Ronda Collier: HRV for Better Training, Managing Fatigue and Preventing Burnout

Ronda Collier, CEO of SweetWater Health, the makers of the SweetBeatLife heart rate variability (HRV) app, returns to the podcast to talk in detail about the applications of HRV for your endurance training, racing, recovery and fatigue management. These concepts are useful for both coaches and athletes.   We last talked to Ronda in fall 2013 about the basics of HRV, and you can hear that show here. it's advised to listen to that show first for a general education on HRV if you're not that familiar with it, and then listening to this show that goes more in depth.   Click here to get started with the SweetBeatLife app, which is the HRV app of choice for the Endurance Planet team!   On this show we cover:   -What are some big changes Ronda's seen in the world of HRV and with the SweetBeatLife app.   -Are there notable differences in HRV between elite athletes, recreational athletes and non athletes?   -The importance of individualization and not generalization in your HRV score.   -the importance of sleep and worrying less   -HRV has circadian rhythm   -How we can use HRV to assess readiness to deal with training.   -Can we use HRV to decide if that day and/or the program can be HIIT or more moderate aerobic-based. Does Ronda have opinions on either style of training in terms of long-term health and robustness for athletes?   -What 'baby steps' can we implement for an athlete looking to actively improve HRV (or a coach looking to convince an athlete of the merits of such strategies) without taking away from training   -What sort of long-term changes can interventions like meditation, stress reduction/lifestyle changes, coherence training, or even less intense training have for the athlete who's chronically stressed out?-Definition the nervous system and what HRV measures: -The SYMPATHETIC - low-frequency (LF), fight or flight; high energy sources to deal with (real or perceived) challenges or threats-The PARASYMPATHETIC - high-frequency (HF), rest and repair; vagal tone; brake pedal. HRV is indication of Vagal Tone -LF vs HF -Fatigue & overcoming fatigue   -How can HRV show the way you are tired, meaning which part of the nervous system is fatigued? -why is ‘sympathetic dominance’ which we often see in times of overtraining, is arguably more dangerous than parasympathetic dominance? -How always being in fight or flight mode prevents the athlete from resting when they need to the most (!) -How do you recover the parasympathetic as an athlete?   -How does rMSSD fit in, its value, and why it's possibly worth tracking this number too.   -HRV vs. RPE, common sense, and using other feedback metrics to gauge readiness to train?   -HRV before a big race (hear tawnee's HRV before IM Tahoe '13)