Hi XERTers.
So I decided this offseason to just do what XERT told me to do, no questions. I set my ramp rate and initially set a target event date but then switched to continuous improvement, ramp rate was Mod-1 or Slow depending on time availability, and No Decay.
For the most part, I was being fed a continuous diet of endurance workouts (ie @LTP) as I was ‘yellow stars’ most of the time, even though I felt pretty good the whole time. After learning about the magic of zone 2 from Drs. Attia and Inigo San Milan I had no issues in just doing it. It was boring to be honest. Nothing exciting, lots and lots of LTP work…and I trusted. My TL went from 34 to about 54 since Jan 1. During the process, TP and LTP didn’t move much tbh, PP dropped, but I kept plugging way.
I had my first outdoor ride yesterday and my second today, ended up with a GOLD breakthrough. I feel great too, no crazy burned out legs. Ready to go out again tomorrow. My signature is already at the highest it was last season. And that was towards the end of my outdoor season. At the same time my TL is currently not near (54 vs 75) what it was when I hit that number last year. I don’t race, I am weekend punter with less than 10h a week to train. My goal this season is TP 250, PP 1000 and LTP 200.
My 2 cents? Base training is crucial. LTP is magical. And to trust the XATA, it works. Thanks XERT!
Thanks Brian. I feel that not neglecting endurance/LTP work during the season, ie maintaining ‘polarized/pyramidal’ workloads will be crucial in achieving fitness goals. Group rides tend to be more high energy affairs and then plateaus happen. Discipline is key…even if that means ‘solo’ rides.
For those interested, I am now ‘yellow stars’ on the fitness planner for 7 more days. So lots of endurance training only to come. Blue stars make an appearance in 8 days! At only 2 stars (TL of 56) - XATA estimates that I have work to do yet to see 2 hard efforts in 1 week as only one results in a sea of yellow for days. I will monitor when XATA estimates that I can handle multiple high energy system rides in one week - I assume 3 stars?
My experience is that as your TL grows if you can’t do longer efforts on the turbo it will start to substitute more intensity into the recommendations to compensate. Hopefully I’m now going to be riding more outside and I’m just going to go after the recommended XSS and throw in some intensity when I go Blue.
For sure, we only have “X” hours to train. My understanding is that XATA will optimize our endurance fitness at X hours / week and then advise higher energy workouts as needed and as ‘possible’. 1 star vs 3 star base fitness is very different and will result in longer time in ‘yellow’ to recover those high energy systems. Pretty intuitive!
WRT outside, I use the Garmin IQ apps and ride to XERT recommendations of FOCUS and XSS. That keeps training and progression on point, even outside. Slick.
Actually the driver of how long you will be yellow for is your high and peak training load, fairly independent of overall TL / stars. E.g. if you are 5 stars from 100% LTP rides you’ll also be yellow for a week from a tough high intensity workout
If you feel recovered and want to do more high intensity I would just use the freshness slider… you’ll build that high and peak TL quicker, but of course should listen your body
I think Xert’s training status can really help people avoid overtraining by simply identifying when their high intensity systems need to rest. Yellow stars? Head out for a ride and focus on keeping the intensity low.
Here’s my low-intensity ride today - waiting for my freshness to return for HIIT on Thursday!
Makes a big difference on the outdoor rides. For my solo outdoor endurance rides, I spend very little time coasting… lot’s of shifting, but allows me to keep a pretty steady/constant effort throughout.
Then I don’t feel so bad about stopping for coffee and a pastry
We need to start a thread showing photos of Cake & Coffee. Here’s one from a couple of weeks ago that I thought might be appropriate for you Canadians. Bacon Pancake with Maple Syrup.
