Trouble with significantly impacting my anaerobic training effect...

1. It is worth looking at your HR training zones, and maxHR. Hopefully you have a good idea of what these zones are for YOU, rather than just using the age-based default. Inaccurate HR zones will lead to inaccurate and unreliable Training Effect scores.

2. The anaerobic TE doesn't just look at how high your HR went, but also how quickly it went up. You will likely get a higher anaerobic TE by doing flat-out 100m sprints than 400m/1/4 mile sprints. But that is putting the cart before the horse - presumably the goal is effective training at your target distance, not just obtaining the biggest TE scores in a pi$$ing contest.  Anaerobic training has its place, but 100m sprints are not normally the major focus of say, half marathon training. A structured 8, 12 or 16 week training plan will likely yield better results than blindly chasing high TE scores.

3. Also, it is worth looking at your TL scores before and after a training session. It is not an all-or-nothing classification. A workout classed as "high aerobic" or even "low aerobic" may include significant anaerobic efforts, and this will be reflected in your load focus scores. This is particularly the case if an anaerobic workout included significant warm-ups and cool downs, where the total amount of time spent in z1 and z2 leads it to be classified as aerobic, even if the real benefit was anaerobic.

4. Unproductive is calculated from changes in your VO2Max versus changes in your training load, not the balance between AN, HA and LA categories. Balance between these categories is a good thing, but there are times in your training cycle when the desired balance may change, and a marathoner will likely have a different balance than a 5K runner.

Hey man. Thank you so much for the reply. That’s great info. I think the heart rate zones may have been the issue.

I went on a few websites and found a way to calculate my HR zones accurately and I updated those figures on the watch. I’m going to try doing another activity or 2 today of interval training. I’ll also try the 100m sprints like you mentioned too. 

Also I know doing a training plan would be best to get prepared for a run which I’m going to do as well. I want to see how my weight loss progresses over the next month or 2 by just trying to accomplish a balanced mix of aerobic and anaerobic activities according to the watch. 

Thanks again for the help. I’ll update this posting after my workouts today and I’ll let you know. 

Keith

Thank you for bringing this issue. Can you share the website? I updated to fénix 6 pro and now it doesn’t record anaerobic activity when I do strength workouts. Attached the picture. 

Good morning.  I have experienced the same issues.  I updated my max heart rate, but still ended up with very little anaerobic benefit or seen any zone 5 performances.  Zone 5 is set at 90-100 percent of max heart rate and max heart rate was set at 175 bpm, which should put any effort over 157 bpm in the zone 5 area.  Finished a workout today working on FTP efforts and was well into the low 160 bpm range.  What gives?  

I learned that there are also max heart rate zones on my new watch for cycling and running.  Didn’t know that I could have a different max heart rate based on the activity that I am doing…odd.  When I looked at those settings, both were at 185 bpm.  Appears to be my issue.  I am going to test this tomorrow to see if it solves my issue.

Hope this is helpful to others who are having issues w/ achieving zone 5 performance. 

Mcalista explained very well. It is the HR increase rate that matters most, not only the HR during the exercise. Short HR burst will give you better results than longer ones. Personally MTB gives me higher anaerobic than running due to "explosive" HR increase in rough terrain.

How did you change your heart rate zones on your watch?  Is this only possible on the Fenix 6?

Here is a short summary of activities.  All done on the Garmin Connect app and not on the watch/ device:

1. Open the Garmin Connect app.
2. Access the menu by selecting More (bottom right).
3. Select Garmin Devices.
4. Select your device.
5. Select User Settings, User Profile, or My Stats.
6. Select Heart Rate Zones, or Heart Rate.
7. Customize your heart rate zones. ...
8. Select Done.

Best of luck getting your heart rate zones updated

Thank you !  Very helpful !  I  noticed your comments about trying to reach anaerobic benefit levels.  Have you been able to do that with just exercise or did you change some setting?  I am trying to work in some anaerobic activities 1-2 times a week and can't get that number up.

Hey, 

• As another guy said earlier, for Garmin and most watches, to improve your anaerobic TE, it's less of how high your heart rate was during the whole activity but more how fast it went up. So basically, as an example, straight out 100m sprints would be way more effective on anaerobic fitness than 400m splits or intervals.

I don't know if that's helpful, I hope it is.

Good luck in your training!

Thank you for the insight.  From doing  a bit of research it think you're right. I have done some short sprint work lately and have been able to work on my anaerobic levels a bit.