Training Status and base running

For the slower runs the watch expects us to have very very low HR values. Since we do not (for whatever reason) it thinks our fitness has dropped

The body has a range of energy systems, which need to be trained independently. The AN, HA and LA zones broadly reflect these energy systems.

You went and did a run in a zone in which the data suggests you are (currently) undertrained in. And unsurprisingly the watch reported a poor performance in that zone. It seems to me that the watch is performing exactly as intended.

I might add that there is a big difference in the body's responsiveness to training in the different zones. With the anaerobic zone, you can often see measurable gains after just 2-3 training sessions. In the HA zone, you might seen gains after 2-3 weeks. The LA zone is really about volume, and it can take 2-3 months to see measurable gains, and the watch may be reporting Unproductive or Maintaining through this as the measurable gains are so slow (although once built, low aerobic fitness is persistent, and can be maintained reasonably easily).

A good training plan builds up these various zones in a structured way, and will probably result in much stronger overall performances than an ad hoc response to whatever zone is low that week.

What the hell is this watch doing. 

Check out my example. 

2 days ago, this training was determined as Base, which is umderstood. 

Todas training was lighter, and it was determined as tempo. 

Are they crazy? 

It’s likely unproductive because you are short on low aerobic and above on high aerobic activities. 

Mine is balanced and productive but will drop out of the optimal range tomorrow unless I do a high aerobic activity tonight.

So this is my scenario. I'm trying to get the LA points and have purposely done slower runs to try and stay in Z2 but i slipped into Z3 for a good chunk. My VO2 dropped and my training status is unproductive because my HA points are up and LA are waaaay down. Do you recommend when i try and build base by going on slower runs, namely Z2, should i select trail runs so my VO2 doesn't keep plummeting?

Long protsess

Hello all,

I've spent hours to try and understand how training labels were determined.
Now I think I manage pretty much to train accordingly to what the watch is expecting in terms of training load balance (even though I don't consider this as caoching, I try to keep the balance in the recommended levels).

First I've played a lot with setting the right HR zones, but I think firstbeat is only using max HR % to make its calculations. HR zones are just used to know where you stand while running.

So, in order to have your training labelled as "base", I found you should : 
- stay below 80% of your max HR as much as possible. Run a few segments over this and you will get "Tempo".
- keep a steady, moderate pace.
- limited duration (below 20/30 minutes) will be labelled as recovery, otherwise as base training.

Hope this will help you ! Let me know if this works for you

Take a look at your performance condition over the course of the run. My prediction is that it started low and dropped. That's generally my experience with slow/base runs unfortunately. I agree that FirstBeat/Garmin don't quite know what to do with base/low aerobic. 

I have started experimenting with adding some faster intervals when I notice my performance condition dropping and that's a pretty reliable way to bring it back up in the positive. Between that and following daily suggested workouts, I've noticed a fairly significant increase in VO2 Max over the last 6-8 weeks (44 to 48). Don't know if that's translated to actual performance though.

It don't have to be few segment. You can spent only seconds in Z3 and it Will determine tempo. 

Chek out this training. 

IT was determined as tempo Wit 18sec in Z3