Will following a Sufferfest program will not antagonize with what Whoop would tell me to do in relation to my recovery?
I mean, should and how do I adjust my Sufferfest program training if Whoop tells me I’m either that i’m not recovered?
Best regards,
Welcome! I’ve only had my Whoop for 3 weeks. It’s still calibrating and i’m still figuring it all out, but here’s how I think of them working together:
Sufferfest is the plan. I trust the overall Sufferfest program, and know it represents the “ideal state”.
The Whoop is a data point. It’s a tool to help me “do my plan better”
But sometimes life gets in the way; you work late, there’s a birthday celebration, the kids don’t go to sleep, etc.
Without a Whoop, if I felt like I couldn’t quite handle a session (because I unknowingly didn’t recover well), i’d either push on and strain myself too much, or skip the workout entirely. But with the Whoop, I’m hoping to slowly learn that, say, 40% recovery means I should drop a hard Sufferfest session to 90% intensity. Maybe a 20% recovery (not really recovered) means I should drop the Sufferfest session intensity to 50%.
I remember reading somewhere that if you miss a session, you’re meant to just continue through the program, as the order of everything is quite carefully selected.
Also remember your Whoop is not necessarily accurate. Listen to your body. Whoop might say you’re not recovered, but if it gives you a 30% recovery, you might know yourself well enough that a coffee + midday training session means you’ll be ok. It depends on your goal.
It would be awesome to see these working together; a dynamic plan (coach) that would adjust SUF workouts based on your Whoop scores.
Hope this helps!
I think Imminent response is helpful and I agree but I also think of it more broadly: if I think I will be able to achieve the purpose of the workout I gut it out, if I don’t think I can, I will swap out a rest day. And this was true before and after Whoop, the Whoop just provides (hopefully helpful) data.
Being guided by “purpose of workout” means there’s no one approach you take every time and it depends on context. For example, a long ride, tempo or even threshold I can usually do no matter how bad I feel; I high quality MAP session, I need to be more fresh or there’s no point. However, sometimes a MAP session is scheduled at the end of a block and your accumulated fatigue is part of the overload. In those cases, you switch to level mode and gut it out 
Whoop is helpful but more important is your judgment of your readiness. I wouldn’t even call this whoop being “inaccurate.” It might have measured your HRV and RHR just fine, yet might not actually reflect your true readiness. This is because readiness and recovery are unmeasurable, whoop recovery score is not those things but rather is a proxy for them. I don’t mean to be pedantic but the whoop CX oversimplifies it with their green means go, red means stop experience. The reality is more complicated and I think whoop does themselves a disservice.
Hey! Indeed it helps! Thanks.
Yes, exactly, I was wishing for SF to work (adjust) the plan automatically based on data gathered by Whoop. So now I know for sure. Some Big data, AI, Algorithms, sons of a Siri would one day tell us, right?
I’m still laughing about the kids not in bed! Got me there. Seriously, can’t stop laughing.
I grew up training based on HR, which by itself discounts if you are tired; HR will rev up if one is tired. Right? So I kind of, allegedly, knew I was going beyond the line.
But the fact is that I’m pretty hard-headed and tend to overdo. Most specially since the introduction of wattage training: “Says that I should be doing 125% FTP, ERG; I stick to my guns!” The next thing I know is that later that day I’m walking the office aisle at a zombie pace.
So… yes, absolutely, I’m definitely taking your counsel; I’m buying the Whoop and learning to sleep. The AM willing, the girls will too!
Thanks! Best regards.
Well, indeed, I see your point. I think, I meant to respond to Imminent, that I tend not to listen to my body and just go for it. Then its too late.
I do take my pulse every morning. In fact, I can guess it pretty accurately. But given HR monitors wattage based trainning, I might have sent this info to the back seat. Nor it helps the tight schedule and mounting pressure from work and what not. Oh, the girls not going to bed…
But I gather from both defolikewhoa and Imminent that I should listen more to my body, again.
And have more coffe…
Best regards. Thanks!
@VOFarrill Our coach Mac Cassin has already had that covered in one of his training articles, I strongly recommend that you get yourself familiarized with it, if you haven’t already. Even the badass have bad days.
On a side note, I feel like whoop is overpriced by a lot and doesn’t really do much you wouldn’t be able to get from regular RHR testing. But that’s just me and it’s great if someone feels like they actualy benefit from that gadget.
I use welltory and every day it is telling me not to exercise .It tells me how I am in relation to other days but that is all it is, a data device , a small tool to add to the tiny pieces of jigsaw
I went through the article, it’s sound and compelling, assures the direction in which previous messages were already pointing me towards. The Flowchart is now printed… fetching tape… there it is… done!
The article and your post have not only spared me a good load of money but really boosted my confidence. Put differently: the flowchart provides context to define how much of a problem am I enduring and if so the solutions. With a glimpse.
So, next is just jumping into the Pain Cave and The Plan, and get on with it!
Best regards.
@VOFarrill awesome! Glad I could be of help
Thanks, I dowloaded, trying it. Looks good.
Whoop also has a strain coach feature that suggests and monitors your strain throughout your workout. I have found this very helpful staying in the suggest strain in my Covid recovery and not overdoing it on “bad” days. Whoop is also teaching me how important the off the bike activities are, such as sleep, my hardest “workout” to get right!
Into my first month wearing one. I’d be interested if anyone has been using it, for something like The Tour, and see how it related to how they performed during those seven days - what the Whoop app was saying compared to how they actually performed? There’s another event in May, over 3 days, with single or double video days. Maybe see sooner, though 2 days, with the Step Up Challenge - just need a pass for the Who Dares + Half The Road (~2h40m)