Hello
Looking for user experience (or advice) on whether a tracker, such as Whoop / Oura ring / Apple Health, will actually help my cycling performance, how you use the data, and anything useful.
Thanks in advance!
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I’ve been using an Oura ring for almost four years now and I find the data useful. I don’t completely rely on it or take it too seriously, but it does allow me to see how my various metrics and sleep patterns are trending and lets me know if I’m on the right track in recovering or being well prepared for workouts. I think the key is to use something like that consistently because it becomes “smarter” the longer you use it because it learns your behaviors. I don’t necessarily let the metrics dictate my training because I know sometimes I’m going to go into harder/longer workouts in a fatigued state. It can definitely let you know if something is off and if you combine that with how you’re feeling you can take that into account and take an easy day if you need to.
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Hi James, my wife bought me an Apple watch fo my birthday a couple of years ago. I didn’t think that I would use any of the features but have been surprised. I have learneda lot about my sleep and what impacts it. Also what impacts my sleep has on the rest of my life. I use the obvious time in bed and time asleep, nut also number of times getting up, respiratory rate during sleep and HR during sleep. I also get the HRV data automatically, although I have found this one less telling of my state of training and fitness than some other people do. I also have a Withings body composition scale to keep me honest on weight which is a constant problem for me. The Withings app captures lots of the same data as apple health. The main issue that I have with all of these is that only a fraction of the data links to Training Peaks automatically. So sharing data with Pav doesn’t work without a lot of faffing about.
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I’ve been using a Whoop for over a year now and I find it really useful, especially the recovery score. I use that to micro-tailor my training. If my recovery is low, I aim for the lower part of the zone that Pav prescribed and if recovery is good, I go harder. If the score is really bad, I might even choose to skip a day. It makes this decission easier for me because I’m normally a person who follows the plan and just “pushes through” but I have learned that there is a point where you hurt yourself and even move away from your goals. (Thanks Pav, I would have never learned that lesson without you). Where the Whoop really shines is signaling that you are getting sick before feeling it. For me it’s the breath rate. If that goes up without a reason, it’s time to slam on the brakes.
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Sort of tangential, but I’ve found taking heart rate measurements in the morning to be the most reliable and rewarding metrics. I’ve seen my resting heart rate go from 65 bpm (a few years ago) to ~50 when I started with Pav, down to 45 a month in. And awhile ago, when I got the COVID vaccine, the next morning my resting heart rate went up from ~50 bpm to ~65 bpm and I knew I had to take it easy. Then 6 hours later it really hit me. Little bounces up and down really do correlate with stress, sleep, etc., and it helps me be much more in tune with recovery and workouts, etc.
Sleep measurement is really the best thing these other trackers do. I have an Apple Watch, and my sleep really can reveal why I’m having an off day in general. It’s gotten so I can prepare for feeling slow and bad, and take steps to keep my nutrition and fitness on track. Its other metrics aren’t particularly useful to me though.
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