Every workout tracked on your PACE 4 contributes to your training load, fitness, and fatigue. Your COROS watch automatically updates your fitness data with each activity recorded.
Training Load
Training Load is a universal way to quantify your training and measure your stress through activities over time. Based on time and intensity, Training Load allows you to compare the strain of workouts across different sports using the same metric.
Every activity tracked with heart rate data will receive a Training Load score, classified on a personalized scale of Low, Medium, and High. View your Training Load score in the activity summary in your COROS app, or by scrolling down from the main watch face to the Training Load widget.
COROS recommends a 7-day Training Load for you based on your fitness level and the amount of training completed in recent weeks, based on a 3:1 training cycle ratio. This means that if you have three consecutive weeks of increased Training Load, the fourth week will have a lower recommendation for enhanced recovery.
Training Status
Training Status is calculated based on a rolling average of 7 days and 42 days, and tells you how effective your most recent training was.
There are three key metrics that make up Training Status:
- Base Fitness: The amount of Training Load your body has accumulated in the long term (the last 42 days).
- Load Impact: The amount of Training Load your body has accumulated in the short term (the last 7 days).
- Intensity Trend: The relationship between Base Fitness and Load Impact, illustrated on a 6-point scale to compare your recent training with your overall fitness.
- Excessive: Recent training may be overreaching or excessive.
- Optimized: Productive training is increasing Base Fitness.
- Resuming: Increased Training Load is improving your fitness.
- Performance: You are ready to take on significant physical effort.
- Decreasing: Low recent Training Load; Base Fitness is declining.
Recovery
COROS assesses your real-time Recovery based on a combination of your Base Fitness, Training Load, and remaining energy since your last exercise. Typically, you do not need to be fully recovered before you start the next training session. You can schedule your training according to different Recovery recommendations.
- 0% - 19%: Exhausted; rest is recommended
- 20% - 69%: Fatigued
- 70% - 89% Normal
- 90% - 100%: Fresh; ready for hard training
Workouts and Training Plans
Download official workouts and training plans to your COROS watch, or create your own within the COROS app.
To get started, open your COROS app to the Profile page (fourth tab) and select either Workouts or Training Plan Library. At the top of the next page, toggle to the Official Workout Library / Official Plan Library to view official workouts from COROS coaches and professional athletes. Select any workout to view more details and add it to your workout or training plan library.
Scheduled workouts and training plans will appear in your Training Calendar, which you can open from the Progress page (first tab) in the app.
If you have a workout scheduled for today, simply open your watch to the correct activity mode (such as Run or Track Run if you have a run workout). Your watch will automatically prompt you if you wish follow the scheduled workout for the day. After confirming, your watch will guide you through each phase of the workout with real-time alerts. For more information, see Using COROS Watches for Structured Workouts.
Running Specific Metrics
The following metrics are available for activities tracked in Run or Track Run mode. In order for the algorithm to obtain sufficient data to begin calculating these metrics, you will need to record at least one 25 minute run, with your heart rate at 65% max heart rate reserve or higher. You can also take the Running Fitness Test to instantly unlock the following metrics.
EvoLab provides race time and race pace estimates for 5k, 10k, half marathon, and full marathon based on your past 6 weeks’ training via your COROS watch and the COROS app. With this race predictor, you can plan your race strategy accordingly.
It is rare for someone to train for a 5k and a marathon at the same time, so different types of workouts will impact different race distance predictions. Long runs over 30k have a major impact on your marathon prediction while a 60-minute threshold pace run will mainly affect your 10k or half marathon estimates.
Running Efficiency measures how the effort on your run compares to your recent historical runs. The Efficiency score is calculated based on a combination of pace and heart rate data. Your efficiency for a workout can be impacted by various external and internal factors, including sleep, heat, fatigue, elevation, and more. Lower efficiency indicates there may have been factors impacting your workout causing your effort during it to be higher than expected.
