How to use & get the most from #HRV guided training (w/@myithlete)... a short thread.
1. Why should I use a #HRV guided approach to training over a traditional approach? 👇
1/x
A number of studies have shown significantly greater improvement in both fitness and performance when using a #HRV guided approach, e.g. this from Kiviniemi et al. showing ~4x improvement in VO2max for the HRV guided group over the traditional!
Rather than predetermining key workout days & recovery days, we let our body decide! When #HRV is ⬆️, we load. When #HRV is ⬇️,we recover
In @myithlete we also factor subjective metrics and training load to pick the best workout
3/x
What does this look like in "real life"?
Rather than setting specific workouts you set the upper time limit & the rest is left as "maybe". Maybe you'll see a hard one, maybe an easy one. The system knows when you're fresh or tired, so usually, you'll be happy with what you see😊
Sounds great in theory but I'm not a professional athlete, I can't do a long ride in the middle of the week just because the system says it's optimal. I have time constraints!
No worries. You can set the upper limit for each day of the week in your @myithlete preferences.
4/x
Any guidelines on what my week should look like?
The system works best if you have enough room for at 2-4 "key workouts" each week coupled with one long day. The duration of these key workouts is determined by your training load.
Any other tips?
Trust the system!
There will be times when #HRV is⬇️for a long period & you'll doubt whether you should be doing *that much* easy training. Stick with it. It balances out in the long run & load will come when the bod is ready to get the most performance⬆️from it
If you have additional qu's, please reply to this thread or check out..
* Up to a limit, providing the right altitude is used and the athlete is healthy, IME, *everyone* is a responder.
* That said, there's large variability in response to a given altitude & elevation must, therefore, be individualized according to resting SpO2 (<95%)
* The required elevation to elicit this drop in SpO2 can change with repeated exposures & even with adaptation during long exposures, therefore it's useful to have various elevation options.
While most athletes have a training plan, few have a well thought out nutritional plan.
This is a big mistake as nutrition is absolutely integral to improved performance and health!
Keeping track of your nutrition is not that hard.
Ideas to get started
1/ Categorize your current training volume. For me:
- Recovery Day ~1hrs
- Normal Loading Day: ~2hrs
- Long Day: ~4hrs
2/ Come up with appropriate energy and macro targets for each day. You may want to get your BMR tested & work with a nutritionist on this, but my *personal* targets:
- 50-100g CHO + ~100g/hr of training
- 1g/lb BW protein per day
- 0.5-1g/lb fat per day (lower end for wt loss)
The geometry that all endurance athletes need to understand (with apologies to Osler)..
A brief thread 👇
The all too common pattern...
- Athlete begins aerobic base work & is frustrated by slow rate of improvement.
- Athlete ratchets up HIT & is impressed by how quickly they improve.
- The proverbial bubble bursts and the athlete is back where they started.
We could add an additional step here...
- Athlete doesn't learn their lesson & only remembers how quickly they initially improved with HIT and so returns to it with the hope of the same improvement!
Of course, they're further down their base triangle right now, so the peak is⬇️
While it depends on definitions to each of the above, generally VT1 is defined via the ventilatory equivalents method:
"A rise in VE/VO2 *without* a rise in VE/VCO2"
In practice, this means the grade of VE goes up, the grade of VCO2 goes up but the grade of VO2 remains the same
You can see this it the VT1 point in the chart above.
- VO2 (top line) doesn't change
- VCO2 (next line) changes course & approaches VO2 line
- VE also changes gradient (slightly)