I have been using ithlete for over three years now but it’s only been since the start of the year (2017) that I have started using it to its full potential with an ithlete Pro subscription. In previous years I would exclusively just use the iPhone app to help guide me on my training (Red = recovery, Amber = lower intensity, Green = good to go).
The beauty of ithlete Pro is that syncs with both my Garmin Connect and TrainingPeaks account. This syncing capacity allows me to tease out trends in my heart rate variability (HRV) data, training load score and resting heart rate.
Personal Bests all round
For me personally, I have easily had one of the best seasons to date (since racing seriously [2014]). I have PB’d in all of the winter cross country series races I entered, knocking minutes off all my previous PB’s. This continuation has rolled over to both my “A” races this season; my GB Age-Group (30-34) European Duathlon Championships (April), and most recently at Castle Howard 70.3 triathlon (July).
Looking for trends
As a result of these performances I decided to use the ithlete Pro account to explore if any trends were apparent in my performance, HRV and training load data. Generally speaking I don’t get too caught up in the numbers, but to my amazement after closer inspection I spotted clear relationships with this data and my race performances. Careful examination of all these results clearly shows that the taper worked perfectly providing me the highest HRV values of each race week. Likewise you can also see how much that race took out of me, as indicated by the steep drop in my HRV.
Above is a screenshot of my Pro account data, with the five black circles (L to R) indicating the main races which I peaked for:
- “A” race – ETU European duathlon championships (Soria, Spain)
- Beverley 10 km (10 seconds off my course PB)
- Humber Bridge Half marathon (2.5 minute PB)
- Lincolnshire Olympic triathlon (3.5 minute PB)
- “A” race – Castle Howard 70.3 triathlon (8 minute PB and now sub 5 hrs)
Moving forward, this now certainly cements the usefulness of the ithlete Pro subscription and I can’t stress enough how useful both the App and Pro account are in guiding me and informing my training sessions. HRV monitoring is now engrained in my morning routine.
by James Bray – GB Age-Group Du/triathlete
I am a highly talented and motivated triathlete who has quickly achieved GB Age-Group status in only my second season of competitive racing. Consequently I qualified to represent GB in my age group at the European Triathlon Championships in Alanya, Turkey in 2013. Since then I have qualified and represented GB in both duathlon and triathlon. In addition to top 10’s at the Europeans I have also achieved numerous top 5’s in many local triathlon races and most recently boast a sub 5 hour 70.3 triathlon at Castle Howard (which certainly isn’t a fast and flat, PB course).
Follow me on twitter here @jameswbray
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