A workout summary can show duration, distance, heart rate, splits, perceived effort, and route. It does not answer the central question on its own: did the session serve its purpose, and what does that mean for your plan?
Use the same five questions each time. They take a few minutes, still work when data is incomplete, and help you review the workout record, your own observations, and the known circumstances in a consistent order.
The five questions at a glance
Write no more than one to three sentences for each question. If you need more, you probably have not yet made the observation clear enough.
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What purpose was this session meant to serve?
State the planned purpose in one sentence before you open a graph.
- Note down
- For example: easy endurance, a longer steady effort, strength and control, or technical practice with low fatigue.
- Do not infer
- Do not judge the session by pace, calories, or a peak value if that number was never part of the goal.
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What did you complete, and which data were saved?
Write down only verifiable facts: start time, duration, content, completed parts, changes, and available measurements.
- Note down
- Keep “not done” separate from “not recorded.” A missing heart-rate sample is not a heart rate of zero.
- Do not infer
- Do not mistake a workout tile for a complete data set. Individual categories or sections may be missing.
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How hard was the session, and what changed as it progressed?
Add your perceived effort and one specific change that occurred during the session.
- Note down
- Rate the overall difficulty of the whole session on the same scale each time. For example, use 1 for very easy and 10 for the greatest effort you could sustain in that session. Keep the same format for later sessions. Also note when pace, movement quality, focus, or planned rest differed.
- Do not infer
- Perceived effort does not replace measurements. A watch, in turn, cannot know that an exercise became untidy or that you deliberately slowed down.
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Which known circumstances should you consider?
Name only factors you actually know, and do not frame them as a cause.
- Note down
- That can include the previous session, sleep duration, heat, elevation profile, work stress, travel, or a deliberate change to the workout.
- Do not infer
- A short night's sleep alone does not prove that it caused the higher heart rate.
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What is the smallest useful next decision?
End the review with a decision, not a report.
- Note down
- Choose one category: leave the plan unchanged, check whether the observation repeats in the next comparable session, or discuss a possible plan change.
- Do not infer
- Do not automatically compensate for a disappointing session with extra volume. One day rarely supports a big story about your plan.
Why completed work and response should stay separate
When you review a session, separate the work you completed from your response to it. The two may not match.
The record shows what you completed
Duration, distance, repetitions, speed, power, and completed sections describe the work you performed or its measurable properties. The available fields depend on the workout and the data path.
Apple Support: End a workout and view its summary, Halson (2014): Monitoring training load and fatigue, Bourdon et al. (2017): Consensus statement on monitoring athlete training loads
Your self-assessment completes the record
Heart rate, perceived effort, well-being, and other measures describe different parts of the response to training. They may relate to one another, but one does not replace another. The systematic review included 56 original studies of athletes. Subjective measures of well-being and objective measures generally did not correlate. That supports using different types of observation together, but it cannot identify the cause of one person's state.
Halson (2014): Monitoring training load and fatigue, Saw, Main and Gastin (2016): Systematic review of subjective and objective measures, Bourdon et al. (2017): Consensus statement on monitoring athlete training loads
One measure is not enough
No single measure can reliably assess fatigue on its own and explain the response to every workout. Perceived and heart-rate-based load can relate to each other, yet diverge at very low or high intensity.
Halson (2014): Monitoring training load and fatigue, Borresen and Lambert (2008): Subjective and heart-rate-based load
Complete your five-question review
Your entries stay in this browser's local storage on this device. This page does not send them to SlopeReady. Print the completed review or copy the five answers into a conversation with your coach. If anyone else uses this device, clear the answers after printing or copying them.
Storage status
Two completed examples
These examples show the shape of a review. They do not prescribe a decision for your next session.
The session was completed but felt unusually hard
- Purpose
- 40 minutes of easy, steady work with no pace target.
- Record
- 41 minutes on the familiar route. No pause and no missing section. Average heart rate was higher than on the most recent comparable runs.
- Response
- Perceived effort 6 out of 10 rather than the usual 3 to 4. Pace stayed steady; heaviness developed in the legs during the second half.
- Context
- 5.5 hours of sleep that night and strength training the day before. Both circumstances are known, but they do not reliably explain the difference.
- Next decision
- Leave the plan unchanged and check whether the observation repeats in the next comparable easy session. If it appears again, discuss a possible adjustment with the coach.
The review ends without an invented cause. It preserves the observation and makes clear what to check next time.
The numbers look complete, but execution changed
- Purpose
- Train lower-body strength and controlled single-leg movement.
- Record
- Completed every planned block. The watch recorded duration and heart rate, but not movement quality.
- Response
- Perceived effort 7 out of 10. In the final block, the range of motion became smaller so the movement could stay controlled.
- Context
- The session started later than planned and rests were shorter. The watch does not show that change; it is known only from the note.
- Next decision
- Leave the plan unchanged, record the smaller range of motion and shorter rests, and compare them in the next similar session. Discuss the observation with the coach before adding volume.
Even a detailed watch record would not show that the person deliberately reduced the range of motion. Add a short note to the recorded data.
Compare like with like
First compare the session with comparable sessions. The more purpose, route, device, conditions, or training phase differ, the less confidence you should place in the comparison.
Same purpose
Compare easy endurance with easy endurance, and strength control with a similar strength-control session.
Same device and app
Use the same device, recording app, and available measurements wherever possible.
Several comparable sessions
A repeated observation does not prove a cause. It only shows what to check next.
Same note format
A short review with the same structure is easier to compare later than changing free-form notes.
How to formulate a question for your coach
Include the purpose and your observation instead of writing only, “Analyse my training.”
Please review my most recent session. Planned purpose: […]. What I actually completed: […]. Available and missing data: […]. Overall effort and what changed during the session: […]. Known circumstances: […]. In your reply, separate facts, possible explanations, and what is unknown. Then tell me whether I should leave the plan unchanged, check whether the observation repeats, or discuss a possible plan change with you. Present any change only as a proposal that I can apply or cancel.
- If a needed measurement is missing, write “missing” rather than zero.
- Do not ask for a certain cause when the data only support several possibilities.
- Have a plan change shown as a suggestion, then apply or cancel it.
Which data SlopeReady can use in this review
With your permission, SlopeReady reads available Apple Health data, but it does not record the workout itself. The AI Coach can retrieve recent workout summaries and, where needed, details from an existing workout, such as duration, distance, active energy, heart rate, pace, or other stored fields. It does not fill in values that are not present.
The AI Coach's context may include the current plan and information you shared in the conversation. It cannot derive a diagnosis or a certain cause from that information. If it suggests a plan change, you see the proposal before it is applied and choose whether to apply or cancel it.
Product behavior checked against the current SlopeReady code and the published Privacy Policy and Terms of Use on August 13, 2026. Data and privacy, How SlopeReady works