learning the Xert workouts having spent a few weeks seeing what the training progression mechanism felt like.
Was interested to see just how different I was to the planned workout description. In the middle block I was able to do each interval, which in theory (based on the workout description) would overload me by the end and I’d see myself basically having nothing left (that was pretty much true physically but interested to see the graph implying I’ve still got a long way to go)
Does Xert maybe apply different lenses to different power durations at all - and therefore assume so can handle more neuromuscular effort than I can?
Hi @scoobmw2 , happy to hear you’re getting along with Xert!
Interesting - this appears to be an older version of the workout, which had originally used 130% of FTP for the interval targets, which is a typical intensity target for similar workouts in other platforms. However, this workout is a great example of why prescribing intervals based on high % of FTP doesn’t work well for all athletes… depending on the athlete (and their signature), this workout - as prescribed with ON intervals at 130% TP could either be impossible to finish, or hard, but not maximal.
Athlete A: 800 | 15.0 | 240 would be unable to complete the workout as prescribed… it would put them over the limit for all 3 intervals and a max difficulty score of 156 - OUCH!
Athlete B: 1500 | 32.0 | 325 would be able to complete the workout (as prescribed) without reaching failure in any of the 3 intervals. They would still rack up an even higher difficulty score, however!
The updated version of the workout (SMART - A Pain That I’m Used To) uses each athletes’ unique fitness signature to calculate the interval targets (at their 3.5 min power), which makes it equally painful to complete for all athletes, regardless of their signature
Excellent - so i wasn’t too far off the mark with the method question.
That’s regularly been the suggested workout of the day for high intensity days for me (and yup, just checked - it’s the suggested one for my next high intensity day a week on Saturday - I need to do something about this plan and somehow polarise it a bit more I think (or select a different rider type or something so that the high intensity comes in more often - but that’s an aside).
I’ll head off now and subscribe for a month i think. Need a bit longer to see if the workout planner works for me