Not every outdoor run will receive an Efficiency score. All of the following requirements have to be met to evaluate an Efficiency Score:
- The activity was recorded in Run or Track Run mode
- The run lasted at least 7 minutes
- For interval training, each interval lasted at least 3 minutes
- Throughout the run, your heart rate was between 65% - 95% of your max heart rate
VO2 Max is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can consume during training. It is a very popular metric in a variety of training systems. A higher VO2 Max usually means better fitness. COROS estimates running VO2 Max based on workout data including heart rate and pace from your recent outdoor runs, which is tested to be very close to the lab test results. Also, VO2 Max is not a metric that should change drastically in a short term. The VO2 Max estimates from EvoLab are much more stable than those offered by other brands.
Running Fitness represents your marathon performance. Your individual Running Fitness Breakdown scores indicate your relative strengths and weaknesses at different efforts for Endurance, Threshold, Speed, and Sprint. Training within the zones listed here will improve the corresponding abilities.
Lactate Threshold is the breaking point when aerobic training starts to transform to anaerobic training. It can also be defined as the intensity of training at which lactate acid begins to accumulate in the blood faster than it can be removed. It is a popular indicator used in competitive sports. In addition to the traditional heart rate zones, we’ve now introduced 6 threshold pace zones representing different focuses in training. Threshold pace zones are a great tool to measure your effort and it eliminates any issues that could develop with your heart rate readings.
EvoLab recommends personalized threshold heart rate and pace zones as the default setting based on your general fitness level. To better suit your training, you can edit the default zones or choose other heart rate zones such as max heart rate zones or heart rate reserve zones. Training at each zone has a unique effect on your body and fitness. You can improve base endurance, lactate threshold, anaerobic endurance by training at associated zones.
Below are the details of the default threshold heart rate and pace zones and they may not match the zones that are edited manually.
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Zone 1 (Recovery)
- This range corresponds to low exercise intensity. It is suitable for active recovery.
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Zone 2 (Aerobic Endurance)
- This zone is comfortable enough to maintain conversations. It is suitable for basic cardiopulmonary function training, which mainly exercises basic aerobic capacity. It is an effort that can be sustained for multiple hours, and easy or long runs usually fall into this category.
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Zone 3 (Aerobic Power)
- This range leads to a sudden increase in breathing rate and it becomes harder to maintain conversations. It is suitable for improving running form and techniques such as breathing or cadence.
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Zone 4 (Threshold)
- This effort is barely sustainable and rather uncomfortable. Training in this zone improves your ability to sustain harder efforts for longer. It is an effort that can typically be sustained for 45-60 minutes, and 10-15 minute intervals usually fall into this category.
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Zone 5 (Anaerobic Endurance)
- This range has now exceeded your threshold ability and therefore becomes quite uncomfortable and unsustainable, making you uncomfortable and causing shortness of breath. It applies to high-intensity interval training, which mainly improves VO2 Max ability. 5 minute interval runs usually fall into this category.
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Zone 6 (Anaerobic Power)
- This zone's intensity makes you struggle to breathe. It is suitable for anaerobic training which improves anaerobic capacity and muscular endurance. 1-min interval runs usually fall into this category.
Training Effect is determined by training load per minute and evaluates how your training impacts both your aerobic system (from cardio building activities) and anaerobic system (from high-intensity interval training). What divides these two groupings is your Lactate Threshold. Generally, a lower load per minute below the lactate threshold intensity will help your aerobic fitness and a higher load above lactate threshold intensity will improve your anaerobic fitness. Both the aerobic and anaerobic training effects have the same scale from 0-5+ or inefficient to overreaching.
There are 6 different types of aerobic and anaerobic training effects:
- Inefficient (0-0.9): Minimal effect on fitness
- Recovering (1.0-1.9): Good for recovery but low on fitness improvement
- Maintaining (2.0-2.9): Maintaining fitness
- Improving (3.0-3.9): Improving fitness if repeated 2-4 times per week
- Optimized (4.0-4.9): Improving fitness efficiently if repeated 1-2 times per week
- Overreaching (5.0-5.9): Improving fitness significantly with sufficient recovery or may lead to overtraining
Training Focus measures the primary improvement based on the training load and intensity at the end of your run. The workout will be labeled with one of six different Training Focuses including Easy, Base, Tempo, Threshold, VO2 Max, and Anaerobic. While threshold zones are great for effort measurement, you typically won’t stay in one zone during your training session and this is why training focus is added to EvoLab. In a nutshell, Training Focus is determined by the differences in training load for each threshold pace zone.
