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Anyone Using Heart Rate Variability Metric?

Tom GlynnTom Glynn
in General Training Discussions
I came across a discussion of Heart Rate Variability in a sports science book I was reading. You can measure HRV with a Bluetooth HR monitor and a $9.00 app on your phone. It's a stress indicator that can tell if you are over training, among other things. It takes a minute to measure every morning.

I've just started playing with this. My first couple of days it's telling me it's time for a recovery day and I'm just starting to ramp for my next Ironman!

It appears that many professional sports teams and Olympic athletes are using this data.

A good overview is here - it's from the app's FAQ section.

http://myzone.hrvfitltd.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ithlete-guide-to-training-with-HRV.pdf

Anyone else heard of this, using it, have any feedback or better resources?

Thanks!

Tom

Comments

  • Satish PunnaSatish Punna
    I have been using the hrv4training app on my iPhone. It uses the camera so you don't need a hr strap. The data is interesting but I don't know how accurate it is. I've been using it for a couple of months and I'm not sure yet how useful it is compared to other measures of stress
  • Dino SartiDino Sarti
    Is there a metric in Training Peaks that does a similar thing? Something about HR Uncoupling?
  • Scott AlexanderScott Alexander
    I just read that article last week, named "Aerobic Decoupling and Efficiency Factor".

    http://help.trainingpeaks.com/hc/en-us/articles/204071724
  • Tom GlynnTom Glynn
    The TP metric is more of a "how is my endurance fitness improving" metric. The HRV metric is much more focused on the recovery side and it really tells you if you are ready for a hard workout or are you shelled, not recovered enough, or should you be taking it easy or taking the day off.

    There are a lot of things that affect recovery, including sleep, nutrition, exercise intensity, daily stress, alchol, etc. The metrics I have always focused on all deal with exercise intensity, but little else (i.e. TSS). The idea is to recover better so you can work harder.

    This is the device many pro teams are using (especially NBA), college teams and Olympians. www.whoop.com. It measures 5 metrics I believe, including resting heart rate and HRV. the HR metric taken first thing in the morning is an indicator of oncoming sickness if it starts to rise and the HRV is the overall stress metric. Interesting analysis shows that college teams using the product have dropped alcohol consumption by 79%. I'm sure it's a direct, negative hit to the HRV metric and shows up immediately.

    I'm starting to gather sleep hours (via my 920XT), resting HR and HRV (via the app). Once I have a better baseline, I'm going to work on eliminating some of the stress factors to see if I am recovering better and can push TSS up without digging myself into a hole.
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