is your max HR correct? If it is set too low you will get a lower VO2 max since the watch thinks you are working really hard even at a lower HR.

    You get your max HR by doing a max HR test. It can't be calculated from age with any formula.

  • 0 in reply to LoyalTortilla
    LoyalTortilla said:
    But how can it be that (e.g. on day 5 before training) my Load Focus is generally to high but my Training Load is low?

    I do not see your Training Load too low. In the last week it is within the green zone. The Acute Training Load (ATL) is weighted average of EPOC for the last 10 days (although the documentation still mentions 7 days). There is no direct correlation between the ATL and Training Status, or between Training Focus (TF) and Training Status. You can have high ATL and/or TF improving your VO₂max, but VO₂max can also decline while your ATL or TF are high. 

    On your screenshot, we can see that last week your ATL was over the optimal zone, so possibly you over-trained, and in consequence the VO₂max and/or the HRV dropped, triggering the "Unproductive" status.

  • 0 in reply to e7andy

    Should be yes, most of my values are from a lab test

  • 0 in reply to trux

    Look at the Day 3 (before Training). There on the first screenshot it says that my Training Load is high in the text below the Unproductive. But further down and on the third screenshot my load is low.

    And thanks for your further explanations, but I still don't get how my Training Load can be low, and at the same time all my three zones of Load Focus are high (except for the Anaerobic one in this case, but it is at least above the middle).

  • 0 in reply to LoyalTortilla
    LoyalTortilla said:
    There on the first screenshot it says that my Training Load is high in the text below the Unproductive. But further down and on the third screenshot my load is low.

    I think it is just improperly formulated, and does not take in account the delay between the cause and the consequence. The unproductive status was very probably caused by the Training Load that was too high in the preceding days. So, the proper formulation would be "your recent training load was too high" instead of "your current training load is high".

  • 0 in reply to trux

    That makes sense. So in theory: When the peak of the graph moves out of the screen to the left in ~2 weeks, my Load Focus should jump down to a normal level when I further stay in the green area in the graph?

  • 0 in reply to LoyalTortilla

    From the documentation it is not entirely clear what period is used for estimating the Load Focus. While it tells that it "requires at least a full week of training to determine if your training load is low, optimal, or high", it also claims that "after 4 weeks of training history, your training load estimate will have more detailed target information to help you balance your training activities.". So it rather looks like it is based on some weighted average of the data from the past 4 weeks. Could be also longer, because at Training Load the documentation states it is a weighted average of the last 7 days, while it is known that 10 days are used.