- Easy: This training helps with recovery.
- Base: This training improves basic aerobic endurance.
- Tempo: This training improves the ability to control rhythm in races.
- Threshold: This training improves pacing at lactate threshold pace.
- VO2 Max: This training improves VO2 Max.
- Anaerobic: This training improves anaerobic endurance.
If your fitness metrics such as Training Load, Race Predictor, pace zones, or heart rate zones appear to be inaccurate, you can take the Running Fitness Test to recalibrate your fitness level quickly. This is a 25-40 minute guided outdoor run workout that is designed to be challenging without requiring maximum effort. The Fitness Test yields an updated lactate threshold pace, lactate threshold heart rate, and maximum heart rate value.
To get started, open your watch to the main activity menu and scroll to Fitness Tests. From this menu, select Running Fitness. Learn more about the fitness test here.
Cycling Specific Metrics
With a connected power meter and heart rate data, your COROS watch can give you detailed training insights for your cycling fitness journey.
Training with power is one of the most valuable tools for cyclists to improve their fitness. In order to receive power zones, you will need to meet the requirements listed below during a bike activity to provide the algorithm the data it needs to assess your FTP. An accurate FTP extrapolates your individual power zones and provides accurate Training Load data for cycling activities. These are the requirements:
- Record an indoor or outdoor ride that includes a segment of at least 20+ minutes of steady, uninterrupted riding (no intervals).
- During the 20-minute steady segment, your COROS device is recording heart rate data and is paired with a power meter.
- During this segment, your heart rate must average at least 60% of your heart rate reserve.
- For example, if your max heart rate is 180 and resting heart rate is 50, your heart rate reserve is 130. 60% of 130 is 78. Now to get the target range, we will add resting heart rate to the previous numbers. 78+50=128. To qualify for this example, the athlete needs to maintain a heart rate reading over 128bpm.
The COROS cycling power zone model is based on a percentage of your FTP (Functional Threshold Power) to allow your workouts to be as individualized as possible.
COROS power zones are broken down into 7 zones:
- Recovery: Easy, recovery rides.
- Aerobic Endurance: Long rides. Easy, but sustained effort.
- Aerobic Power: Tempo, or sweet spot rides. Harder effort that require focus, but sustainable for longer periods.
- Threshold (at or near FTP): FTP workouts. Strenuous effort and hardly sustainable.
- Anaerobic Endurance (above FTP): VO2max workouts. Effort is very demanding and can be sustained for several minutes at a time.
- Anaerobic Power: Strength workouts. Highly demanding effort that can only be sustained for a few minutes.
- Sprint: Neuromuscular workouts. Maximal effort that can be sustained for up to a minute at most.
Efficiency measures how the effort on your last activity compares to your fitness level. Various external and internal factors can impact your Efficiency score, such as quality of sleep, temperature, and elevation.
The score that you can receive will range from 80% to 120% and has 5 different levels.
- Excellent: 105% - 120%
- Great: 102% - 104%
- Good: 99% - 101%
- Fair: 96% - 98%
- Low: 80% - 95%
Not every bike activity will receive an Efficiency score. All of the following requirements need to be met to evaluate an Efficiency score:
- Track your ride with both heart rate data and power meter data in Bike or Indoor Bike mode.
- Ride for at least 10 minutes to allow for sufficient data to be gathered.
- For interval training, each interval should be over 3 minutes.
- Your heart rate during the ride should be between 65%-95% of your max heart rate, and it should remain steady throughout the workout (no large and sudden increases or decreases).
Take a guided FTP Test directly on your PACE 4. FTP stands for Functional Threshold Power, which is defined as the highest average power you can sustain for approximately an hour, measured in watts. FTP is one of the most commonly used training metrics in cycling. It can be used as a benchmark statistic, and to determine training zones when training with power.
On your COROS watch, go to the main activity menu > Fitness Tests > Cycling FTP Test. To complete the test, you will need the following:
- Indoor trainer that measures power
- Heart rate data (external HR strap if using DURA)
- Initial COROS FTP assessment from recorded bike activities
For more information on the FTP Test, please click here.