Funny you should mention, @DameCristy. Yeah my Rival watch does the sleep thing and like you said - I stopped noting or paying attention to it, for exactly that reason.
The ONLY utility i get from that feature is overnight HR tracking and RHR values. Helps me watch for overtraining and oncoming illness.
Iâm wearing a fenix 7x and I always found garmins sleep tracking (fenix 3hr, 6x, now 7x) like theyâre throwing dice.
Since Iâm a data nerd I got the Withings Sleep Tracker for under the mattress which was spot on, While I canât talk about sleep stages as I never went to a proper lab to have something to compare, the sleep/wake times were spot on and usually the âscoreâ reflected how I felt waking up.
Then I started spending weekends somewhere else, so rather than getting a second sensor I switched to an Oura Ring (v3) and thatâs even more spot on.
So from the data nerd in me: there is quite a difference in the usefulness of the data given the device youâre acquiring the data.
But I also agree with the ânon data nerdâ approach. My workflow includes checking a few boxes to note how I feel (rested, fatigued, motivated, âŚ) before I even look at the data I tracked. That way I have a proper mix of both. If I feel great and the data tells me the night was not restful and I might dial it down a little (maybe Iâm coming down with some illness I donât yet feel). And the other way around is kinda the same. If I donât feel that great but the data tells me to do PRs, I âknowâ that I could and if motivation comes during the day I might. Usually this means that the alarm clock went off in a wrong sleep stage and the motivation/feeling better comes back after half an hour.
Interesting comment. Around 25 years ago when I got divorced I took up cycling and got an early Polar HRM. Had about a year serious cycling and knew how my HR responded to different efforts. I rediscovered women and stopped cycling for about 4 years. One day I decided to go out on the bike and my HR shot up even on a slow straight ride and it freaked me out. As I slowed down my HR continued to rise to a point that it was 165bpm standing still and I couldnât get it down. Back then my max HR EVER was 163 so this was not normal. I have always had anxiety issues over health/ heart) breathing etc and this tipped me over the edge. Fortunately I was only about a mile from home so I crawled back home with my HR still up there and sat down but my HR was stil high. I thought I was going to have a heart attack so I called an ambulance. Got checked out and all was normal and HR went back to normal. Went to Docs (strangely enough he had studied as a heart consultant previously in his career) for the follow up, explained what happened as he said that I had had a panic attack brought on by anxiety and to throw the heart monitor in the bin because of my infatuation with health related things. This has affected me for a very long time, it stopped me cycling altogether through fear of having another attack and even the slightest exercise. Like getting out of bed or walking up the stairs made me breathless and I really had to get a grip and talk myself out of it. I did start cycling again just a mile back and forth to work but had a short hill almost as I left my house. I would check how windy it was as any hill or wind in my face could bring on breathlessness and this was all in my head. Over the years I have got better dealing with it and after another period of being off the bike and retired I decided to give it another go. That was three years ago and it was the indoor trainer that finally put this to bed. Gradually I realised that breathing hard and being out of breath as stupid as it now seems looking back is normal response to hard exercise and not something to stress about which is what brings on a panic attack. I now do hard training and have joined a cycle club and do two TTâs a week and you canât get more stressful than that. Basically that one panic attack stunted over 20 years of my life because I was too wrapped up in HR figures compounded with my already high anxiety levels at the time. I am 70 this year and fitter and healthier that I can ever remember. It is just a shame I allowed one incident to affect such a large portion of my life and I do feel for those with anxiety issues.
Donât blame intervals.icu! The results are calculated from a well-known set of modeling equations based on human physiology. ANY tool that uses these equations - from Andy Coggin and also shown in Training Peaks, for example - will yield the same results. Here is the thing - in the long term, to have a fitness of, say, 70, you need to average 70 TSS over a long-ish time (a month or so?). When you do that (yeah!) and then go on vacation or stop training for any reason, the fitness metrics declines because your daily TSS is zero.
Out of curiosity I plotted my FTP tests over time vs Strava fitness.
Itâs a very limited data set and includes the period I was starting off zero training but think there is a kind of correlation. Consistent training = higher FTP.
But I think pursuing CTL is a bit of a foolâs errand. I found when I started to add longer summer outdoor rides I was replacing some of the high quality HIIT with those âin betweenâ junk miles. CTL stayed high - but I was then finding it very hard to hit numbers on SUF videos and scores went down.
If you want to optimise fitness for hours put in, Iâd ignore CTL and stick to the training plans we have on offer.
Thereâs no such thing as âjunk milesâ. Each ride contributes is some manner to overall fitness. Long slow distance forces your body to add to the aerobic store, i.e. mitochondria. HIIT helps with the bodyâs ability to clear metabolites. Complementary processes.
Forgetting for the moment training for racing conditions, because of the interaction between the fat burning systems and the carbohydrate burning systems, it is more efficient to train either system separately.
And NOT on the same day! Ride HIIT, recovery ride, long slow ride, rest day with strength and stretching.
That is, with some variation, what I have found to be the best plan.
I have one complete day of rest which leaves one other day for some other type of workout.
My plan:
Sunday, intense group ride of about four hours. NO coffee stops.
Monday, Recovery ride with Yoga/Stretching/neck mobilty
Tuesday: Interval training. Strength #1/Shoulders and Upper Back Mobilty
Wednesday: Long Ride indoors. 1.5 to 2 hours.
Thursday: Core work. Strength/Yoga/Mobility
Friday: HIIT/LSD. Strength #2/Yoga with foam roller.
Saturday: Short Group Ride/Foot Mobility. Coffee stop ride.
Monday or Tuesday i might swap out a coffee ride with climbing (1K altmeters). Group rides are with a group that will stress me but not leave me exhausted.
And yes, watch for the signs of RED-S. It will leave you unable to ride to your best for months.
Man, whatâs even the pointâŚ
I hate stopping!
I donât mind stoppingâŚitâs getting started again after stopping for too long that I hate 
Exactly!!
Usually there are no cafes on the rides. This weekends takes us out into several parks and an area that is considered wilderness.
IKR!?!
(and welcome!)
Amen. 
(and welcome)
