More intrigued to know everyone’s thoughts on this rather than a question I really need an answer to, but what is our thoughts on whether to train or not when you have TR plus other fitness services and their recommendations do not align?
In my scenario, ive got TR red lighting my day based on previous work load plus other stuff im unaware of in the AI realm.
On the other hand ive got a WHOOP band telling me everything is rosie, my recovery & HRV is high and im primed for some high intensity training later on this evening.
Both are paid subscriptions, both are using AI and other metrics to assess whether I should train, which one would you choose ? … and for the one your ignoring (or whether you ignore both and go off feel), what are we paying for if were going to ignore its advice.
Whoop tells you more of what’s happening right now. Are you recovered and ready to go today, or is your body still working on recovering?
RLGL is more predictive of your long-term fatigue. You might feel like you could do a hard workout today, but based on your recent training history, it will tell you if that’s a wise choice while considering training sustainability.
One of the main reasons we developed this tool is because oftentimes athletes feel like they can do more, but down the road, the fatigue accumulates and they end up needing a little extra time off to recover. If they had the insight to ramp things up more slowly though, they likely would have been able to continue training without any hiccups.
It’s not a bad idea to use these two types of data together, and I’d recommend usually listening to the one that’s telling you to slow down rather than the one that’s giving you the green light.
For instance, if RLGL is telling you it’s okay to go ahead and train, but your Whoop recovery score is low, I’d listen to the Whoop. It can get a reading on your biometrics that could predict illness, injury, or something else that isn’t available for us to reference in your training data.
Similarly, if Whoop is saying all systems go, but RLGL is telling you to rest, I’d recommend resting since more isn’t always better – especially long-term.
Let me know if this makes sense and if you have other questions about this at all.
“ignore” is too strong of a word, but I’m going with my legs and motivation long before I trust a watch/wristband or computer program to tell me what to do… Garmin tracks HRV for me, but I don’t know how it compares to Whoop’s data…
Basic principles of hard day/easy day are simple enough for my moderate performance levels. Hard days being intervals and easy being commutes/volume building rides…
Take it all in and observe how it matches with your own legs/heart/motivation and listen to it if it matters.
In my personal experience, HRV and RHR are not great at predicting but are better as reactionary measures. I don’t think I’ve ever had either metric tell me that I was about to become tired when I didn’t know it already but when I am extremely tired or get sick, I will notice them change after the fact.
I can agree with this. I would say that the output from Whoop vs what I get from Garmin appears more reliable/realistic. E.g. the suggestion of my current state (in HRV/Recovery metrics) relates closely to how I feel & can perform. But that it also does not give any iron-clad warning ahead of time, bar some behavioral patterns which can loosely predict the following days low HRV/Recovery.
RPE is great, especially when paired with enough experience to use it. The only issue I have with using RPE in this recovery sense is that it only applies once your on the bike and trying, a bit late if I am trying to get insight prior to getting to that point.
I do struggle with this approach to Recovery devices (or subscription in Whoops case) if im honest. What am I paying for if I just ignore the results.
I’m paying TR for their workout platform, data retention, workout library (including progression levels) and Plan Builder. I currently have RLGL turned off and find that “adaptations” aren’t accurate or are too persistently inconsistent;
I wouldn’t pay a subscription of any sort to Whoop- Garmin gives me their interpretation of the data for the one time price of a watch, that also can be a substitute head unit, and does a lot more than a Whoop…
Like I said earlier, I’m not trusting HRV as a reason to XYZ today and I’m not tied into a subscription for the “side” service…
I think I would do the same if my Garmin offered more realistic suggestions.
e.g. I use a Garmin 735xt daily for commuting to work, a mere 6km, 13-15min ride each way.
After I get to work or when I get home, the watch will happily tell me I now need 3 days of recovery. Its clearly wrong, and apart from the usual variables I can input (weight, max hr etc) there is nothing I can do about it to be able to actually use that functionality with any sense of realism.
The 530 HU is better with its metrics no doubt, but I cba to wear a HR strap for a 15min ride twice a day or use both the 735 and 530 together.
