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The Triathlete Blueprint Newsletter #123-Is HRV Overrated? What Really Works to Measure Readiness
- Yan Busset
- Sep 6, 2025
- 5 min read
Read time: 5min.
By Coach Yan Busset
The Best Ways to Measure Your Recovery and Readiness
When we talk about training, athletes often think only about the sessions themselves: swimming, biking, running. But training alone does not make you progress. Progress comes from the combination of the stimulus and the recovery. Recovery is not optional; it is part of training. Without it, there is no supercompensation , no adaptation so no progress.
The big question is: how can you monitor your recovery, or in other words, your readiness to train? There are several common methods, each with pros and cons. None of them is perfect, but used consistently, they can help you make better training decisions.
Resting Heart Rate
Pros: Simple, free, and easy to track. It gives a baseline of how your body responds to training load.
Cons: Can be influenced by stress, dehydration, caffeine, or even a poor night of sleep. Daily fluctuations are normal, so the key is watching the trend over time rather than one single reading.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
Pros: A very sensitive measure of your autonomic nervous system balance. Many apps and devices make it easy to track daily.
Cons: Needs to be measured in consistent conditions (same time, same state). Short-term drops may cause confusion if you react too quickly without looking at trends.
Sleep Tracking
Pros: Sleep is the number one recovery tool, and devices can give insights on duration and patterns.
Cons: Wearables are not always accurate with sleep stages. Also, athletes can become stressed about their “sleep score,” which ironically can make sleep worse.
Note: obsessing over every single night’s score can create unnecessary stress. What matters most is the trend across several days, not one isolated number. Looking at your weekly average sleep hours is especially valuable. One bad night is not a big deal, and even a great night does not make up for a bad week. If your average sleep per night over a week stays steady, you are likely recovering well.
RPE and Self-Evaluation
This one is often underrated but can be very accurate. Simply asking yourself: “How do I feel today?” can give you more information than any gadget.
Pros: Free, quick, includes both physical and psychological state.
Cons: Requires honesty with yourself. Many athletes fear missing out (FOMO), feel guilty about resting, or push because of team pressure. That bias can make self-evaluation tricky.
Wearables
How about wearables for recovery? Devices like Garmin, Apple Watch, Whoop, or Polar monitor recovery and provide a readiness score or training status that can feel very scientific. In reality, most of these algorithms are based on a mix of HRV, resting heart rate, sleep data, and training load. The pros are that they are easy to use, combine different factors, and provide a bigger picture that feels more objective than looking at a single variable. The cons are that they only work well if you wear them all the time, use them correctly, and pair them with accurate sensors such as a heart rate chest strap or a power meter. Otherwise, they can be off, sometimes oversimplifying your state with those infamous messages every triathlete knows: “Unproductive” or “Recovery Delayed.” They often pop up right after what you thought was your best training session, leaving you wondering if your watch is just trolling you. These scores can feel discouraging and definitely not personalized yet. They are useful tools but should be seen as indicators of trends, not absolute truth. Just like the other recovery markers we discussed, they are one piece of the puzzle. With the rise of AI, we can expect these tools to become less invasive and more accurate, but for now, remember they still have limitations and a bit of a sarcastic sense of humor.
The Key Point: Consistency
Whatever method you use, consistency is more important than the method itself. If you track it regularly, you can see variations, trends, and you will learn to know yourself better. Crossing data points (for example, HRV and your self-perceived fatigue) is even more powerful.
Listening to Your Body
Numbers are useful, but you also need to listen to your body. If you hesitate about training, most of the time it’s better to rest. Remember: skipping one or two sessions has almost no impact on your overall volume, but pushing through when your body is not ready can lead to injury or illness, which will have a huge impact on your consistency.
Recovery is not the enemy of training. It is not laziness. Too often, athletes confuse resting with being lazy. But recovery is the time when your body absorbs the training load, adapts, and builds itself stronger. Rest is not wasted time; it is where the real progress happens.
A Simple Decision-Making Tool: The 20-Minute Rule
Sometimes it’s difficult to know if you’re really tired or just a bit lazy. In that case, try the 20-minute rule:
• Start your session.
• Most of the time after 5-10min you will feel better but…
• If after 20 minutes you still feel bad, stop. There is no additional benefit to pushing further. In fact, it may harm your running form, swimming technique, or overall recovery. Better to stop and save yourself from unnecessary stress.
Note: This technique gives you a more objective frame that takes away some of the subjective feeling. It is especially helpful for athletes who struggle to make the right decision, because it offers a simple and practical guideline.
The Value of an External Eye
When you lack experience or struggle to get enough perspective on your training volume, having an external eye can make a huge difference. A coach, or even training partners, can provide that perspective and help you make the right call when you are unsure.
The Big Picture
Stop overthinking every small detail and keep your eyes on the macro. What matters is long-term consistency. Recovery is not the enemy of training; it is what allows training to work. Use the method that suits you best, experiment with different ones, and cross-reference the data. Learn from the data, but don’t become a slave to it. So the next time your Garmin pops up with “Unproductive, Recovery Delayed” right after a massive ride, don’t take it personally. It’s just your watch’s way of reminding you that recovery is as important as the hardest session in your plan…
What about you? How do you measure your recovery and readiness? Do you rely more on data, or on your own self-assessment? Share your experience in the comments and let’s learn from each other.
Check out my Youtube Channel:
How to Swim Straight in Open Water Every Time !
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