Hello ,,
Your Fitness Tracker isn't Your Coach
Fitness trackers are increasingly popular and sophisticated but Clare's recent experience demonstrates that they still can't replace human judgment.
On Friday last week, she scratched a race after noticing unusual fatigue and unresponsive heart rate, classic signs something wasn't right. She became ill that night with a viral infection.
During recovery, her fitness apps delivered conflicting messages: Coros alerting that her "fitness is decreasing" while WHOOP showed she was "well rested." The algorithms were proving too simplistic to pick up on Clare's illness and constant fatigue despite taking plenty of rest with good nutrition.
3 Insights About Systematic Training
I.
Most fitness tracking applications use algorithms that are tied to their own proprietary data, so for example, Whoop doesn't account for power, a fundamental input in cycling. External factors such as illness, heat acclimation and altitude are also poorly represented as the devices don't know how well adjusted a given person might be. For this reason, creating some form of personally objective understanding or working with a third party like a coach can prove much more effective in managing training load and fatigue.
II.
Data-driven training recommendations can become problematic reinforcement mechanisms for athletes with strong training compulsions. When algorithms suggest training is appropriate while your body signals otherwise, the quantified feedback can override essential self-awareness and lead to decisions that exacerbate problems rather than resolve them. Beware of the TrainingPeaks and Strava fitness scores that imply more equates directly to improved fitness.
III.
AI applications are not all bad. Despite being quite suggestable, an intelligent 'conversation' with a general AI tool like Chat GPT or Claude can reveal fairly objective insights. We use this method regularly to combine measured data like power, heart rate, HRV and sleep with subjective comments to understand fatigue cycles and readiness using our proprietary Traffic Light System - you can do it yourself with a bit of intelligent experimentation. Humans and AI are much better than just AI.
