Now What?

You have max heart rate, resting heart rate, and heart rate
variability. You have total distance moved in a practice. You have blood
lactate during and post workout. So you have pages of spreadsheets filled with
numbers, now what do you do with this data? How can you translate all these
random numbers into useable information? This is the million-dollar question.
It is not a matter of what you can monitor, it is what you can use and
interpret. There is an explosion of technologies available today that enable us
to monitor virtually any parameter we want to, but before we go further down
this path we need to take a step back and ask why? On one level it is very
straightforward 1) We need to get accurate feedback to guide and shape the training
process and 2) We need to understand individual response and adaptation to
various types, volumes and intensities of training.

On the next level we need to determine the absolute need to
know information that will help us accomplish those two objectives. Monitoring
more parameters is not the answer, just because it measureable does not mean it
is meaningful. You need to ask yourself is the data helping to make your
athletes better? Can you translate the numbers into actions that will
significantly impact the athletes training? If you find yourself inundated with
random numbers without context then you need to step back and ask yourself why?

I love data, it is interesting and challenging to find
meaning in data you  gather. But and there is a big but here – have you lost sight of the forest for the trees. You can get caught up in generating
random numbers that you take your eye off the ball. You need to watch the
athlete as a person, as an individual, how they handle the stress of training
and competition. Closely observe body language. Ask them how they feel. Educate
them to read their bodies and how they react to training stress. Put
the focus squarely back on Hu, the human element, not the technologies and the
subsequent numbers.

Don't be a mad scientist, be a coach. Use technology to measure what is meaningful and
appropriate. Less is more. Focus on the need to know and stop there. Look
closely at the tools available to help you do this. How much time do you have?
How much help do you have? Then carefully choose how and what you are going to
monitor. Then have a plan to turn that data into information that you can use
to modify or change your training. Remember just because it is measurable does not mean it
is meaningful.