[gtom]

gtom on February 26, 2020 at 3:14 am · in reply to: Specific training for 100 mile+ events #38780

Hi Landon, with your upcoming 100 miles event I suppose you already did some ultra race up to 100k. My training for 100k and 100 miles is not much different except for the length of the long runs. I would suggest follow your proven training plan for 100k and add some time on feet during the single long run or back to back long days.

[gtom]

gtom on February 19, 2020 at 1:49 am · in reply to: Thoughts on Whoop Band? #38410

And gtom, it seems your overall statement is that HRV should be evaluated as part of a matrix of information, which is what Whoop does. I’m guessing you haven’t used one?

Nowadays every HRV product does that. HRV4Training, ithlete, mysassy, …

Regarding 24×7 HR readings, that’s what most smart/sport watches do already. Do one need another specific device just for that? I know Whoop does more than 24×7 HR but just from this perspective its the same as other devices. I’ve personally seen quite good correlation between over night HR readings from Garmin and morning HRV readings with chest strap.

[gtom]

gtom on February 3, 2020 at 8:22 am · in reply to: Training for 24h Uphill race (2 man relay) #37293

Couple months later and my 2 man relay event is in the books. We finished on 6th place! (There was very stacked field as the event was also winter national sky-running championships).

I tried to approach the training as best I could following UA training methods and Mike Foot’s BigVert plan. I was surprised that my lap times didn’t change that much over the course of the race. 90 minute laps and I was getting slower by 1 minute on each lap. I don’t know if that’s good pacing strategy or if I could dig deeper at the start and slow down more over time… anyway those couple minutes would not get us higher in the ranks. 🙂

It was really fast race (just like Scott suggested) no slogging, completely different to ultra events I’ve done before. I think big base, high volume of low intensity was the key. I did 5 – 10% of high intensity sessions. I think bigger base also played a role in faster recovery from the race itself.

[gtom]

gtom on February 3, 2020 at 8:07 am · in reply to: Thoughts on Whoop Band? #37292

I’ve been tracking HRV for about 2 years. HRV value should not be seen as the body answer to just your previous training session. There are 60 – 120 minutes of training and plenty of stressors and inputs over the remaining 22 hours.

Lower HRV doesn’t necessary means your body has not recovered yet from the previous training. There might be other factors causing your lowered HRV. Training on a day with lower HRV doesn’t mean you get unproductive or over trained. Better look at trends, if it stays below average for couple days then you know something is off and some change in regime is needed.

Most of the HRV apps rely on single measurement and that’s also how most of the studies focusing on HRV have been done. There is no benefit measuring HRV during an activity or 24/7. You want to measure it at rest. When I measured my HRV in the morning laying in the bed, the results were almost always green (low resting HR and parasympathetic saturation). Doing the same measurement in standing position gave me more precise results. That’s why I would be skeptical to over night HRV measurements in products like Whoop or Oura Ring.

I switched to FR945 last fall. Watches have some FirstBeat feature called Body battery. I didn’t pay much attention to it but it tries to quantify how much rest you get over night or whilst resting. I had found low values corresponded with nights when I was sick.

I personally think if one pays attention to health (don’t train when sick or tired) and follows well structured training plan those recovery tools and measurements are not necessary. Those apps can be good to predict incoming illness or give you a warning of too stressful time overall. In the end it’s the training plan and execution of work and recovery that makes you faster not the chasing of higher HRV or other metrics.

[gtom]

gtom on October 29, 2019 at 12:15 pm · in reply to: Training for 24h Uphill race (2 man relay) #30940

Thank you guys for your thoughts.

Nutrition and rest. The closest to 24 hours relay which I’ve done was an event in spring this year. Some 24h challenge, run 10k every 3 hours. I’ll take it as starting point for my race plan nutrition and adjust during race specific training days.

Training wise, would you recommend following Mike Foote’s BIG VERT plan? I used it to prepare for several races in the past. Yet these were all ultra races not relays. Would you recommend some modification to this plan maybe?

Thanks again for your time and advise!

Tomas