As an athlete who utilizes my Ember device, I am excited to start using the Coach Dashboard feature to screen my data to my coaches. The Coach Dashboard can be accessed through a desktop or laptop, and it provides a layout of athlete data for trainers all in one place. Once a trainer invites an athlete with their Ember account, the athlete’s data then becomes accessible to their coach via this tool. I believe that this subscription will benefit me and my coaches because it will help determine my peak performance times and when more recovery may be needed. Athletes measure their “first of day” data through their Ember device every day and it is sent to their coaches’ dashboard. The dashboard includes features to record and display information from athletes’ Ember devices, including: Pulse Rate Variability, Hemoglobin, and Oxygen Saturation. It also includes a feature for athletes to input their emotional states each morning, which will be sent to coaches and used to help guide athletes from difficult emotional states to positive ones and through difficult periods of recovery. With my coaches and I being familiar with the Ember devices and their abilities, this is an optimal solution for us to maximize and improve my training. For some, backing off and receiving extra rest can be the difference between breaking the 5-minute mile. For myself it means making the United States Olympic team.
Let me tell you how I use it in a practical setting. After a hard training season, for the sake of conversation I will use my 5x mile repeats averaging 4:50 with 3 minutes rest. I will take my numbers where my coach can see in real time even if he is not on sight. He will then make an educated decision based off my numbers that are unique to me, similar to a fingerprint. Then, he'll give me the green light to continue with my tag 400, which is 400 meters at max effort after I have completed my workout. Since my coach will have access to my data through the Coaches Dashboard, this will give me confidence that I do not have to worry about putting myself in a hole for the next few weeks and running on dead legs. My coach can know exactly how I’m feeling.
Lately, I have used my Ember device to thread the needle between recovering from illness and starting my training load. In the past, I've used the first signs of wellness to start training again, where I would allow the sickness to return. I knew I wasn’t feeling 100% but I would still make the decision to return to training because I didn’t have an Ember Device showing me my parameters. Because the Ember Device can tell me what is going on at the cellular level, coupled with Coach Dashboard, we take the guessing out. As excited as I am to get back into the arena and fight to write my Olympic story, sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward.
