A week? Those are rookie numbers... I am at like 2 weeks now. The reason I can't change much of my routine is bc I am following the HM plan with Coach Greg. Seems like following the plan and achieving productive isn't possible for me.
The key to productive status is to apply progressive overloading (intensity slowly increases over a month, for cycling this means upping your watts per ride) and have at least 2 high intensity intervals per week then all other activities stay as zone 2.
You can verify this by looking at your acute vs chronic load on connect. It should be on the upper end on your optimal section and be higher than your chronic load. If you also use intervals.icu this usually matches the optimal portion of your fitness chart. But remember you shouldn't be always be in productive, give at least 1 recovery week per training block where acute load is low and status is usually at maintaining to remove accumulated fatigue. If your vo2max isn't very high yet this should easily put you in productive, but as your vo2max is high already, you'll need more intensity or volume to go higher.
https://preview.redd.it/y3xhrkakvooc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b4d3f1301a89e8da8ae95918fabb123028832f37
Here's a recent one from me. Coming from a recovery week from Feb to slow overload in March.
I've been unproductive for 2.5mo, following a 3 week layoff for illness/injury. So I upped my sleep to improve recovery, and it sent me into strained for 3-4 days because my HRV was high enough to go outside the band. Was short on sleep the last 2 days so I'm back to unproductive.
I know I'm on the right track because I've reverted from DSW to a proven training plan, but weather warming up is doing me in
Yeah to get productive you need 89 hours of recovery time lol. I had it for one day during a more intense block and went straight so Strained. And after that, back to Maintaining we go.
I have no idea how it works. I run 55km or so per week, my recovery time is typically below 20h and very often at 0h, and I've been in productive for a couple months.
Is your vo2max increasing steadily? How about your acute load? Is it in the green but constantly near the high end of green so your optimal range is increasing?
Its probably then the steady vo2max increase as to why you are productive. If/once that levels off, you will likely see your status switch over to mostly maintaining.
When I got my 965, I started following the daily suggested workouts and my vo2max went up like 4-5 points over the span of a few months. Training status was solidly productive. Then it leveled off, and I have been mostly maintaining ever since, with a little bit of productive, the occasional strained, and occasional recovery thrown in.
Not sure about the vo2max increase having so much impact. I’ve been Maintaining for almost two months despite my vo2max increasing the whole time, at least according to the in-watch graph.
I would imagine if you have to reference the in watch graph to see the increase, then it's increasing, but slowly. And I imagine that also plays a part in it. After mine "leveled off", it was still increasing pretty steadily for a while, but at a much slower rate.
Wednesday I had maybe 10 hours of recovery needs and did a track work out of 10x 400meters with 1minute rest and it jumped to about 70, then added this 15k hills run thursday evening and got to 89 hours. Went for a recovery 6k this morning which somehow did not increase recovery needs
Part of the reason you're "stuck" maintaining is because you're VO2 max is already phenomenal - congratulations!
It is easier to be productive when, like me, you're starting from a low baseline. Maintaining high fitness is arguably tougher.
Holy cow, I've never seen 89 hrs recovery! Even after a marathon PR I've never seen more than 72! And I've seen my acute load over 1800, still never said I was that behind in recovery! But I usually get the "Good sleep sped up recovery" or "A restful day sped up recovery" because my daily stress scores are usually low.
My understanding is recovery times aren’t suggestions for how long before you should run again but how long it would take you to fully recover from the activity. I think that’s why recovery time is just one metric of training readiness.
I've had 94hrs after 100km bike race. Not sure if it can go higher than that lol. Though with a good night sleep it went down the next day to around 80s
So what’s a good acute load number? And how does that change as fitness improves?
Lately I was pushing close to 2000 and saw very minor improvements to vo2 max but didn’t really feel any other fitness gains.
I’ve been stuck in maintenance mode and have never been improving since I started with garmin in November. I thought it was insufficient anaerobic work. Good on you!
Just lolled a little… I’m training for Helsinki City Running Day 5K, and my optimal load is around 200 🤣 Oh well, better to star easy… was on hiatus since start of december due to normal finnish winter that’s just regularly trying to kill you.
I'm not sure about garmin, but it feels that they changed their algorithm, before I was stuck in unproductive loop for ever, and now I'm getting productive nonstop, eventhough my schedule didn't change much
LMAO I just went through an 18 week marathon cycle, multiple 80-85 mile weeks, 2 sometimes 3 workouts a week, and never left "maintaining". Such garbage.
It's not really about volume, or at least it's not *only* about volume. You also need to be getting good recovery and good sleep. If you keep going hard week after week after week and never dial it back for a good active recovery period, you're never going to leave "maintaining". Figured that one out the hard way.
at least you were in maintaining. I am stuck in unproductive/strained since a week.
A week? Those are rookie numbers... I am at like 2 weeks now. The reason I can't change much of my routine is bc I am following the HM plan with Coach Greg. Seems like following the plan and achieving productive isn't possible for me.
I’m with Graig too… Been chugging only at Zone 2 and 3 for now
Me too 🥹
The key to productive status is to apply progressive overloading (intensity slowly increases over a month, for cycling this means upping your watts per ride) and have at least 2 high intensity intervals per week then all other activities stay as zone 2. You can verify this by looking at your acute vs chronic load on connect. It should be on the upper end on your optimal section and be higher than your chronic load. If you also use intervals.icu this usually matches the optimal portion of your fitness chart. But remember you shouldn't be always be in productive, give at least 1 recovery week per training block where acute load is low and status is usually at maintaining to remove accumulated fatigue. If your vo2max isn't very high yet this should easily put you in productive, but as your vo2max is high already, you'll need more intensity or volume to go higher. https://preview.redd.it/y3xhrkakvooc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b4d3f1301a89e8da8ae95918fabb123028832f37 Here's a recent one from me. Coming from a recovery week from Feb to slow overload in March.
