Heart Rate Variability Monitoring

Do you have an epic endurance event on tap for this season? A trained endurance athlete can certainly respond to acute stressors and delay fatigue during prolonged and arduous work bouts. However, despite being strong and resilient some of the extreme stressors we subject ourselves to may cause an acute impairment of our physiological regulating systems. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls vital corporeal functions, including that of the cardiovascular system. It regulates such things as heart rate and vasoconstriction and vasodilation of blood vessels. The sympathetic and parasympathetic systems are divisions of the ANS which send signals to organs with the former responding to challenges and the latter signaling repair. Heart rate variability (HRV) is one method of evaluating the performance of the ANS, and which also conveniently may help the athlete avert overtraining. By monitoring HRV the athlete and coach may be able to assess cardiac autonomic activity and better gauge when to push and when recovery is called for. If you’re planning on going long and hard, think long and hard about adapting your training accordingly.