Nothing seems to create more confusion than the process of tracking recovery and stress. Sleep scores, readiness scores, and recovery scores are becoming gamified, often with a focus on a single data point.
I am guilty as charged in my recent foray into using HRV via the HRV4Training app. I made the mistake of initially letting it be a daily central governor; a binary go or no go where subjective feelings were thrown out the window. I forgot that feeling is perhaps the most important.
Fortunately, I have the resources to connect with those who are far more educated on using metrics to guide performance whether it be physical, cognitive, or general wellness.
While still a novice in this space, 3 key items have eased my mind and cleared the confusion I was experiencing at the outset of using more data.
No amount of data should force you to ignore feeling good or bad
I started asking myself: “What if today was an exam day or a race day?”. No important events are rescheduled because of a bad night of sleep or a higher-than-normal resting heart rate. You do not have to feel great to do great things. Over-reliance on physical traits masks the importance of psychology and transcendence when it comes to performing.
I started to adopt a mentality of “set it and forget it” when taking a morning HRV measurement. I gather the data and let it run its course.
“Go live and let the data shake out,” I was advised.
If I am having a prolonged period of tanking motivation, feeling really sore, or having trouble concentrating, then I will take a look to see if there is an objective warning signal to back that feeling up. I’ll even admit that I will occasionally go against recommendations from the HRV4Training because I feel awake and ready to rock. Most days that are great or not so great do track closely with what my metrics are saying, so this is not me saying there is no use for the data. It builds a picture over time.
Optimization is a complicated process and is likely where I have gone wrong. Waiting around for the day when everything lines up perfectly is not the view to have and is the view I started with. Physiology is highly variable and will not tell you what you want to hear 100% of the time.
There are ways to take action to increase the chances of establishing a positive trend, as explained in the next few points, and the trends are where the value is. zoomed-in
A way to nudge your habits in the right direction
Tracking is not the reason sleep, recovery, or performance improved. Rather, tracking gave the necessary signal to consider changing habits. This is one of the most positive impacts of wearable technology. It can send you in a direction toward better merely by being more aware.
Once you are aware, you can develop a sense of how “better” feels. Better should feel great, creating a reference point from which to calibrate your sense of understanding your body.
Not every day will be optimal. In fact, optimal days are really only a result of how you define optimal.
Who is to say that the way you are operating is optimal?
There is no blanket definition.
Focus on stability
One of the most important pieces of advice I have received regarding recovery tracking is to focus on stability rather than always shooting for a great number. This is why a range of normalcy approach is preferred over a higher is better approach. If most of the days are churning out a number within the predetermined baseline, that is stability. One day out of range is noise compared to a full week of poor sleep scores or months of suppressed HRV. If a long-term trend is emerging, and you feel similar to how the data looks, then decisions can be made. A post from Andrew Flatt, a prominent figure in HRV research, summed it up nicely.
I am 3 months into my journey, and now blending the data with how I feel. In reality, I likely need a bigger data set before I can make a conclusion on how I am performing overall as an individual. The takeaways from above have helped me digest the often confusing topic of wearable technology. If you find yourself immersed in recovery and readiness data, remember to value feeling. The data is there in the background to provide context for when things are going swell or south.
It’s all about using data to inform perception and help make your decisions! It can be a hard relationship to establish.