One thing you should know is that I'm a gigantic nerd. Therefore, the majority of this blog will be focused on data. Below is a list of the various metrics I'll use, and what I'm hoping to get out of them.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV): The variability of the timing between heartbeats. I'll use it as an indicator of stress on the body, and ultimately how hard I'm ready to go on any given day. More info here.
AM/PM Heart Rate: My heart rate in the morning or evening, taken while sitting down and relaxed. I'll use this to bolster/validate HRV data, and draw correlations between training loads and aerobic fatigue.
Soreness: My soreness on a 1-10 scale. 1 - 'oh my god I can't walk', 3 - 'this hurts a lot', 5 - 'Yesterday was a killer workout', 7 - 'I'm somewhat sore', 10 - 'It's race day'. I'll use this to see what areas I have to work on the most. This will be used to determine what my body is ready for in various stages of my training.
Stress: Because I don't feel like airing my dirty laundry on the blog, I'll indicate stress outside of workouts here. This could pertain to work, social life, etc. Also on a 1-10 scale, with 1 being the worst, 10 being the best. I'm a very low stress person, so this will regularly be in the 8-10 range. This will be used to look for correlations between training/racing ability and non training factors.
Mood: What kind of mood am I in on a 1-10 scale, 1 being horrible, 10 being absurdly chipper. This may end up being redundant as it will probably correlate with stress, but we'll find out. If it is I'll stop recording it. This will be used to look for correlations between training/racing ability and non training factors.
Hydration: How hydrated I am when I wake up aka how yellow my pee is. 1 being 'how am I still alive' yellow, 10 being 'how did I not piss the bed last night' clear.
Fatigue: How tired I feel when I wake up on a 1-10 scale. Again, 1 is horribly exhausted, 10 is phenomenally refreshed. I'll use this to figure out the optimal amount of sleep for a given work load.
Sleep: Amount of time spent asleep the prior night.
Functional Threshold Power (FTP): The maximum power output that can be sustained for an hour. All cycling workouts will be constructed based on this figure, and it will be tested monthly using the BSX Insight, a lactate analyzer. This will be used to determine how hard I push during my cycling workouts. More info here.
TSS/rTSS: How difficult a cycling or run workout is, determined using HR and power. More info here.
Normalized Power (NP): The steady wattage output that equals the variable wattage done in a training ride. For example, 5x5 @ 290w with 2 minutes rest in between might feel like doing 265w for 35 minutes. More info here.
Intensity Factor (IF): How the NP of a workout relates to FTP. More info here.
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