The human body is a remarkable design. One aspect of this design is the ability of the human to respond to threats at a subconscious level in order to keep one out of harm's way. This is often referred to as the fight-or-flight response, otherwise known as stress. Stress can be due to many factors including exercise, toxins in the environment and food, work, interpersonal relationships, and bacterial/viral/fungal infections.
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls the stress response. The ANS includes two branches. The sympathetic branch is your body's accelerator. It sets the body up to respond to stress by increasing heart rate and stroke volume. Other bodily functions such as digestion and reproduction are down regulated, as they are not critical to short-term survival (e.g., escape from the charging lion).
The second branch of the ANS is the parasympathetic. This branch can be thought of as the brakes. Heart rate is reduced, digestion of food increases, and the reproductive hormonal pathway is reestablished (as opposed to generating cortisol, the stress hormone).
Although the human body is designed to respond to stress, it is not able to deal with chronic stress. An individual's ability to adapt to chronic stress is based upon genetic potential, known in the Chinese medical system as Jing You can think of Jing as a battery. Stress drains the battery, while rest recharges it. It is possible to drain one's battery to the point that medical intervention is needed. Geoff Roes has blogged about his own struggles with overtraining and how it has ravaged his health.
Chronic stress can manifest in many ways due to its effect on several physiological systems. This is one reason an individual can succumb to one or more injuries during a heavy training period. The body may start to break down if this training period does not include adequate rest.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) analysis is one tool which is useful for determining adequate recovery during a training period. HRV is easy to measure, and depending on its implementation, can be more accurate than many other methods for predicting adequate recovery.
Firstbeat is the market leader in HRV analysis tools. The Firstbeat Athlete application can be used to analyze the workout data collected by a fitness watch and will modify the training schedule based on the measured level of fatigue resulting from the workout. This application requires a fitness watch which can collect beat-by-beat records. At the current time, only the Suunto t series and Ambit, and the Garmin 610 and 910XT support this type of recording (as well as some lesser known brands also support beat-by-beat recording).
Suunto has also added the Firstbeat recovery algorithm to the Ambit fitness watch. The Ambit reports a recovery estimate for each workout, as well as a cumulative recovery period. This recovery estimate is not gospel, as again, each person's ability to adapt depends upon all current stress factors, past chronic stress, and inherited genetic potential. One can, and should, record the HRV data while sleeping, to provide a good baseline of state of recovery.
I have provided a review of my exercise for last week to demonstrate how the recovery differs from the Training Effect (TE). It also shows how much more of a load snowshoes add to a workout and potentially could lead to overtraining in a shorter amount of time.
All of my runs last week were on the same trail loop behind our house, which is approximately 3.7 miles and has 270 feet of ascent.
Tuesday - One loop wearing inov-8 roclite 285s. 149 AHR, TE 3.6 (improving), 14 hour recovery.
Wednesday - One loop wearing inov-8 roclite 285s. 130 AHR, TE 2.4 (maintaining), 10 hour recovery.
Thursday - Two loops wearing Dion 121s. 147 AHR, TE 3.5 (improving), 42 hour recovery.
Friday - One Loop wearing Tubb Adventures. 119 AHR, TE 2.1 (maintaining), 39 hour recovery.
Friday - Short Loop wearing Dion 121s. 141 AHR, TE 3.0 (improving), 50 hour recovery.
Saturday - One Loop wearing Dion 121s. 143 AHR, TE 3.2 (improving), 56 hour recovery.
Sunday - One Loop wearing Tubb Adventures. 108 AHR, TE 1.6 (minor), 49 hours recovery.
The workout recovery estimate is reset if you are outside of the previous recovery period. This is why Wednesday shows 10 hours. You can then see that I set myself up for a long (42 hour) recovery period after breaking through new snow for almost seven miles (did not go back to the house on the second loop). I then kept hammering my already fatigued system for the rest of the week. So, the important point of the above example is that easy days may not be enough to overcome a hard day. I was still building up recovery hours on the two easy days. I would definitely end up injured or sick if I kept this up, despite feeling like I could head back out today.
I would highly recommend that anyone serious about their training avail themselves of the Firstbeat recovery tools or something similar. Some similar, but not nearly as accurate tools are:
- Azumio Stress Check - IOS and Android
- ithlete HRV Training and Recovery - IOS and Android (plus HR strap)
- Polar Own Optimizer - Requires a Polar Fitness watch which supports this app
- Sweetbeat/SweetbeatLife - IOS (plus BT LTE strap or Vital Connect HealthPatch)
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or need clarification.
Thank you,
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