to me the various “layers” of the AI engine sometimes don’t seem aligned,
eg. 60/h XRRS is a perfect endurance effort. It also aligns nicely witth the AI engine: when i need to do a pure endurance session, the length of the training and the target XSS for the session align to the minute to a 60 XSSR rate, eg I might need a 2h 15m session with a TGT 135 XSS
but then i also see an activity called High intensity training (so i expect shorter and harder) and it says 2h 2m at 133, so yes thats a little shorter and a little harder, but the difference seems smaller then the titles pure endurance vs high intensity seem to indicate
and when i click on the high intensity training the first recommendation is a 1h 30m training landing at the 133 XSS, meaning the XSS effectively being a harder session. it therefore seems the length of time that is recommended is the parameter I should pay least importance to, the name of training focus and XSS are probably the 2 parameters to use when selecting another training then the system recommends.
The impression that I shouldn’t pay attenting to the length of time is strenghtened since when i filter training recommendations that are 2h and more, the system actually recommends the training protocol i use for my long endurace (and i have several +2h trainings, so its not that protocol is the only one availeble)
therefore the title of the post: consistency between training name, XSS and duration needed. The name & XSS combo seems the ones to look for, the durating seems a bit counterintuititive?
Duration. Yes. That, by the very nature of training is a difficult one to pin down. The only time duration comes into play during the planning phase is when you specify availability. Even then, it only serves to constrain the XSS you can get for a forecasted activity. Ultimately everything is based on XSS - low/high/peak - and that’s what gets optimized. How long a particular forecasted training activity will take depends on a host of factors - inside/outside, high/low intensity, focus/specificity and difficulty. So we only provide an estimate. We could probably improve the estimate or perhaps provide a range but even then the range is broad. Hence, you get to choose and just take the duration as a rough estimate. If you want to do an ride outside with a stop or two, it’ll take longer. If you want do it inside with a 5 diamond workout it will take far less. You get to choose which is an important factor in helping you progress towards the goal. Just realize that the duration is a factor only in planning and doesn’t affect the actual training benefit, at least insofar as how Xert quantifies it.
Btw, an important contrast to make is that TSS is duration-based and the longer you spend on the bike the higher the TSS, even if you’re idle. One reason why using TSS in an impulse response model or for form calculations isn’t likely to yield great results.