Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

[L5446]

Hey L5,

Yes, it is. I purchased a Wahoo TICKR heartrate chest strap, thing is awesome, pairs flawlessly with everything I've thrown at it, Android, iPhone, PM5, laptop, GPS watch, etc.

That said, I believe I've identified some real-world proof of this HRV stuff being a valuable tool.

Last night I got home after a long busy day at work and hit the erg. Goal was just to do a nice easy UT1 effort over 30 minutes. Finished that and felt I had some more gas in the tank so just did some hard, fast 250m sprints. All-out effort.
I ate BIG , did some stretching and mobility work and hit the sack early.

This morning, woke up and HRV was low, program told me DON'T WORK OUT - you're in either active recovery or your body is showing early signs of overtraining. Slow down.
I thought ok, cool, I'll go do some kettlebell presses and situps and then an easy 30' @ 2:05 pace. I felt so beat up during the row, I couldn't drive hard and felt extremely fatigued. This is the first time I've got an actual "low" score, and so attempting to train and observing the results showed me that indeed, this HRV thing might actual be legit.

Sweet, got good reviews for only £40 sounds like its worked too, love the way you took no notice of it and still worked out interesting to see what it says in the morning.

cheers

[drachma]

Has somebody made an experimental HRV app?

I would like to eliminate placebo effect by having an app record my scores, but don't show me the scores for several weeks. after training I would note my Perceived Rate of Exertion (RPE) for the training session. After a month of training you could see how well the HRV app matches up with your own perception and the actual performance in the workouts.

I love recording biometric data, but I would hate for some app to tell me I'll have a poor session and let it mentally impact me or my perception of effort.

[Oranguman]

Regarding a free experimental app, there is the Kubios app (available to download free, developed by a Finnish University).

http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2562680

I've had a play with the software and uploaded data from my Suunto T6c for analysis, though it really is for researchers and not easy to use on a day to day basis.

I have bought the iThlete finger probe and app (actually I found the finger probe on EBay for £18 with shipping). It is sometimes a little difficult to get it to take readings, though usually it works for me first time.

I've not been using the HRV for long, but it certainly seems like an interesting tool. As mentioned above, it is still more important as an overview to listen to ones body. What I didn't understand this morning has been it shows a huge increase in variance, though is giving me an amber warning (ie train, but not heavily. It either gives, green, amber or red).

It actually goes along with how I feel, I just don't understand why it should be high (supposed to indicate a better state of rest). Whether it is taking into account perceived stress and sleep, I'm not sure (presumably it must).