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Insane recovery times

Former Member
Former Member over 2 years ago

Hello. I am a new user of a Forerunner 255, also first smartwatch.

Have been using it for about a week, and am getting some very high recovery times.

My daily workout consists of 45 minutes of medium intensity rowing machine.

Yet I'm getting consistently recovery times of over 60 hours.

Is this a known bug or ?...

Thank you.

- Jean.

  • 0 over 2 years ago
    Is this a known bug or ?...

    It's not a bug. Most likely your heart rate parameters (especially max hr) are set incorrectly, and the watch thinks that you make much more effort than actual.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 2 years ago

    Ok I see, great, in this case I need to fix it.

    CDC guidelines for the max heart rate for a 48yo man like me would be 220-48=172. Should I set this up in my watch, then ?

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 2 years ago

    Actually the max HR in my watch is already set as 172. Seems the watch is using CDC guidelines already.

    Would you have any suggestion ?

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Former Member

    This calculation is incorrect for many people (I'm 47 and I can easily reach 195 during a 5k race, with my real max hr being probably close to 200). There is no easy way to deteremine a reliable value, unless you do a lab test or at least a controlled high effort run.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 2 years ago

    Ok it seems I am far less fit than you, no way I can bring my heart to 195. Not surviving it anyway !

    I am due for my annual health checkup at the doctor in a few weeks, and it includes a cardio stress test, with ECG etc. Will discuss with the doc.

    Appreciate you're taking the time to respond.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Former Member
    I am far less fit than you

    Actually, max hr is not related to fitness level. Your max hr does not increase as you get more fit.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to tmk2
    tmk2 said:
    Actually, max hr is not related to fitness level. Your max hr does not increase as you get more fit.

    See here e.g.:

    https://www.howtobefit.com/determine-maximum-heart-rate.htm

    Actually the max HR in my watch is already set as 172. Seems the watch is using CDC guidelines already.

    Would you have any suggestion ?

    Yes, Sally Edwards formula:

    Men: Max Pulse = 214 − 0,5 × age (years) − 0,11 × weight (Kilogramm)
    Women: Max Pulse = 210 − 0,5 × age (years) − 0,11 × weight (Kilogramm)

    And Winfried Spanaus formula:

    Men: Max Pulse = 223 − 0,9 × age (years)
    Women: Max Pulse = 226 − 1,0 × age (years)

    Both point towards 185 in my case, which feels realistic, if I compare HR values from fast runs and intervals. My FR 255 is set to auto detection of HR max and corrected it to 183 after some runs - also fine.

    In the end all formulas will only provide an approximation.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 2 years ago

    Guys thanks a lot for the responses, that's very helpful.

    I have a few more questions please.

    Last time I did a cardio stress test at my doctor, he gave me a report. Below is an extract of the report:

    Report from cardiologist

    I notice that the report has 5 stages, just like my watch. Are these the same... types of stages we're talking about ?

    So for example, from the report:

    Stage 1: 109

    Stage 2: 126

    Stage 3: 134

    Stage 4: 157

    Stage 5: 171

    My questions:

    1) shall I just plug in manually these numbers in my watch ?

    2) I see that the HR I achieved in Stage 5 was 171, which is quite close to my theoretical Max HR as per the CDC guidelines of 172 in my case. Should these 2 numbers be compared ? Are they supposed to be the same thing ?

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Former Member
    Should these 2 numbers be compared ? Are they supposed to be the same thing ?

    I am no cardiologist, so I am out here.
    From what I see, you did an exercise with five steps of workload and the test noted your (average?? max??) heartrate in that stage.
    I doubt, that you will have reached your maximum heartrate during that test… but who knows?

    You should ask your cardiologist for interpretation.

    shall I just plug in manually these numbers in my watch ?

    No.
    Why would you do that, unless you really know what these numbers originally mean and what effect it will have on the watches algorithms??

    My suggestion is: Stay with the default HR zones on the watch, but check your Maximum HR with the formulas I noted above, maybe you want to update it manually and see, what that changes on your original problem with the recovery times.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Grumpy from dawn till dusk

    Additionally to all the talk about your HR Max probably being estimated and set to low, there is one other thing:

    https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-676967A0-1B23-4384-9BC9-76F3D643F1C8/EN-US/GUID-DAC27D10-886A-4EA8-8339-674479E9574A.html

    „NOTE: The recovery time recommendation uses your VO2 max. estimate and may seem inaccurate at first. The device requires you to complete a few activities to learn about your performance.“

    So, there are two messages here:

    1. Your watch needs to estimate your VO2Max, which it only can, if you complete a run with it or ride a bike with powermeter. Have you done that?
    Has your FR255 a value for your VO2Max?

    2. You should give it some time to learn. And also do some other running on a regular basis, so the watch will update your VO2Max.
    This will not be possible by just rowing…