I recently got back into running and trying to drop about 20 pounds after being lazy for the last few years. My Fenix 8 is currently telling me....

"Your training load is very high and has become counterproductive. Your body needs a rest. Give yourself time to recover by adding lighter training to your schedule."

It says my Acute Training Load (whatever that means) is 217, which is too high.

Should I listen to this message or just carry on with business as usual? I'm not really doing anything crazy? Just 2-3 mile runs daily. I'm actually just doing the workouts the watch suggests for me to do daily.

How long have you been tracking?

Since about January 5. Of course I went from zero to running just about everyday. Maybe it is a bit much.

It's kind of contradicting itself because it says my Training Readiness is
"Recovered and Ready :You have trained more than usual, but good sleep and recovery have improved readiness."

So which is it, Garmin? haha

Maybe. How do you feel?

Your Acute Training Load is only high relative to your recent training history which was ZERO.

This isn't necessarily advice, but if you follow "influencer" runners on social media it's not uncommon to see reels that joke about how Garmin always says they're overreaching, unproductive, etc.....I don't even follow them just guess they're in my algorithm

Example:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCtvYcdI9UT/?igsh=MXRuYW9rbGpqZzNjbw==

I actually feel fine. I used to run marathons and so forth so I do have some history. I just took a few years off.

I'd ignore it then.

What does your HRV and sleep score look like?

Sometimes when those are both terrible, on top of a ramp up in mileage, I get overreaching. Typically just taking one rest day gets rid of it.

Swarely said:

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What does your HRV and sleep score look like?

Sometimes when those are both terrible, on top of a ramp up in mileage, I get overreaching. Typically just taking one rest day gets rid of it.

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HRV and Sleep are included in the Training Readiness score which pronounced him "Recovered and Ready" this morning.

I turn all that **** off.

it all seems like digital guesswork to me. I monitor my heart rate throughout the day. I pay some attention to heart rate recovery after a workout. I glance at the HRV numbers but don't make any decisions based on them. That's about it.

I joke that my Garmin is like the overly judgmental Asian father I never had.

I was getting back into shape to run a 5k race from relative inactivity for a long period. Did a couple weeks of training, and I felt good one day, so I decided to run a full 5k in my neighborhood. Garmin: "overreaching." F U Garmin.

Also, Garmin usually tells me my sleep sucks and I have the VO2 Max of a 100 year old man with one leg. But my VO2 Max is getting better so it's still helpful to see progress. Once in a blue moon it tells me I had a great sleep or had good training, so I feel good. It motivates me to sleep and train well.

So, I listen to it but take it with a grain of salt.

AggieOO said:

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I turn all that **** off.

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this. Let your body be the judge. Feel good, go run. Want to run but feel a little lethargic, slow down and try to get a little extra sleep that night.

I use my fenix to track distance and pace for specific training sessions. That's it.

AggieLAX said:

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I don't necessarily program around my Garmin data but I can tell you it has had a huge impact on my alcohol consumption. This photo shows my overnight Stress scores WITHOUT alcohol and WITH. This data, along with other things, was instrumental in getting me to quit drinking during the week. Now, I only drink on Friday Date Nights with my wife.

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maybe the stress is coming from your wife.

Yea 2 weeks ago I had quite a few old fashions with a buddy of mine. I wasn't drunk but could for sure feel it. My Garmin shamed! It knew I had been drinking.

easttexasaggie04 said:

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I recently got back into running and trying to drop about 20 pounds after being lazy for the last few years. My Fenix 8 is currently telling me....

"Your training load is very high and has become counterproductive. Your body needs a rest. Give yourself time to recover by adding lighter training to your schedule."

It says my Acute Training Load (whatever that means) is 217, which is too high.

Should I listen to this message or just carry on with business as usual? I'm not really doing anything crazy? Just 2-3 mile runs daily. I'm actually just doing the workouts the watch suggests for me to do daily.

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How do you feel and how is your performance. I still find it hard to believe that a device is at all capable of truly knowing this information. Does it ask you post training questions? For instance, I use the RP Hypertrophy app. It asks you after each exercise (ex. after my 3 sets of bench press) how I felt, what my pump was like and if this was a enough or pushing my limits. Being honest is essential. Then it will program the next session based on that. But I use myself and my rep performance to judge how I did.

