I’m pretty mystified by the descriptions I’m getting in Xert. Most of the directions in this screenshot make total sense; longer efforts at a natural cadence, carb loading beforehand, keep recovery power a bit higher. All good stuff that aligns well with my focus of Sprint Time Trialist, and is backed up with plenty of research.
But then at the very end it comes out with some unhinged directions that make zero sense: Interval Power: 471 Watts, Interval Duration: 39 Seconds, Recovery Power: 182 Watts
The targets at the end make zero sense, but unfortunately that’s what’s used to actually generate the workout. That means I’m constantly needing to generate all my own workouts in order to give myself a sane set of intervals (that match the top part of the description).
Hmm they definitely can’t both be correct, they’re inherently contradictory. The stimulus from a bunch of shorter, more intense efforts is very different from the stimulus of longer, lower efforts. (see for ex. TTE work). Achieving a specific ratio of low/high/peak strain makes sense, but if this is truly how Magic Buckets is intended to work, it’s flawed. It needs to be taking Focus into account in addition to strain
It’s hard for me to imagine this being intended behavior, it has to be a bug.
It does that.
Have you had a chance to ride much using XMB or the Dashboard to fill low/high/peak buckets?
You are not limited to executing short intervals at higher watts but that’s the most efficient method to meet the Focus target for the day at the intended Difficulty level.
If terrain and traffic permit, you can fill the buckets in whatever manner you prefer.
You have Mixed Specificity, so this is expected. You’d see more efforts at your Focus Power if/when the specificity is pure.
If it’s Mixed or Polar specificity, you’ll see some shorter, harder efforts mixed with a lots of low-intensity strain in between efforts. The short/hard efforts are actually used to help increase the rate at which low XSS can be accumulated.
You’re more than welcome to do intervals or ride at your 8 min power if you want. You’ll see the CL increase (and your High/Peak buckets will fill) a lot slower than they would if you ride at the suggested interval power.
