43 - Marco Altini and HRV4Training

What this episode covers

* 1:00 what is HRV (heart rate variability) and how is it relevant to training? * 2:00 a summary of the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system * 3:00 the state of the parasympathetic branch allows us to monitor global stress on the body * 5:30 on the usefulness of trying to quantify training and non-training stresses and the care that must be taken when doing so * 8:00 factors affecting HRV and the autonomic nervous system: sleep, alcohol, illness, travel, training, work, relationships. But the effects are very individual! * 12:30 how quickly do we see responses to stressors? Acute response occurs within 24-48 hours. Chronic response takes longer: 1-2 weeks or more. * 14:45 HRV measurement best practices * Measure daily, at the same time of day / night, use proven measuring methods,  * 17:30 what can you do knowing your acute and chronic HRV data? * 18:30 if acute reading is low, then the capacity for more stress is reduced. Marco recommends reducing intensity on that day of training. * 19:30 a case study in HRV-guided training - where training modification was only made when the HRV baseline (long-term trend) was below normal - demonstrated that this form of training was more effective than traditional programming with no accounting for HRV. * 21:30 stable HRV is the goal! It is not meant to 'improve' over time. * 23:00 interpreting low acute HRV score on race day. Lower is not necessarily bad. * 23:30 understanding atypically high acute scores * 26:15 interpreting chronic HRV data and trends * 27:00 stable or increasing baseline is a sign that you are coping well, whereas a decreasing baseline suggests accumulation of stress that is not being resolved * 28:00 coefficient of variation monitors the magnitude of variations between measurements. A high CoV  could signal some trouble adapting to a novel training stimulus or life stressor. * 30:15 a low CoV combined with an abnormally low HRV trend is a sign of a system struggling with global stress and may be a signal for a state of chronic high stress - which, of course, is to be avoided. * 33:30 is HRV-guided training a substitute for a periodized plan?  * 36:15 is it useful to try to measure HRV during training? * 38:15 what about live, but not-during-training HRV monitoring like Garmin's Body Battery feature? * 42:15 Michael's struggles with a single daily measurement * 45:30 body position in testing: all okay so long as the position is the same from one day to the next.  * 46:45 the technology used by HRV4Training * 50:30 using the Big Data collected by HRV apps for studies and new features * 55:00 how does the athlete HRV4Training app work and what does it do? * 58:00 the HRV4Training Pro platform Learn more about HRV4Training [https://www.hrv4training.com/]or Marco [https://www.marcoaltini.com/]at their respective websites  and follow them on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/hrv4training/]and Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/hrv4training/].  Read part 1 of Marco's guide to HRV-guided training [https://medium.com/@marco_alt/the-ultimate-guide-to-heart-rate-variability-hrv-part-1-70a0a392fff4] on Medium. Then use the links in the article to access parts 2 and 3.