Using Garmin ride reports to guide training - anyone do this?
 

Just got a Garmin 530 with a heart rate monitor and a power meter. I've been riding for many years with some road racing, always had the basic speed+distance only cheap bike computers, no power meter or heart rate. So I thought I'd jump in and see what everyone's talking about with the latest GPS based bike computers with power and HR.
After riding with the Garmin for a month I'm now getting lots of training info from it about my FTP, Vo2max, Training Status, Recovery Time, etc. Very surprised what comes out of it. Looks like Garmin uses Firstbeat software for generating these reports (a training analytics research company). Like having a fitness coach built into the Garmin. I'm trying to understand how accurate and useful this data is.
My first surprise when using the Garmin was the long Recovery Times that is recommended after each ride. I'm getting 45-65hrs of recommended recovery time after each ride. Before getting the Garmin, for 10+ years, I never wanted that long between rides.
So here's my question: does anyone closely follow the Garmin suggested Recovery times? Did this make a difference in your riding performance and fitness?
If I take more time between rides, this reduces my weekly mileage. But if more time between rides improves my fitness and performance, then it does make sense. Thoughts?
thx!

I think recovery time is the biggest most confusing term and least understood thing Garmin could have named this piece of data.

Though I know you are just talking recreational riding for us mere mortal cyclist, but how would pros doing a Grand Tour for 21 days deal with "recovery time". From some of the conversations overheard through open mic's on several grand tours when Garmin introduced it, some of the pro's were laughing at being suggested by their Garmin not to ride for almost two days.

I definitely do not.

Feel fine/good = ride fast.
Feel bad = ride slow or not at all.

Firstbeat, huh? I'd been wondering where Garmin came up with those wacky numbers; none of them seemed to line up with anything else I could find.

Recovery time from Garmin I treat kind of like I treated late night comedy monologues, at least before Jon Stewart. Pure entertainment, and I'd get my news from a real news source. Short, hard ride, can barely park the bike and walk back into the house; recovery time, 9 hours. Or a long, easy endurance ride, feeling fine; recovery time 38 hours. For the latter case, does pulling the lawn mower out and cutting down some overhanging tree limbs count as part of recovery time?

Numbers definitely seem off. Did a 94km tempo-paced ride on Sunday, and as of right *now* Garmin is giving me 53 hours recovery. Training Peaks, on the other hand, has me pegged at -7 Form today, 0 Form tomorrow, 6 the day after that.

But on the other hand, the recovery time usually says "train normally" a long time before the actual recovery hours drop to zero... maybe it's somewhat equivalent to Training Peaks's Form, but they're being extra conservative and counting until you're really back to the equivalent of +ve form?

The problem with any formula like the Garmin is they are based on assumptions including the quality of data you put into it. What it doesn't have is your training plan objectives and you don't know what the basis is for the numbers. Does Garmin plan for progressive overload and what ramp rate etc? I enjoy seeing I need 2 or 3 days recovery after a hard weekend, but it sure doesn't mean I'm taking that much time off necessarily, I follow my training plan not Garmin's numbers.

Just throwing in another data point. After my big ride yesterday, Garmin is (as of right now) reporting 3 days of recovery time for me. On Training Peaks, Form is currently -30, and in 3 days it'll be -2.

It always says "train as normal" when your recovery countdown is 24 hours or less. Above that doesn't mean you can't leave bed, or that you can't ride, they're suggesting you avoid intense efforts. Recovery rides are what the thing is suggesting until you're close to recovered.

I don't find that very useful personally. But it's good to at least understand what it's telling you.

Garmin's training load feature does a better job trying to answer the same question. It's not perfect either, but it's generally pretty reliable.

You can do the same thing with a power meter with CTL and ATL.

Mostly though I just give it what I've got that day.

It's based off heart rate not power. If HRM is all you have, try PhysFarm. Firstbeat is garbage but their VO2 Max is matching up with WKO4 and American College of Sports Medicine's formula based on power. Stupid thing is you also need HR data for it to calculate.