A few weeks ago I told you about an app on my phone called stress doctor. Well I upgraded to a new and better app called Sweat Beat http://www.sweetwaterhrv.com/.
What makes it different?
Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
Heart Rate is not a static measure. Your HR goes up and down as you breath as well as walk, talk etc. HRV is the measure of this. Finnish researchers determined for athletes that the higher the variability the better. And that a low HRV would indicate stress and for an athlete and that means disaster. Excessive stress leads to bad races or even injury.
So each morning I strap on a chest strap and measure my HR. Right now I am simply looking for consistency. My HR over the last few mornings has averaged 42 and my HRV has averaged 81. I will look for signs of both higher avg HR but even more at a lower average HRV. Today for instance my HRV measures at 74 which tells me I should be cautious. My run is planned for 20 minutes warm up, 20 minutes tempo, 20 minutes easy 10 strides. The low HRV says I should maybe remove the tempo or remove the run all together. Today I will run and feel what I feel. The idea is to find out where that low indication is right or what is too low. I will report back.
Heart Rate training has always baffled me. I have found that the best use for me is to monitor easy workouts when the lowest heart rate is better. Outside of that I have found perceived exertion works best for me. My internal effort meter works better than HE Zones. Everyone is different in this case but maybe not on HRV and that's why I really like Sweat Beat.
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