2 questions (breakthrough and recommended training)

Hi guys !

2 quick questions that I haven’t found the answer yet.

  1. The principale of breathough. I fully understand it, but my question is : if my trainings have specific watts that it want me to do. How to I achieve the breakthrough ? IE : I have 15x 30secs at 400watts to do. Isn’t the goal of the training to hold the 400 watts ? I think my stats are underestimated by Xert since I road all summer without a powermeter and now I just got on the platform… So is there a way to like… start fresh ? With something like a test ?

  2. Recommended training. My athlete type is Puncheur, but almost none of the recommended trainings are Puncheur focused… is that normal ?

Hi,

1). If they are UNDERestimated, then you have two options:

  • leave is as is and let the Xert to learn your profile with time
  • remove all activities which have wrong power reading or don’t have them at all. To do this go to “Activities” > “Table”
  1. It depends in which cycle of the training you are.

You are right, normally workouts don’t lead to a breakthrough. Training should not be that hard too often.

That said, there are set breakthrough workouts if you like (search workouts for breakthrough), but if your signature is not accurate to begin with, following the workout may not even lead to a BT… the important thing is that you go all-out / to failure while relatively fresh (not too late in a ride and not the day after a hard ride). Just ride flat out for 10 minutes… and when you can’t go any longer or harder, try sprinting for 10 seconds or so… or do a Zwift race or anything else that is all out for long enough

If you search the Workout Library for “fitness test” these entries will list.

As @wescaine mentions you want to ride the workout to failure during any intervals designed for that purpose. To ensure that outcome, ride the workout in Slope mode, not ERG Control (called AUTO in Xert).

As to question #2, workout selections will depend on calculated form and which program type you select. For example, if a TED (target event date) is set far enough in the future, you’ll be in Base phase of a timed progression where only endurance level workouts will be recommended. In Xert that includes both easy endurance (LTP and below) and hard endurance (LTP to TP). As you zero in on your target event date and move from Build to Peak phases, focus duration will begin to narrow to your target duration (Puncheur).
If you select Continuous as the program type, workouts will reflect selected Athlete Type when calculated form is Fresh (blue/green). If form is Tired (yellow) only endurance level entries will be recommended.
Regardless of current Athlete Type selection you can always change suggestions on-the-fly by using Filter. For example, you could set Focus to Road Sprinter if you wanted to insert a sprint workout into your training.

Lots of newbie tips posted here – Beginner questions
Academy series videos are the quickest way to get up to speed – Discover + Improve + Perform
FAQs here – Support Home – Xert