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training status - bug? or poorly optimized?

Here's my issue. I've spent almost 3 years using a 935 then moved onto my 945. i'ved loved both models, and finally feel like i'm "biometrically" dialed into my watch, with it being able to read my training status fairly accurately. However, in my opinion, where I feel garmin is "failing me", is that, if I'm injured, it has no clue. This is perfectly understandable, however, if you go from a pure productive spree, and then get injured, and spend 2 weeks indoors rehabbing your injuring, and the last status you received before training indoors was "unproductive"... that training status will continuously STAY reading "UNPRODUCTIVE" until you go back outside and train again. In my opinion, this should be fixed, because there's plenty of ways to "Rehab/train" around an injury that are completely productive. To the average consumer who's going to be mentally affected by this status, and may not understand that it only updates OUTSIDE, I think there should be a pause/injury/rehab option. I personally felt highly productive, as my watch agreed, until I broke my toe, following up on this injury I ran outside one time and got unproductive, at which point i decided to take some time off and train indoors to compensate and modify my training. Every single day for 2 weeks I felt PRODUCTIVE, and knew I was, from a biological stand point. By garmin's status is on "hold" until outdoor training resumes, instead of freezing the status on Unproductive (which clearly plays a role on people's mental games, there's articles on this), I think garmin should be "SMARTER" or more aware or at least given more bioligical measuring options such as injured, pausing, etc, so that the status can more accurately reflect and an average consumer/runner can revamp their mental game. Just my Humble opinion. anyone agree? 

  • Training Status Options> Pause Training Status.

  • Pausing training status doesn't really pause anything. It's just no longer displayed.  It keeps tracking and your status can/will change.  I tried this following knee surgery and went from maintaining to no status when I turned it back on.  You're correct saying one can be productive while in rehab, but the watch doesn't know you're rehabbing and the status is based on where you were and where you're currently at because Garmin requires those outside GPS runs or cycling with a power meter for its calculations.  I would rather training status be based off training effect for times you're in rehab or when you just can't get out and run. Anyway, here's a link with some good info on pausing training status. 

    www.google.com/.../amp

  • Yes this is definitely a use that is hard to work around on their end.  I also don't like that without a vo2max reading the training status doesn't work very well.  You still can get a 7 day or longer training load, which is important, as well as the training effect readings.  

    There can be weeks in a row for a lot of people that they are training indoors, treadmill, crossfit, crosstraining, swimming, etc and they will not get a training status.  However it will continue to track load.

    Pausing the status when injured can probably help with much of the mental side of it.  

    It would be nice to be able to (like all of the training metrics) set it manually to reboot it sort of.  BUT - you need to just know it is looking at your running performance - not training as a whole.  So when you are not running much and your vo2max goes down, you are being unproductive or recovery or detraining...  rehabbing and crosstraining isn't going to maintain your running vo2max very well.  Yes it's smart to do... BUT, it isn't running.  You can bike for many hours a week... when you get back running your vo2max will drop!

    Eventually your vo2max will bottom out to your new current level.  You will then get a maintaining status eventually.  As your fitness rebounds and training goes well you will get a Productive and Maintaining mix as you improve.  It sure would be nice to trigger a 'injured status' (great for logging in training history!!) and then when ready queue a 'rehabbing' .... and then 'start training again'.  

  • yes thanks so much, someone else gets it! i agree 100%... integrating an injured status would improve mental game because nothing is more irritating than feeling productive and knowing youre productive but seeing an "unproductive" status, it's just too vague, and while I realize the meaning behind it, and support it to an extent, I think the lack of alignment is discouraging. It clearly works if you're biometrically dialed into it, as I agree that often times when it tells me im unproductive, I know exactly why, and actually agree. However, during an injury, I know I can pause it, but, it's just not the ideal way to approach it to me. Also, I think a highly used feature request would be, upon starting a run activity, be able to select which pair of shoes you have on, so that it could automatically tag those pairs in your runs, rather than set it manually per run (for all of us who rotate frequently, I think this is ideal for consistency of tracking)... who is seriously going to  manually edit each run with the type of those they have on when they can just quickly select them from a watch interface (similiar to their convience of auto track with strava)...