The secret of Garmin training status "Productive" and "Unproductive"
- Liubov Lomonosova
- Mar 18, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 19, 2020
Once I got Garmin Forerunner 945 last June I got so excited about its new super cool feature of training status. But the more I used the watch, the more it got me upset, because oftentimes it showed training status as "Unproductive". For a while I couldn't make any sense and figure out why is that so...
After Chicago Marathon I took some time off and got back to training. For more than few month in a row Garmin watch showed me "Unproductive" sign after every single workout no matter how hard I worked.
It really made so upset about it and influenced on my motivation.
I started thinking what should I really do to make it productive? Does this feature even work properly?
After couple months of experimenting with my training loads I came to some conclusions and finally started seeing "Productive" training status after almost every single workout.
Here are things that I found out:
Training status depends on heart rate. Since wrist heart rate is not accurate, it is better to wear chest heart rate monitor.
After each workout Garmin shows recommended hours of rest. It is important to follow that recommendation, if your heart rate is accurate.
7 week load should be balanced. It means the weeks must have easy runs (up to 80%) and speed workouts (1-2 per week).
Look at 4 weeks load screen, it should be balanced. If it shows "Overreaching" you probably workout too much in high heart rate zones.
If you had a hard workout (zones 4-5), next day should be easy (recovery workout).
If your training load is balanced - have balance between hard and easy days, most likely your fitness level will be improving.
Remember, if we work hard, we need to recover accordingly. Smart training is the key to success. Every runner is different, so find out what works for the best or hire a coach to help you figure it out for you.
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