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A quick thread on data informing the training process not driving it. "Data" or biometrics have an important place on the bus BUT they never take the wheel!
In this case the data is HRV, taken with @myithlete every morning. I've had a few riders transfer to @whoop the last 12 mths & sadly it's not been a success, too much AI & too much of the AI's info coming from unreliable optical HR data - alas that's a discussion for another day
At no point in time do we try and affect the HRV data - the outcome is never to have a Higher or Lower HRV score. The data just helps us understand the response to training and lifestyle choices. Now that's not really ground breaking stuff - of course not.
Red Circle highlights a period of training with a lot of longer low intensity riding, some of it planned, some extra because the athlete was enjoying it. This guy is a Downhiller so "long" is relative. But either way, even with the sparse data points, we can see he responded well
That is probably as much to do with how much he enjoyed the rides, the frequency and the process of it all as it has to do with the specifics of load - i.e. - duration, intensity, type, frequency etc...
Next up is the green box - a periods where volume of strength work increased 50%, (# of sessions), one high intensity "conditioning" method was added BUT duration and frequency of low intensity work was chopped down by a factor of 4(ish) - as you can see, he again responded well.
At this point I didn't even check the HRV data daily as the athletes responded to the daily "how do you feel" question were always - "stoked"! That's enough for me..... usually!
Finally on our two months of training we have the grim looking blue box! A twelve point HRV drop in 10 days - shit the bed! All hands on deck, get the doctor? .... not so fast
CONTEXT - there was bikes to test, a lot of riding to do (actually DH riding, with lots of impacts & vibrations), organizational and emotional load to manage not to mention a change in sleeping environment and times. So voila - a drop is to be expected ...
Especially with doing close to 11,000m of descending on the bike at Elite speeds on demanding tracks over 4.5 days. As we are being to learn the immune suppression & fatigue caused by the vibration load is BIG!
Back to the dashboard - from here on the goal still remains the same - no extra rest or massive changes based off of the 12 point drop. the data will take care of itself. We have CONTEXT - so we'll make sure sleep hygiene and duration is a priority. BUT ....
we'll keep the goal the goal! That's building a bike race winning athlete. Not building a dashboard winning athlete. The data will look after itself, as he'll rest and/or have easy days before high intensity days, he'll have specific periods of DH preparation and ...
of course keep nutrition and sleep quality a priority; they always are - but even as a priority they can be heavily impacted by environmental and social factors. Only allowed for a period. We knew the end of this period was insight so the data wasn't worrying.
Again, not ground breaking BUT easy to loose sight of the goal being the goal when data comes so beautiful and shiny etc... Part of the reason why I like @myithlete as their AI is not very intrusive.... it's more a gentle hand!
