Restwise initial thoughts and observations
Just wondering what everyone is seeing with the Restwise Demo? So far I'm finding that getting my data each morning (oxymeter dealio) is really easy. I do have to write it down right away or I'll forget by the time I get to the PC, but otherwise it's simply & painless.
Weighing myself every day is a PITA though. Mostly because of where my head is with that scale. I'd like to see an option where I didn't have to enter that number every single day.
So far my data from day to day is pretty consistent. I haven't done any real "killer- put yourself in a hole" workouts since I started the demo, but I'll possibly be doing a century ride this weekend so maybe that will help show how things get impact the recovery scale.
One piece of feedback I think I'd give the Restwise folks is that it would be useful to have a little explanation of how each of the data items you input is a signal of your recovery. Some are obvious to most of us (like urine color, sleeping patterns, muscle soreness, etc) but things like the SP02 (or whatever) number just aren't as intuitive (I ended up looking that one up one the internet- once I found out it was related to how much oxygen is in your blood I then wanted to find out how this little thing that I put on my finger figures that out!).
Anyway, anyone else started yet? What do you think?
Comments
It did actually say that even if I were "intentionally overreaching" in my training I should take 2 days off. I think maybe it needs more data before reaching a conclusion. I hope.
Just put my first day of data in (haven't received the pulse ox yet).
it told me
70: You are showing signs of reduced recovery or difficulty in maintaining the current workload. Proceed with caution.
Now, I'm thinking to myself, "where the heck were you back in February when I needed you!?!"
Seriously, looking forward to building up a few weeks of data in it before worrying too much about whether or not it's predictive. I'll be excited to capture this data for an entire race prep (starts in 1.5 weeks!). Having never done an IM build before, I'm planning to err on the side of caution.
Mike
Day 2 of observations:
#1, I placed my order mid-day yesterday, the unit shipped within a few hours, and apparently (because it's shipping from within MA), it'll be delivered today. Wow!
#2, I've set up my own tracking spreadsheet to try to gain some visibility into how the calculation is being done (I don't like trusting black boxes). From day 1 to day 2, big jump in score (70% to 80%) based on only one change in one variable. Sleep went from 7 hours to 7.5 hours.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a huge believer in the correlation between sleep and recovery. But I was surprised to see how much that 30 minute change affected the calculation.
Of course, I'm expecting that this is a pretty sophisticated algorithm, comparing moving averages of data over time, weighting them with the relative importance, etc, and therfore not something I can just hack with Excel. But it is interesting to see what the big drivers are, to see how you can proscriptively affect the score. In other words, "wow, the score is getting a little low for me. I could take a day off, or, I could get an extra 30-60 minutes of sleep, and drink an extra bottle of water before bed". That sort of thing...
One big concern so far is the need to put in weight every morning. I tend to travel a bunch. If I need to go down to the scale in the hotel gym in the morning and get nekkid in order to use this system, it's going to prove very awkward...
Mike
I briefly spoke with Jeff, from Restwise, requesting more info on the science behind the product. He said they are working on pulling some of this together but are currently in the middle of a huge clinical trial so may take some time. In fact he is hoping that he will be able to use the results of the trail to better define the science.
Pete
various sources suggest that normal range for sp)2 is 95-99%.
Not sure what the numbers tend to dip to at poor recovery.
Mike
It seems as you move along with more data, the more refined it gets. That said, after initially entering my data this morning I made one change (energy level, dropped it from "normal" to "less than normal") and my score dropped from 80 to 60. That's a pretty big swing for one subjective data point. But then again, it's only been 1 full week of data thus far.
If nothing else, I'm having fun looking at all of this!
Nemo, you're going to have to convince Rich to bring a scale along in the van, cuz having that data for TOC will be a goldmine.
Otherwise you're gonna need something like this
Mid-May would probably be a good "first impressions" checkpoint. I'd guess that mid-June would be a good "we put it through the paces and here's what we think" checkpoint, after Nemo's TOC, several weeks of Race Prep for a few of us, IMLP camp, etc.
Call would be cool, written would be fine.
Mike
I have been using for about a week now and a couple of thoughts: 1) I take the measurements first thing in the morning, hard to tell my energy level, soreness, etc. 2) then numbers do move some. Also, yesterday I took the readings at 4am (93 O2, 55 HR), then again at 7am (got to sleep in a bit) (95/49) That was after trying to allow the numbers to stabilize. Not sure why such a big difference. Like the others, I am curious about the meaning of the numbers and how they interact. Would also like connection, perhaps a USB like a memory stick to just plug in... My weeks numbers have been very consistent whether I have done a 2x20 session or taken the day off. The first couple of days was at 90, last 4 have all been at 80. Not really sure what it all means yet?
On weekends I go to the bathroom a lot, I am light on Monday.
During the week, I am at work and have less bathroom access. I get a backed up. Each day I am gaining about 1.5 lbs.
This weight gain has nothing to do with how well I do on my workouts.
My scale has BMI and fat% and while they fluctate as well, between the three of them I get a good feel for if im gaining weight or just water
I think it would be nice if restwise had BMI and Fat% as well.
I think the real value of this tool is going to reveal itself for me during/after TOC. I had one big "dip" in the score after my 3-day bike tour one weekend and I recovered from that fairly quickly. But TOC is another animal and I can see digging a BIG ASS HOLE OF FATIGUE during that week which may take a lot longer to recover from than I would expect. Again- this is where knowing why weight is a factor would be helpful because I won't have access to a scale at TOC so that whole week will be missing that data point
From what I can tell, the primary driver of score is hours of sleep. That's contributed to the biggest differences I've seen so far. Pulse (resting heart rate much higher than usual) and low energy levels are the other big drivers.
Feeling illness coming on, and performance in the previous day's workout are the next most impactful.
Weight fluctuations don't impact the score a lot. The algorithm is set so that a big drop from one day to the next is a negative (as it's correlated to overreaching). 2+ pounds or so, I think. Otherwise, it doesn't impact it much. If you don't want to weigh yourself every day, just pull the data from the previous day, or SWAG it.
If you want to see a breakdown of what the algorithm is doing, on the results page, click on "Show Score Components" on the results page. You can eyeball how the algorithm thinks, for the most part.
Mike