Training load, measured against your own usual

What does the training load card measure?

How much work your recent training has asked of your body, against your own usual. A workout's load grows with how long it lasted and how hard your heart worked, so a long easy run and a short hard one can both weigh a lot.

Sports scientists call the two sides acute and chronic load. The same week is a big step for one runner and easy for another, so the card compares you only with you. More in training load for runners.

What do the zones on the card mean?

Your dot sits on a curve in one of five zones, each a plain reading for planning the next few days:

The footnote sets the terms: “A guide to getting the most from training, not a medical reading.” Use it exactly that way.

Do workouts from other apps count?

Yes. Every workout with heart rate in Apple Health counts, today's included: a ride, a gym session, a Garmin run via Garmin Connect. A run recorded twice counts once.

The card also weighs how you're absorbing the work, from the morning signals behind your running readiness score.

How should I use the training load card?

As a weather report, not a grade. Aim for Productive most of the time, with lighter weeks dipping into Easing off. A short spell in Pushing builds fitness; staying there for weeks is the thing to notice.

• In Pushing or Too much? Make the next runs easy. The Easy gear is where the work sinks in.
• Easing off for a while? Normal in a lighter week or taper. Unplanned? It may be time to build again.
• On a Gears plan? It already builds in a lighter week every fourth week and never stacks hard runs back to back. See your personalized running plan.

One more note: if this week's longest run is a big jump past any in the 30 days before it, the card says so and suggests keeping the next runs short. Your plan never sets that jump; going long on your own can.

How does the running streak work?

In weeks, not days, because rest days are training. Set a runs-a-week goal from one to seven (three to start). Meet it and the week is kept.

• Runs from any app count.
• Four kept weeks in a row earn one protected week, for when life gets in the way. Hold up to two.
• No penalty for rest: “This week is kept. Rest days count too.”

When does the card appear?

After about two weeks of runs, on the Today screen under readiness. The more of your training Apple Health holds with heart rate, the truer the picture.

What Gears doesn't do

• No injury risk, predicted or scored. A guide to getting the most from training, nothing more.
• No overtraining detection or recovery verdict. Just where your training sits against your own usual.
• Blind to effort without heart rate. Workouts recorded without it tell the card less.
• No comparing you with other runners.
• Not medical advice. Read the health disclaimer.