Someday a device may very well be able to tell if you need a deload. But in the end, you have to use your besdt judgement and how you felt to decide. If 2-3 sessions see a downturn in performance, then I would seriously consider drawing things back, deloading and/or just getting some active rest in and taking a short time off. Otherwiser, I would continue to progress.

easttexasaggie04 said:

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Since about January 5. Of course I went from zero to running just about everyday. Maybe it is a bit much.

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But, again, how has your perfomance been. Gradually getting better each time, or dropping often? We all have a bad day, but if your Garmin says you need rest yet you lace up your shoes and kill it for X miles, with a PR or at least reached you time of distance goal, keep going.

Edit: I see you stated you felt fine. I echo what another said , keep going. Just monitor performance

Quote:

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maybe the stress is coming from your wife.

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Ha ha!

AggieOO said:

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AggieLAX said:

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I don't necessarily program around my Garmin data but I can tell you it has had a huge impact on my alcohol consumption. This photo shows my overnight Stress scores WITHOUT alcohol and WITH. This data, along with other things, was instrumental in getting me to quit drinking during the week. Now, I only drink on Friday Date Nights with my wife.

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maybe the stress is coming from your wife.

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ok, that's funny. Touche.

AggieLAX said:

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I don't necessarily program around my Garmin data but I can tell you it has had a huge impact on my alcohol consumption. This photo shows my overnight Stress scores WITHOUT alcohol and WITH. This data, along with other things, was instrumental in getting me to quit drinking during the week. Now, I only drink on Friday Date Nights with my wife.

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I am trying to quit drinking. My Garming sleep score has done the same thing for me. When I drank, my sleep score was always terrible.

I have a few drinks most nights and my Garmin stress readings are VERY low when I'm not at work. My worst stress reading are during Aggie football games which is a bit funny and sad. Everyone is different though.

I do take the training load into consideration as HRV is a pretty interesting measure of how your body is tolerating your current activity. Remember your adult fitness is a marathon not a sprint so backing down a bit now may prevent overuse injuries in the weeks to come. You aren't 18 I'm guessing!

KidDoc said:

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I have a few drinks most nights and my Garmin stress readings are VERY low when I'm not at work. My worst stress reading are during Aggie football games which is a bit funny and sad. Everyone is different though.

I do take the training load into consideration as HRV is a pretty interesting measure of how your body is tolerating your current activity. Remember your adult fitness is a marathon not a sprint so backing down a bit now may prevent overuse injuries in the weeks to come. You aren't 18 I'm guessing!

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Can you elaborate a little more on this?

I have a ring that monitors my sleep, and the last week or so, my score has really been dinged because it says my HRV has "dropped significantly". I've been wearing the ring for about a year and this just started happening in the last week or so.

I feel fine, other than I have been more tired than usual (so I've been going to bed earlier).

I'm a good sleeper and was routinely getting sleep score well into the 90s, so to have them in the 70s-80s, presumable because of this metric, caught my attention.

TXTransplant said:

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KidDoc said:

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I have a few drinks most nights and my Garmin stress readings are VERY low when I'm not at work. My worst stress reading are during Aggie football games which is a bit funny and sad. Everyone is different though.

I do take the training load into consideration as HRV is a pretty interesting measure of how your body is tolerating your current activity. Remember your adult fitness is a marathon not a sprint so backing down a bit now may prevent overuse injuries in the weeks to come. You aren't 18 I'm guessing!

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Can you elaborate a little more on this?

I have a ring that monitors my sleep, and the last week or so, my score has really been dinged because it says my HRV has "dropped significantly". I've been wearing the ring for about a year and this just started happening in the last week or so.

I feel fine, other than I have been more tired than usual (so I've been going to bed earlier).

I'm a good sleeper and was routinely getting sleep score well into the 90s, so to have them in the 70s-80s, presumable because of this metric, caught my attention.

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You are likely fighting off a common virus. Just need to focus on sleep and hydration


From AI query:
what does hrv mean

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a physiological measure of the time variation between consecutive heartbeats[1][2][3]. Unlike a steady heart rate, HRV reveals the subtle differences in milliseconds between each heartbeat, which is controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS)[4].

## Key Characteristics

**How HRV Works**
- Measures the time intervals between heart beats
- Reflects the body's ability to adapt to stress
- Indicates the balance between sympathetic ("fight-or-flight") and parasympathetic ("rest and digest") nervous system responses[2][5]

**What HRV Indicates**
- Higher HRV generally suggests better overall health and fitness
- Can signal physical and emotional readiness
- Provides insights into potential health conditions and stress levels[3][5]

A higher HRV typically means your body is more resilient and can transition more effectively between different physiological states, while a lower HRV might indicate increased stress or potential health challenges[5][6].

