Really enjoy the Xert system as it allows a lot of freedom and flexibility. I think it will be perfect for outdoor riding season. Now that Im primarily indoors on trainer doing suggested workouts Im often confused about what is suggested and the descriptions of the workouts, see below. Why also does it suggest a puncheur workout but then all the recommendations are not puncheur workouts? Perhaps there are to many workout/ride type catagories. Is it really necessary to have a different name for 3min power vs 4min power? Especially considering most of the system is based on 3 zones per recent videos.
The recommended focus type isn’t the only consideration for XATA when recommending workouts. There are many other factors that also come into play, such as the duration, difficulty, and XSS of the available workouts in the library.
You’re (somewhat) correct, that there are only some subtle differences between a Pursuiter (3 min power), Puncheur (4 min power), and breakaway specialist (5 min power) workout, which is why you may see some of those workouts recommended, even if the recommended focus is Puncheur.
Note that Xert does not use “Zones” anywhere in the platform. We do sub-divide Strain into Low, High, and Peak XSS, but it’s functionally very different from analyzing time in zones. It’s a small, but important thing for me to point out.
Any workout labeled SMART has some element of XSSR based intervals.
Many of the original dynamic duration workouts have been updated to use dynamic power instead. Otherwise a number of users were complaining the X minutes workout they selected to fit their schedule today was taking longer than X minutes.
Does this also explain why I am suggested to do a Climber workout and only Endurance workouts are recommended. Are Climber and Endurance trainings also very similar?
Recommended workouts are dependent upon the phase you are in (if a target event date is set), your current calculated form (tired to fresh), and selected athlete type (focus).
As @ManofSteele mentions XATA factors in duration, difficulty, and the XSS goal against available workouts in the library.
If your form is yellow (tired) recommended workouts will be endurance based ranging from 20:00 minutes focus and up (Sprint Time-Triallist thru Triathlete).
If form is blue/green (fresh) recommended workouts will include higher intensity intervals at a variety of focus types based upon setting including ATP (TED, Continuous, Challenge), Athlete type (focus) and improvement rate (IR) which affects both hours/week and intensity (XSS).
During a phased progression focus will slowly migrate from mostly endurance (Base phase) to your target focus as you reach Peak phase. See the diagram shown in the Program Phases reference link below.
Also note that athlete types roughly group into these quadrants.
