Having a bit of trouble getting up and running. I’ve used Trainer Road for the last 8 months, while messing around with Xert a few times intermittently. Looking to go all in on Xert, but after importing all my data it is giving me a TP that seems surprisingly low.
TrainerRoad AI has me at 200 watts, but after importing all my rides Xert has me at 169. I’m able to complete sweets spot, threshold and VO2 rides on TrainerRoad at 200 FTP setting.
Should I leave the TP as Xert calculated, or make manual adjustments? Looking for some confirmation that I am starting this off correctly!
Hi Zackary - welcome aboard, and thanks for giving Xert a go!
If your synced rides during the trial period (past 3 months) have mostly been structured workouts and haven’t included efforts that really push you to your limits, it’s quite possible that your fitness signature - especially Threshold Power (TP) - is underestimated.
Unlike some systems that try to estimate FTP from submaximal efforts, Xert models your maximal capabilities. To do that, it needs to see maximal efforts, whether that’s all-out sprints, hard VO2 intervals, sustained threshold climbs, group rides, or races. Without those, the system has no clear “limit” with which it can anchor your signature.
So while we say that FTP tests aren’t required, it’s still important to occasionally include maximal efforts in your training from time to time to keep your signature up to date. Many times, these just happen naturally as part of your unstructured rides (like hard group rides).
If you’re confident that 200W is closer to your true TP, feel free to adjust it manually:
Open a recent activity
Scroll to the bottom and change TP to 200W
Save the changes - Xert will recalculate all activities since then using the updated signature
That should give you a more accurate starting point and help workouts feel more appropriate right away.
Hope that helps! Feel free to reach out with any other questions as you get started!
Scott
Compared to traditional FTP tests, a few maximal efforts to validate your Fitness Signature are relatively easy to do on Xert.
Several ways to do that depending on how and where you prefer to do them.
What’s your equipment setup for capturing power outdoors and indoors? (power meters, head unit, trainer type)
Indoors I use a Kickr Core with my bikes which also have their own power meter. I have a garmin edge 550 head unit. Due to weather (central VA is covered in ice and sub freezing now) all my rides have been indoors the last month!
Appreciate all your help. Typically I do TrainerRoad while watching movies, but maybe pairing Xert and Rouvy would be fun and allow for some free rides/ maximal efforts?
recently got back to xert after a year of switching to tr. the simplest thing is just do a xert fitness test for breakthrough or alternative ride up a climb or indoor climb (alpe du zwift or something) as hard as possible. That’ll get you close to correct TP. Otherwise jsut edit it.
Click HERE for one of the standard fitness tests that @nebur86 mentions.
Ride it entirely in Slope mode exceeding targets if able and make sure to ride to failure on last interval.
Since you’ve manually set a starting TP, you may not get a Breakthrough (BT) performing this test, but you will get a good idea if your numbers are in the right ballpark.
Here’s the other fitness test workouts in the Library –
With Xert any maximal efforts will do to keep your signature dialed in over time.
Rather than relying on formal tests, those efforts might occur when you go-for-broke at the crest of a hill, during a lively group ride or ZRL event, sprint up a short hill, or a DIY fitness test using Magic Buckets (XMB) on your Garmin or EBC Android.
You could also do this while free riding on Rouvy/Zwift/etc. I.e. replicate the standard test – two short sprints, full rest, then a series of escalating intervals >TP until failure.
Fitness test workouts don’t show up on recommended lists, but you will see a warning under your name when Xert considers your signature as stale. I.e. time to validate it however which way you prefer.
In between BT’s decay is in play meaning your signature will start to decline if your current TL isn’t enough to maintain it.
OTOH during a progression your TP will rise as TL rises. No BT required.
Awesome info - this is perfect to get me up and running.
Coming from TR, they seem to stress staying away from high efforts on group or solo rides as they impact ability to complete their prescribed training rides. Different philosophy here - excited to try things out!
I think being able to appropriate account for unstructured rides is why most/all platforms shy away from allowing users to do unstructured group rides or races and encourage “sticking to the plan”. Or even if you do a group ride, they’ll suggest to ‘keep it easy’ or something similar.
But since we take a totally different approach with how we model your Strain (e.g. XSS) across 3-dimensions, we’re able to account for unstructured activities far more precisely which means that those activities can be included as part of your training plan - including High Intensity group rides & races!
Anecdotal for sure, but most of this winter, I have substituted my high-intensity workouts with Zwift races (& Magic Buckets) and have substituted group rides for my easier/endurance days, which has kept things feeling fun & fresh for me - and my fitness has continued to improve throughout the winter without ‘VO2max progressions’ or increasing my ‘workout levels’… I’ve mostly been just riding my bike Maybe others can relate to this as well with their own training.
There are many times that I’ve got a breakthrough on a race day, which means that my signature is constantly updated/refined as part of my training plan and I get the fun of racing with my teammates I don’t have to stick to only doing structured workouts, which is totally okay for many athletes, but maybe not every athlete.
I think the flexibility that Xert offers is what a lot of athletes are looking for in their training!
Exactly. I did the standard fitness test in zwift without erg and with virtual shifting (zwift cog) on a flat course. And overperformed the last interval. That got me to it.
