I’m trying to understand this again.
How does an increase in wattage correlate with a ramp rate?
As an example, I’m setting a plan for one month. It’s asking me for a Target wattage for that athlete type.
How do I decide a reasonable Target if I want to keep the ramp rate at 1.5 as an example? Am I targeting a 5-watt increase, a 10-watt increase?
Ty
Hi @Mordy111 ,
I’d like to first understand your overarching goals and objectives with manually controlling the ramp rate. I’m genuinely curious to learn more about what you’re aiming to achieve by adjusting this parameter. From my (personal) viewpoint, as well as from many athletes in our user base, they are aiming to optimize their performance (e.g. Fitness signature) rather than a particular increase in training load - in most cases, the ramp rate is irrelevant so long as they can achieve their goal without overtraining.
If you are concerned about overtraining… it’s important to note that with Xert’s Forecast AI training program, the system is designed to never prescribe more training than you can handle, ensuring that your performance is optimized while minimizing the risk of overtraining. Additionally, the maximum sustainable ramp rate can be indirectly controlled via the ‘Recovery Demands’ slider under the Forecast AI Settings. Adjusting this slider towards “more recovery” will decrease the maximum sustainable ramp rate accordingly.
Moreover, instead of manually monitoring ramp rate, you can simply input your desired Focus power, and Xert will automatically calculate and prescribe the training necessary to achieve your focus power goal, assuming it fits into your configured availability!
However, if you still wish to manually control ramp rate, you could consider examining your current Training Load (TL) and calculating the needed increase for the final/projected TL. For instance, a +1.5 ramp rate for 4 weeks would roughly equate to a +6 TL… adjust the target power such that the finishing TL is approximately +6 TL.
If you’re wanting to manually plan out your training anyways, you might benefit from using the traditional ‘Continuous Improvement’ option and setting your Improvement rate accordingly.
I hope this provides some clarity on how to navigate ramp rate and wattage increases!
I plan on training for something bigger in the summer but if I load it up into the forecast now it calls for rides that are longer than I can do indoors, so I will likely have to start a new plan once weather allows to go outside.
That said, I am trying to basically create a continuous plan for the next month or two but with a weekly AI plan to actually look at (much better than XATA).
My issue is that when I just arbitrarily say I would like to gain 10 watts on my 8 minute power, it will follow my instructions, but that may cause a higher ramp rate than I really want during this season, especially with the time constraints of indoor riding.
What I’d like to see is the ability to essentially say that I would like to improve at a slow or moderate1 level and let it calculate what my end power might be.
I feel like arbitrarily setting a end wattage gain causes a higher ramp rate than I am prepared to do.
Tried this for 8 weeks. Increased TL target by 12. Results in forecast 7 watt increase. I like this method I think.
If the issue is training time indoors, can you create a full, long-term plan normally, then add constraints to your availability for the next few weeks and adapt forecast?
Ah - I can understand/appreciate that. In your case, I’d definitely recommend creating a few smaller forecasts (~6-12 week blocks maybe), rather than one overarching goal/forecast for the entire season. That should allow you to better control how much training is recommended over time.
Too complicated. Unless there was some way to say maximum 2 hours on Sunday until next date and after that you can change it to 4 hours for the rest of the season… It’s easier to just create shorter blocks
Yeah think I suggested a feature like that when it launched…
Or they could use the ‘default for xxx’ to only apply from the date you click in the planner… then you could default two hours Saturday now, then click a date in May to default Saturday to 4 hours going forward… only two steps then