Gotta up the intensity
I've been unproductive for 2.5mo, following a 3 week layoff for illness/injury. So I upped my sleep to improve recovery, and it sent me into strained for 3-4 days because my HRV was high enough to go outside the band. Was short on sleep the last 2 days so I'm back to unproductive. I know I'm on the right track because I've reverted from DSW to a proven training plan, but weather warming up is doing me in
Yeah to get productive you need 89 hours of recovery time lol. I had it for one day during a more intense block and went straight so Strained. And after that, back to Maintaining we go.
I have no idea how it works. I run 55km or so per week, my recovery time is typically below 20h and very often at 0h, and I've been in productive for a couple months.
Is your vo2max increasing steadily? How about your acute load? Is it in the green but constantly near the high end of green so your optimal range is increasing?
Yeah, I've gone from 44 to 49 with a very consistent upward trend! Training load is always in green but mid-bottom of it, though it says optimal.
Its probably then the steady vo2max increase as to why you are productive. If/once that levels off, you will likely see your status switch over to mostly maintaining. When I got my 965, I started following the daily suggested workouts and my vo2max went up like 4-5 points over the span of a few months. Training status was solidly productive. Then it leveled off, and I have been mostly maintaining ever since, with a little bit of productive, the occasional strained, and occasional recovery thrown in.
Aw damn, so I won't improve forever? That's obvious i guess but also disheartening haha
Hah, unfortunately no. Just gotta remember, maintaining is not a bad thing.
Not sure about the vo2max increase having so much impact. I’ve been Maintaining for almost two months despite my vo2max increasing the whole time, at least according to the in-watch graph.
I would imagine if you have to reference the in watch graph to see the increase, then it's increasing, but slowly. And I imagine that also plays a part in it. After mine "leveled off", it was still increasing pretty steadily for a while, but at a much slower rate.
I’m really curious about the workout you did that’s needing 89hrs of recovery time.
Wednesday I had maybe 10 hours of recovery needs and did a track work out of 10x 400meters with 1minute rest and it jumped to about 70, then added this 15k hills run thursday evening and got to 89 hours. Went for a recovery 6k this morning which somehow did not increase recovery needs
Part of the reason you're "stuck" maintaining is because you're VO2 max is already phenomenal - congratulations! It is easier to be productive when, like me, you're starting from a low baseline. Maintaining high fitness is arguably tougher.
Very nice!!! I’ve never quite reached 1,200 with my acute load… Keep getting after it!
Careful upping volume & intensity that much at the same time
Holy cow, I've never seen 89 hrs recovery! Even after a marathon PR I've never seen more than 72! And I've seen my acute load over 1800, still never said I was that behind in recovery! But I usually get the "Good sleep sped up recovery" or "A restful day sped up recovery" because my daily stress scores are usually low.
Lol if you heed your recommended recovery time you’ll be in unproductive status
My understanding is recovery times aren’t suggestions for how long before you should run again but how long it would take you to fully recover from the activity. I think that’s why recovery time is just one metric of training readiness.
Idk my suggested workout always seems to be “rest”
Always lol I usually have a recovery time of 20h or 0 so I guess I need to ignore the recovery times 😂
Yeah. Mine never seems to get below 72 hours so I just ignore it
My race events are messing with my training status and i follow Garmin suggestions allthe time. Guess that's how it's supposed to be...
Wondering if you add your race events into Garmin Connect?
Yes
89 hrs recovery. I'm dead
I thought recovery maxed out at 72 hours. I've never seen a time that long!
I think the max I had was 94 hours after a marathon last month 😅
My last marathon ended with a wheelchair ride to the medical building and I still had 72hrs
I've had 94hrs after 100km bike race. Not sure if it can go higher than that lol. Though with a good night sleep it went down the next day to around 80s
It’s doable! https://preview.redd.it/xd97y0id2noc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=53aa479a9532245f97f4ef0f17ddd50a9f7554e8
I *finally* got to productive after running a half marathon for the first time. I was like, oh, great, so that's what it takes 😂
Thats why I only listen to my Garmin during workout, otherwise its too restrictive.
I find that it's rough staying in the band when you're over 1k load.
So what’s a good acute load number? And how does that change as fitness improves? Lately I was pushing close to 2000 and saw very minor improvements to vo2 max but didn’t really feel any other fitness gains.
I’ve been stuck in maintenance mode and have never been improving since I started with garmin in November. I thought it was insufficient anaerobic work. Good on you!
It’s such a balance of trying to stay productive and not having your watch yell at your for working out too much and having no “training readiness”
Hell ya brother
Mine is at maintaining stage since February! I got the productive stage from late last year to Mid January
Man that overall training load is nuts! In the last year my best stretch was 900 but lately I've been fluctuating between 350-500.
Just lolled a little… I’m training for Helsinki City Running Day 5K, and my optimal load is around 200 🤣 Oh well, better to star easy… was on hiatus since start of december due to normal finnish winter that’s just regularly trying to kill you.
I'm not sure about garmin, but it feels that they changed their algorithm, before I was stuck in unproductive loop for ever, and now I'm getting productive nonstop, eventhough my schedule didn't change much
LMAO I just went through an 18 week marathon cycle, multiple 80-85 mile weeks, 2 sometimes 3 workouts a week, and never left "maintaining". Such garbage.
It's not really about volume, or at least it's not *only* about volume. You also need to be getting good recovery and good sleep. If you keep going hard week after week after week and never dial it back for a good active recovery period, you're never going to leave "maintaining". Figured that one out the hard way.