

Theoretically, HRV can be restored throughout the course of a single session of meditation. Some clinical studies have shown that meditation, yoga or routine stretching can keep HRV in check. HRV is not a new measure, just like how yoga isn’t a new activity, but the rise of mobile technology has brought the tool to the consumer. Keeping HRV in check will all but eliminate burning out mid-season I’m in Too Deep! Now What? Use this, paired with RPE to determine if you need a few days off the bike. All require the use of a Heart Rate Monitor and will give you a measure of your systemic stress. Wahoo and Suunto make HRMs that are easily paired with a smartphone. Not all heart rate monitors will connect to your smartphone, so do some investigating before you buy. Check out Elite HRV (free app) to start your investigation. Using Heart Rate Variability DailyĪ number of applications exist that quantify HRV. Do you wonder why it’s been hard to focus at work? Are you having trouble sleeping? Or maybe your patience has been pretty short with your family… These are all signs that your body is running on fumes. Monitoring these values consistently will keep you mindful of how your system is on a daily basis. The workload at your 9-5, budget concerns, relationship problems and heavy training loads can cause elevated HRV. Heart Rate Variability in Sport and at Work Heart Rate Variability will help cyclists put a measure on just how fatigued they are. Tracking fitness can be addictive and may come at the price of overtraining. The metrics generated by Strava, Training Peaks and Golden Cheetah to assess stress and fatigue are good guidelines, but can frequently lead you into thinking that you aren’t doing enough. The game of hitting threshold numbers and smashing anaerobic workouts can have unsuspected psychological and physical implications. The power meter is the single best tool for training, but the stubborn and resilient can find themselves in a deep pit of overtraining. When coupled with Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) it can indicate how fatigued you are on a given day, but the relationship between the two is generally inconclusive when judging long term fatigue. It’s useful when doing steady threshold efforts and can be used to watch fitness progress. The purchase of a heart rate monitor is a good first step in guiding your training.

Jokes aside, keeping tabs on your HRV will keep your system topped up and healthy. HRV will allow you to tap into your prana and start listening to your heart.

Unlike Chronic Training Load (CTL) HRV can be a personal assessment of your training load, regardless of your training history. Heart Rate Variability might become the key metric in avoiding injury and overtraining. Cyclists with a competent and engaged coach will be better informed but are still at risk of overtraining. Overtraining Despite ‘All of the Watts’ĭespite the data collected from heart rate monitors and power meters, very few cyclists are prepared or diligent enough to dissect the plethora of information on their own. Conversely, when either physical or psychological stress begin to accumulate, the heart will beat with consistency that is symptomatic of a “fight or flight” response. It is assumed that when one is comfortable and relaxed, with few distractions and stresses, that the heart will pump blood somewhat sporadically. A brief Google search will show that HRV breaks down heart rate into smaller slices than a minute and measures the variability between peaks. Heart Rate Variability is the measure of how stressed the system is. Heart Rate Variability Addresses Systemic StressĮnter the yogi of metrics. It’s not how much data you have it’s how you use it. With all of these metrics, how and why do cyclists still end up overtraining? As it turns out, the data is both a blessing and a curse.
