What do you folks use for planning your training for the day using RHR? I’ve had the watch 4 weeks now and the RHR values have not been more then 2 beats apart for the whole month. Within that month I had a very strenuous training week, a week when I was sick and two weeks of off season recovery. Still no change in RHR. Now when I awake I look at the “last 4 hours” on the watch and see a minimum HR that can be between 41 or 58 over the last 4 weeks. To me that seams more realistic to plan my training day around. What do you think?
IMedically your RHR is the lowest reading that is recorded. That would make mine 42 but it is clearly not where it is most days. Just before I get up its around 55 - 60 pretty consistently. My average RHR as shown on the watch changes a fair bit though and its down to whether I have a few drinks on a Friday or Saturday night - an external influence that's nothing to do with sickness or recovery. Alcohol just seems to raise my heart rate overnight. I'd go with the measurement that TMK suggests. It's a point in the day when, unless you've just had a nightmare, your body is in a pretty similar state. I have read a number of times that heart rate variability is a more accurate measure as to state of training, recovery and stress. Have a look at the app Elite HRV - I can't use this as I have a high number of benign ectopic beats that throws the results but in a normal rhythm this type of monitoring is meant to be a lot more accurate than average HR - its measured via your phone and a chest strap from memory.
I just checked out that Elite HRV app for my Android. This is something I definitely want to try. Unfortunately, my two HR straps are ANT+ and not Bluetooth and my phone doesn't have ANT+ capabilities. It's probably time for an upgrade. One question though. Is it possible to connect a Bluetooth strap to my VA3 and to the Elite HRV app on my phone at the same time?
Check out HRV4Training which available for Android which uses the camera and flash on your phone to take the reading. I've switched that from Elite HRV after using the latter for over a year. Putting my Wahoo strap on first thing every morning got old.
I used them side by side for a week and got almost identical readings and I made the switch fully about 2 months ago and have no regrets.
So it says a minimum of 4 hours of sleep time is required. Does that mean that if it senses steps taken to the bathroom it won’t count that 4 hours and start the timer over?
I don't believe so. Garmin doesn't count steps until the tenth one is taken to avoid "phantom" steps, though you may take more getting up at night. I'm 52 and have the bladder of an 90 year old man and I'm up using the bathroom constantly. That and a lab puppy that seems to be on the same schedule as me hasn't affected my readings. I'm thinking (just speculating here) that the four hrs minimum his used to track "sleep" so it knows how to use the readings in that time period. I think getting up to use the bathroom would be one of those "HR out of bounds" readings that would be excluded.
Thanks R Tellis, I may have a look at that one. Also on the topic of HRV, is this not how the VA3 measures Stress? Could the stress widget be used as an early morning indication of training, health etc ? Since the OHR seems to work ok when not doing anything this could be a reasonable indicator? R Tellis - as you currently use an app could you have a look over a few days to see where the stress app sits against the HRV4 ? Appreciate it gives none of the data the app does! TMK17 - I'm sure you've done this but if you're up that often at 52 get your prostrate checked by the Dr. , you may have a bit of inflammation, especially if you're cycling more than 15 hours a week, I'm 54 and can normally make it to 7am unless I've had a beer.
It's kind of hard to get an exact match between when I took the reading with the HRV app and what the Stress Score on my watch was at that time, but roughly over the last 5 days these were the readings. The left hand column is the rMSSD from the app and the right hand column is the Stress Score reading from about the time the app reading was taken. [TABLE="align: center, border: 1, cellpadding: 1, width: 250, height: 250"] [TR] [TD]148.4[/TD] [TD]10[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]137.5[/TD] [TD]4[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]151.4[/TD] [TD]12[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]112.1[/TD] [TD]3[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]149.0[/TD] [TD]9[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]
Looks like there's some correlation but I wouldn't rely on it much. Although I'm one of the people that optical HRM works well for while exercising I'm not sold on the Stress Score feature for me. It normally shows me with high stress outside my designated sleep times even when I'm taking a nap.
I don’t know, I still just don’t see enough of a change over the last two months of hard training, being sick and now off season recovery in my avg rhr (58 to 60 and one day 61). If I went on the guide lines I use (1-2 normal training day, 3-4 cut intensity and duration in half, 5 or more recovery day) I would always be training hard. Now that I write this maybe it’s just that my program is spread out correctly. Are you folks seeing much of a change? Like I said in an earlier post, I see the biggest change when I just look at my lowest HR of the last 4 hours prior to me waking up. I guess I’m making this more complex then it is.
I noticed a gradual change using my FR 235 over a few months. My RHR has lowered about 2 bpm since getting my VA3 in September. I don't think you're going to see a huge change in just a couple months time. What I have noticed as Chris Sinfield pointed out is if I drink alcohol I definitely see a change. Same as if I'm coming down with an illness. If I'm feeling really drained from working out, my RHR usually stays about the same. I'll notice an increase a day or two before I start feeling sick.
Yes TMK, my weekend RHR really is bad !! Thing is I exercise most days, walking or cycling plus some physio for neck issues and I actually don't drink that much though I dare say a Dr. would say a bottle of red is a binge even if over an evening. I was amazed how much it affected my overnight HR. Not quite to the point I'm going to stop though.
R Tellis, thats interesting and shows there is some correlation if not that refined.
This is based on the VAHR, but I think that it is common for all Garmin devices.
If the optical HR is on during sleep then that Average of the HR during that period of time is used at the RHR for that day. If it is not available during sleep then it used the lowest HR that it sees during the day. And you can see it being changed from time to time if a lower HR is seen.
I have a condition where the sleep HR is often much higher during sleep, then during the day.
I have experimented with this by turning off the optical HR during sleep.
