Sorry, new to Xert. Tried searching a bit but this part isn’t clear.
I’m thinking of doing a series of races next year. One a month from February to July. Then my main event for the year is probably in August. That’s when I want to be at the top of my game.
If I choose a target event, it seems that it puts a 120 day schudule before the event for base/build/specialty. But if I were to choose next August as the event date. Am I stuck in the pre-stage for 5 months? That doesn’t seem like the right approach.
I could choose the first event as the target date, but then I (assuming training goes right) peak in February and still have the rest of the season… then what do I do?
Suggestions for planning out my next year/season appreciated. I’m just starting out and still in the free trial stage.
Welcome to Xert! Great question! Xert’s training plans are set to 120 days, since the training that you do right now, today isn’t really relevant to your event next August. On the other hand, a workout/activity done in July does matter for your August event! That’s why you’ll find yourself in the pre-base period from now until ~February, since the “Focus” of your training (pun intended) doesn’t matter at the moment. However, as you get nearer and nearer to your target event, the “Focus” of workouts that you’re doing should mimic the demands of the event (e.g. your selected athlete type).
My recommendation would be to utilize the ‘Continuous Training’ option for now until ~February, and then switching to a TED program type at that time.
Thank you for the suggestion. Lots of variables to tweak but I think I like it so far.
So my current thought is to change the training to Consistently improve, but then just set the improvement rate to “off season”. Then around Dec/Jan I’ll change the improvement rate to something more and eventually when I get to May-ish I’ll switch back to target event.
I’m coming from the trainer road planner so I’m sort of used to planning the whole season. Maybe that isn’t as much of a Xert thing.
Not sure what your athlete type is for your target event, but you may want to switch it to a longer, more endurance focused one during the initial continuous improvement phase, and switch back later (or even just plan your own periodisation and leave it on continuous, and change focus manually every month or so)
My athlete type I didn’t know what to set to. I just put gc generalist because it was sort of in the middle. My special events at the end of the season are long endurance rides but in the mean time they’re shorter/medium mtb races (20-50 miles). Also interested in some long (1hr) climbing segments that I ride fairly frequently.
Should I just set it to century rider?
The type sort of implies what you want to become though and I like “becoming” more well rounded, not just having one thing I’m good at.
The topic of Athlete Type can be confusing as the names don’t necessarily match the best training for the named discipline e.g. there are other threads on the forum discussing how the time trialist / endurance athlete types are likely not best for time-triallists, since they don’t use any high intensity which most would agree is important (in moderation) at some points throughout the season.
It helps to understand what Athlete Type drives: 1) whether there is any polarisation (endurance end of the spectrum won’t really have anything above threshold) and 2) intensity of the HIT workouts you’ll be recommended assuming you do want polarisation (shorter focus = higher power, shorter intervals). You can look at the workout library for example HIT workouts from each Athlete Type.
Then it’s up to you on how much HIT you want during base… if you want none then start with time-triallist as you suggest… a bit later, if you want a bit but not too much above threshold then move to climber… and as you get closer to your events you can do short blocks of rouleur or pursuiter a week or so before each race for example (if relevant). That’s kind of what Xert’s periodisation does, but you have more control (but unfortunately more decisions to make ) by leaving it on continuous
Great question! Xert’s training plans are set to 120 days, since the training that you do right now, today isn’t really relevant to your event next August. On the other hand, a workout/activity done in July does matter for your August event! That’s why you’ll find yourself in the pre-base period from now until ~February, since the “Focus” of your training (pun intended) doesn’t matter at the moment. However, as you get nearer and nearer to your target event, the “Focus” of workouts that you’re doing should mimic the demands of the event (e.g. your selected athlete type).