View Single Post
Old 06-28-19, 05:55 PM
  #5810  
ntnyln
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Columbia, MD
Posts: 304
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 79 Post(s)
Liked 153 Times in 72 Posts
Originally Posted by Flatballer
Anyone using a Whoot band (terrible name).

I don't love the subscription model, and I'm not training enough right now to be getting fatigued enough for it to really matter, but it seems like a really interesting idea. I'm sure someone else (Garmin) will have one soon to compete. Looks like nobody else has quite the same thing including the HRV, resting heart rate, sleep tracking all in one.

I've also heard that sleep tracking stuff is causing some people to get less sleep because they get anxious about getting good sleep so they can't sleep, lol.
A summary I wrote on another board:

I've been using it since last July and have been pretty happy with it. I have dramatically improved my sleep time and have a much greater focus on recovery than I had previously. It's like gamifying your recovery and of course, I always want to win and that is a good thing in this case.

It tracks a number of different metrics, some reported, some not and provides you with a daily sleep summary, strain score (overall stress, not just workout related) and a recovery score. The recovery score is on a scale of 100 and is broken down into 3 segments: Red/Run Down, Yellow/OK To Operate and Green/Peaking Physically. I find that it actually tracks pretty well and use caution when I am Red or low Yellow. I usually don't make significant changes unless I am Red for multiple days.

A good example of how it tracks is this weekend. Thursday was a long day at work capped by a stressful night meeting that ran until 10pm. My recovery was Red on Friday and thankfully it was a recovery day. On Saturday I was still low yellow, but forged ahead with my workout: 5x15' Threshold Intervals, since it was only one Red day. I crashed and burned on the second interval. I ultimately pulled the plug and did some endurance work and spent the rest of the day recovering. Today, my recovery was high Yellow (2 pts from Green) so I went back and redid the workout from yesterday and I crushed it. I even set an all-time 90' power PR according to Training Peaks.

Feedback on a few of the comments and just misc info:
Sleep Tracking: I have had no issues with tracking sleep. It senses body temperature changes as to when it triggers sleep. It has been pretty accurate for me and haven't seen any major deviations. It's a wrist band and does need to be snug to the wrist. Just snug enough to not able to slide a finger under it.

Activities: You don't have to record "activities," but it helps when you look back to see why you strain was high on a particular day. It uses elevated HR and motion to detect activities. It does pick up my showers and daily food prep as an activity because I am moving around fairly quickly for an extended period of time. Conversely, it doesn't always pick up recovery rides on the trainer because my HR is low and there is no movement. Again, this has nothing to do with the data output, they only markers to look back at. For cycling they say the arm band is better, but the one issue I have is that changing bands daily is a little tedious so I just keep it on the wrist and my data matches my chest strap pretty close.

HR Readings: This is the one I was the most sceptical about since it is a wrist based optical sensor. I always wear a HR strap and have been surprised at close the Whoop is compared to my chest strap. The Whoop is always a few beat lower, but is pretty darn close.

Strain: This really helps you see what is impacting your life. Hint: your workouts are only a small part of the stress you body is going through. With all my training and racing, I have been shocked to find that vacations and the disruption of my schedule that they cause are the things that take the most time for me to recover from. I had a great trip to Asheville last year and it took my two weeks before my recovery score was Green again. It's really opened my eyes to trying to manage the rest of my life.

All that said, it's another data point to use to manage yourself and not a magic bullet. My coach had never heard of it before I got it and now it's one of the things he looks at when we review my week and we talk about how it and my TSS dovetail together. It's been eye opening for him and has been really useful in understanding why certain things (yesterday's workout) happen.

If you're interested, PM and I'll "refer" you and you can get $30 off (and I get a free month).
ntnyln is offline  
Likes For ntnyln: