SW 21.19 - Has recovery algorithm changed?

I have been doing two ~3.5k walks morning and evening with the dog for the last 2 years. The walks are easy, take about 45-50 minutes and with my Fenix 6 and now 965, I would only ever get maybe an hour recovery time if that. I’ve noticed recently so think it coincided with 21.19 that for these walks my recovery time is around the 4-6 hour mark despite training readiness being higher now than it has been before getting the 965 a few weeks ago. Everything seems to indicate I am better rested and more ready for training but am getting increased recovery time on walks so has anything changed in the algorithm, is anybody else seeing this or am I missing something?

  • Did you configure your maximum heart rate to the same value as your past watch?  You can verify this by checking the HR Zones of your most recent walk... versus a walk from weeks ago with your old watch.  They should match or be very similar.  If your HR zones now are at lower beats per minute... it thinks you are working harder.   If you have it on Auto, it will likely based on a generic formula that is only right for people that are in the middle of bell curve of stats, many people are 25% higher or lower.   I suppose if you are only walking, that calc should be fine, but to compare to last watch, will need to be the same setting.  

    Also your current watch likely needs to learn your Training Load and it definitely needs to figure out your long term HRV (heart rate variability) ranges/trend which helps figure out things like stress, training load/status, and recovery information.  

    But also... yes, Training Load and Recovery information has likely been updated (i would hope) since the Fnx6.

  • Yes! I also noticed that even though I haven't done anything but the usual 30m walks (because of injury, before that I ran and did strength as well) suddenly I saw in multiple morning reports that my recovery time is non zero.