Citations:
[1] Heart Rate Variability (HRV): Everything You Need to Know - WHOOP https://www.whoop.com/us/en/thelocker/heart-rate-variability-hrv/
[2] What Is Heart Rate Variability (HRV)? Normal, High, and Low https://www.medicinenet.com/what_is_heart_rate_variability_hrv/article.htm
[3] Heart rate variability - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate_variability
[4] Heart rate variability: How it might indicate well-being - Harvard Health https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/heart-rate-variability-new-way-track-well-2017112212789
[5] Heart Rate Variability: What It Is and Why It Matters - Fitbit Blog https://store.google.com/intl/en/ideas/articles/heart-rate-variability/
[6] Heart Rate Variability (HRV): What It Is and How You Can Track It https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/21773-heart-rate-variability-hrv
[7] How to Use Heart Rate Variability Data in Your Training - HSS https://www.hss.edu/article_heart-rate-variability.asp
[8] What is Heart Rate Variability (HRV)? | Garmin Customer Support https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=04pnPSBTYSAYL9FylZoUl5



how does viral infection effect hrv

Viral infections significantly impact heart rate variability (HRV) by disrupting autonomic nervous system function. Key effects include:

- **Reduced HRV**: Viral infections, such as COVID-19, are associated with lower HRV, reflecting suppressed parasympathetic activity and heightened sympathetic dominance due to inflammation and autonomic dysregulation[1][2][3].
- **Increased Heart Rate**: Resting heart rate often rises during infections, particularly with fever, while vagal-driven HRV indices like RMSSD decrease, indicating reduced cardiac vagal activity[1][3].
- **Inflammatory Influence**: Pro-inflammatory states from infections correlate with reduced total power of HRV, affecting both vagally- and non-vagally-mediated indices[2][7].

These changes suggest that HRV monitoring can help detect and evaluate the physiological impact of viral infections early on.

Citations:
[1] Utilizing Heart Rate Variability for Coaching Athletes During and ... https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sports-and-active-living/articles/10.3389/fspor.2021.612782/full
[2] Heart rate variability as a marker and predictor of inflammation ... https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37651781/
[3] Heart rate variability as an indicator of COVID-19 induced ... https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9830621/
[4] Autonomic dysregulation in long-term patients suffering from Post ... https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-42615-y
[5] Long COVID changes heart rate variability, study suggests - CIDRAP https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/long-covid-changes-heart-rate-variability-study-suggests
[6] Heart rate variability as a marker of cardiovascular dysautonomia in ... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0972629222000043
[7] Heart rate variability comparison between young males after 46 ... https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9130989/
[8] Exploration of COVID-19 associated bradycardia using heart rate ... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147956324001225

Thanks! Good to know about viruses. Those are great articles that you linked, and I will review all of them.

I did a google search, but I don't entirely trust the AI answers, and I didn't see anything about cause (other than insufficient recovery). Just what it is/what's happening in my body.

The ring I have just said to "seek medical advice" if I feel any discomfort.

As a general rule, I do just go by how I feel (and I feel fine/normal), so to see an anomaly and warning pop up on something that had been pretty consistent was a little confusing.

ptothemo said:

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My HRV often drops before I even start to feel badly when I get sick. I spent a good bit of December in some state of sick, and my HRV looks substantially different than normal during that time.

I also have an autoimmune like something (that is undiagnosed despite past efforts to figure it out). My HRV and stress score will show me a flare is coming up to a day or two before symptoms set in. It's actually rather uncanny how it happens.

I know there is a black box aspect to the calculations of HRV, stress, body battery, etc. across many devices, but I'm a firm believer that they are very helpful in knowing where I stand physically, related to training, sickness, or otherwise.

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Wow...that's very interesting! I typically just look at my overall sleep score and don't dig into the details, but I'm going to start paying closer attention.

I forgot to wear my ring last night, so I don't have that data.

Still feel fine...I attributed the feeling more tired than usual to the fact that my testosterone pellet had worn off (I'm mid-40s and started on a very low-dose about a year ago to help with some perimenopause symptoms). One of the symptoms I wanted to treat was extreme fatigue, so I can tell when I'm due for a new pellet.

It is very common for healthy people to fight through a viral exposure with no symptoms other than feeling a bit tired.