Patrick Dempsey · October 1, 2026 · 6 min read
COMPANION VIDEO. This issue ships with Video 2, Your Recovery Score Can't See Overtraining Coming. Here's What Can.
This week's video is about a line you can't see. Here's the part I couldn't fit into it: the most common tool for finding that line has a noise problem big enough to swallow the thing you're looking for.
I want to be careful here, because "your HRV is useless" is not what the research says and it isn't what I think. The measurement is sound. It's the question most of us are asking it that's wrong.
Below: the arithmetic on the noise, a study where the number said one thing and the athletes said another, four rowers whose numbers looked like a red light, and the one change to make tomorrow morning.