What Garmin's 'Recovery Time' Estimate Actually Means

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Garmin's fitness watches often give you a "recovery time" after a workout. For example, after one easy run, it told me that I need 21 hours before I'll fully recover. I've come to expect long recovery estimates from Garmin, but they don't mean what you might think. For example, you're not expected to fully rest during that recovery time. Here's what you need to know. What is Garmin's recovery time feature, and where can you see it?  You’ll see your recovery time in the end-of-workout summary that you get right after you finish a workout on many Garmin watches. It’s also available from the Training Status glance on your watch, or the Training Readiness tile in the Garmin Connect app if you have that. On my Forerunner 570 , I can even set it as one of the little complications on my main watch face. The recovery time feature is available on most Enduro, Epix, Fenix, Forerunner, Instinct, Venu, and Vivoactive watches, among others (Garmin has a full list here ).  Garmin defines recovery time as “an estimate on how long it will take for you to fully recover and be ready for your next workout of the same intensity.” Note that phrase, fully recover. No athlete is fully recovered at the start of every training session; it's normal to carry a little fatigue from one session to the next. This number is just giving you a sense of how long you’ll be feeling the effects of this workout.  Ga…