Cycling Fitness / Training Advice

Anyone have any thoughts on the Polar HR monitor Vo2 max fitness test?
I believe it looks at resting heart rate and HR variability to estimate your Vo2Max.

pointless waste of time

So an estimate of a measurement that's not particularly relevant to racing anyway?

I used https://www.myithlete.com and a finger sensor for a couple of years. It really didn't guide my training, it didn't tell me stuff I didn't know and if anything I probably ended up more confused from it - I'd finish TCR or something and it'd be like "you're fucking great, go smash it" even though I couldn't walk properly.

Did you have the 'flattery' mode switched on?

I was more often the teetotal partner mode:
"You've been doing shots of hookers' arse cracks all night again haven't you?"

Wow. This restored my faith in life.

Also, very true. Fittest I ever got on a bike was doing Saturday inters, Monday nights, and Wednesday track league at HHV. Same with running was doing Tuesdays and Thursdays at Parliament Hill. You can't replicate that by yourself on a static trainer or treadmill.

If I can be arsed I look at the HRV data dervied from a running activity recorded on my 935 whilst wearing a HR strap (since the optical monitor can't get it).

I think you had to enable something to tell the 935 to record HRV data. Yep:-

 Settings -> Physiological Metrics -> Log HRV -> On

Garmin Connect and Strava do nothing for displayin HRV info but uploading those files to runalyze.com will give you some info.

This is a more specific analysis than the generic "how knackered are you" info that the Garmin will give you if you do:-
Training Status and Scroll down to the "Recovery" page which tells you how long it'll be to recover.

But none of this gives you general "you're knackered" based on your current HRV as it's just relying on data from your previous activities, and most of that is based on estimation of whether your recent load is too much or not.

Proper HRV measurements are supposed to be taken laying down or sitting (pick one and stick with it) and at the same time of day, typically before doing anything. So, trying to calc HRV after an exercise session seems even more pointless than trying to measure it accurately.

Or measure it 24/7 - although I read somewhere the majority of the whoop data is actually taken when you are asleep.

As a sleep tracker, evidence suggests that things like Whoop, Beddit, etc work, but HRV for recovery in athletes, not so much.

https://www.uphillathlete.com/why-we-stopped-relying-on-hrv-apps/

Also at £25/month? Hard pass.

Hmm so it works as a sleep tracker but doesnt work for 'recovery'..when you could argue that sleep is one of the biggest components of recovery.

I'm not claiming it works or not until I've got a decent chunk of data - but good to see there's other anecdotal n=1 articles out there 😉

you could argue that sleep is one of the biggest components of recovery.

I wouldn't argue that it's one of the biggest components of recovery.
It is THE BIGGEST component of recovery. Sleep outstrips all that voodoo sports scimarketing by orders of magnitude.

Interesting, I’ll have a look at what the data says.

Re. Sleep tracking, do any devices substantially improve upon time in bed? Again my watch really struggles to differentiate between sleep and anxiety ridden ceiling staring.

Not really. Most consumer trackers are pretty poor. I remember listening to a sleep scientist podcast and they had found a 'sort of' consumer level tracker that was almost as good as their lab kit but it was still something like £1000 or $1000.

Here's some actual testing of consumer units:
http://sleep.cs.brown.edu/comparison/
https://www.livescience.com/42710-fitness-trackers-sleep-monitoring-accuracy.html

I can't remember which podcast goes into specific trackers but this popped up:
https://drbubbs.com/season-2-podcast-episodes/2018/10/s2-episode-41-impacts-of-sleep-loss-on-pain-injury-risk-amp-neurocognition-w-norah-simpson-phd

Counter arg:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jun/07/sleep-apps-backfire-by-causing-anxiety-and-insomnia-says-expert

Much like my FTP and the size of my balls then.

Size of your balls might impact the size of your shorts which will have a direct impact on cycling comfort and could make or break your race season. FTP is far less important than an accurate ball sizing.

Having also done some googling on whoop and HRV, came across Biostrap as an alternative: https://www.biostrap.eu/shop_uk

As a sleep and recovery tracker it seems to get pretty good write ups. No silly subscription model and a few reviews suggest it's more accurate.

Also saddle choice. Woe is mine if I sprint out the saddle with a cutout.

Ugh. FTP test on the warmest day of the year so far, not a good idea. On the plus side, +7w and I've just sneaked over into my W/kg target, putting me in the "not as shit as I used to be" category

Now what?

Go outside!

What is... "outside"?

Try harder :P
https://www.lfgss.com/comments/15290888/

After someone explodes all the cars.

Waking up every morning feeling really unrested, no appetite, heavy legs. I've only been riding outside in the last two weeks, halved my TSS per week to give myself a break - do I need more of a break?
On the bike I feel pretty comfortable with hard efforts, but after one or two of them I'm fucked and just want to stop