Wellness red flags: what a coach watches for

The two layers

The Hub fires concerning flags on individual entries that hit specific thresholds (see Concerning flags explained). A single concerning entry is not necessarily a red flag. What follows here is the layer above: patterns of multiple flags that warrant active coaching intervention.

Red flag patterns

Pattern 1: Consecutive concerning days

• 3 or more concerning entries in a 7-day window.
• Especially if the flags are different across days (sleep one day, soreness another, illness another).

Intervention: reach out, ask what is going on, consider inserting a recovery week (see Plan adjust: recovery week).

Pattern 2: HRV trend down + RHR trend up

The classic overreaching combo. HRV is the autonomic stress signal; RHR is the sympathetic load signal. Both moving the wrong way is a stronger signal than either alone.

Intervention: pull the next 48 to 72 hours of intensity. Move long sessions to easy. Sleep gets priority.

Pattern 3: Illness + soreness + missed sessions

• Illness reported.
• Soreness elevated.
• Activity feed quiet for 3+ days.

Intervention: assume real illness. Stop prescribing. Reach out for an update before resuming.

Pattern 4: Mental signals

Low mood and low motivation for 7+ consecutive days, without an obvious training-load explanation. The Hub does not flag these individually but the trend matters.

Intervention: a conversation, not a training adjustment. The athlete may need a real break, a change in goals, or help outside coaching scope.

Pattern 5: Alcohol pattern

alcohol_drinks >= 3 flags. If it fires repeatedly across weeks, that is a different conversation. A pattern of multiple drinks per night is a health concern, not a training one.

Intervention: refer to professional help. Adjust training expectations downward; do not pretend the pattern is not affecting performance.

What the system does for you

• Flags individual entries.
• Surfaces flagged entries on the coach dashboard.
• Compounds priority when multiple flags stack on a single entry.

What the system does NOT do

• No automatic notification when a pattern develops across days. You watch the trend manually.
• No auto-adjusted plan. Pattern interpretation is the coach's job.
• No automated outreach. The athlete is not told "you've had 3 concerning days"; you tell them.

Practical cadence

Most coaches do a roster sweep:

• Daily on athletes in race week or in active build phases.
• Every 2 to 3 days in base or off-season.
• Weekly for self-coached athletes who use you as a light-touch check-in.

When to escalate beyond coaching

The wellness data can surface things that are not coaching problems:

• Repeated illness: refer to medical.
• Severe mood patterns: refer to mental health resources.
• Pattern of disordered eating signals (weight drops, energy crashes, training compulsion): refer to a registered dietitian and / or therapist.

Stay in your scope. The data is a prompt for the right conversation, not a license to play doctor.

See also: Concerning flags explained, Plan adjust: recovery week, Athlete wellness trend.