Breakthrough today on the final sprint of a 42Km graded scratch race.
A closer look:
1 Like
I hit it a couple of times on Zwift the past few days to test myself. First was a short sprint race about 20 min in length. Intense to start and up the KOM, then eased up on the downside until the sprint. The second I was going pretty chill and did all out up the Yorkshire KOM. Amazing breakthroughs, but Iām always skeptical of huge jumps. I feel great and Xert FTP estimation hasnāt failed me yet. I stopped FTP testing because it was always within a few watts. The results are amazing and welcomed. Maybe Iāll test them out this week.
2 Likes
Training is going to get harder now!
Got some feedback from Scott. He recommended flagging the huge jump because that drastic decrease in HIE. Then if the next breakthrough mimics that we can re evaluate.
Been a few weeks, but got another one. Still gaining on recovery. Though I might be flagging this one.
My main ride is a dual 700c recumbent. Thatās where my BTs have been this year, doing TT efforts on the 'bent. But I also have a 'cross bike that I enjoy taking on the local canal roads and a couple dirt climbs.
Iāve been riding the CX a bit more recently and the other day took it up a local hill trail. The 32/28 low gear was barely enough for my power, but I pushed a bit harder than needed and got a BT partway up the climb. Kept the power on and cracked right after the last switchback, about 150ā from the summit. (the gray in the image is altitude, not difficulty)
But why flag it? Wellā¦ the difference in power production between recumbent and upright. Iām still not sure how exactly they compare. Iāve had this before, where Iāll use a BT on the 'cross bike to realize the fitness is there, flag the activity, and then about a week later go out and try for a BT on the recumbent.
And also this was almost a 10% increase in TP. 16w gain, from 173 to 189.
This one is three months after completing my 120 days at 100% experiment.
IR has been set to Maintenance for the last couple months with outdoor rides comprising over half of my weekly hours.
Recently I set Program Type to Challenge then followed the instructions to verify results at the end of the 30 days with a BT activity. I used Under Pressure, my favorite BT workout completed in Slope mode.
The second sprint was because I didnāt feel I maxed out the prescribed sprint interval and wanted to verify that, but I waited too long (MPA recovery) to jump again and have an affect on the outcome.
To boost my XSS for the day I completed the BT workout, left EBC running, used Filter to add Heartbreaker to same activity, changed back to AUTO mode, skipped the warm-up, and rode another 35 minutes.
Some portion of the TP bump is no doubt due to optimal decay after my last BT event (over two months ago). At this point Iām likely close to my TP ceiling for the season unless Iām able to boost TL in the fall.
Not sure how to best evaluate the results of a challenge, but if I compare the Ranking tab with a screenshot I took before starting the challenge, watts increased by 12 pts for the selected focus duration, and ranking improved by 6%.
Oh, and Iām still completing 99% of recommended workouts at 100% difficulty.
My nemesis is any VO2max workout that has too much red/orange with too little blue in between. 
For example: Xert - Workout Designer (xertonline.com) Got through the 4x6ās intact, but the 3x8ās were no friggin way. YMMV
1 Like
Breakthrough rides are so much easier outside. Inside and outside rides are like yin and yang. Inside itās mentally taxing to do hard efforts and easy to do easy efforts. Outside itās difficult to take it easy and all-to-easy to go hard at all times. Is it the same with others? Possibly it comes from 15 years of racing mountain bikes.
Welcome to Xert - nice breakthrough!
Riding hard is fun & rewarding, isnāt it?
TP has been yoyoing recently, I can pretty much guarantee a BT on the Seiler 4x8 workout, almost like playing a game, getting to the end of the 3rd or 4th interval and going back to the start and increasing the resistance for however long I can be bothered.
Different story when outside though, have broken a load of PRs on local climbs but never get a BT and usually get a fakethough with a few watts deducted but always feel Iām well over the limit at the end of the outdoor efforts as opposed to the indoor ones.
The outdoor efforts are typically 3 - 6 minute efforts separated by varying amounts of minutes getting to the next climb which may have some bearing on this.
Anyway hereās todayās BT on the 4x8
Zwift crit-city 16 laps. Relatively new to xert from TR (converted 2 weeks ago or so), fitness signature was a bit low coming off of a ~3 week āactive recovery breakā after completing their sweet-spot base high-volume 1 & 2.
Felt good to actually get out and stretch the legs oppose to being pinned at 92% FTP, interesting to see the MPA line compared to RPE as thatās about right I think, HR was pinned at 180bpm for the entire race so a tiny bit of room to move.
The only thing now is that even though Iām in the middle of build, Iām constantly ātiredā so just getting endurance rides.
3 Likes
Solid effort.
You can play with the freshness feedback slider under the goals tab.
Keep in mind that Xert wonāt recommend a resting week, so be kind to yourself 
Similar to my first breakthrough on Xert. Itās a short climb, a very brief respite, followed by two sharp pitches in succession. I empty the tank on the initial climb and then stand and give it everything up the steep pitches at the end. With sufficient freshness, it almost always generates a breakthrough (or a fake-through if Iām not rested!). Itās been nearly a month since my last breakthrough, so thatās why the large jump in TP.
2 Likes
Admittedly, Iāve been pretty critical of Xert in the past, but Iām now going to give credit where credit is due. The ability to get a breakthrough during a ride is just a great feature. Iām not really sold on Xata yet, but the breakthroughs are exhilarating. This was a 5 mile Strava segment, 100% gravel, and I beat my previous PR by more than a minute! I really killed it. Iām showing the ābeforeā and after signatures here. The actual segment starts where I started riding over TP, the red. I got a 15w boost in TP, and both Strava and Intervals.icu agree, both with 15 watt increases. Iām surprised Strava doesnāt make more of their FTP estimates. You have to go digging for it on the power curve page. They ought to have the FTP pop show right there in bold on the activity page, I think theyāre really missing an opportunity.
What does Strava have listed for your HIE or Peak Power?
Glad to see you sharing a nice breakthrough! Congrats!
Strava does show my peak power. As far as HIE, no, but Iām not sure I understand the value of knowing that number, Do people actually train to increase their HIE? It seems to me that people train to see the resultsā¦faster intervals, faster segments. HIE is theoretical. What my watch says after a 5 mi segment is a real piece of data.
HIE isnāt theoretical. In fact, it plays an essential role in your 5mi segment performance. You donāt train HIE directly. You could train your 5 minute power, for example. HIE would be roughly 10-15% of that effort.
Well, youād think I would have gotten at least a Silver breakthrough then. HIE remained unchanged. If you look at the graph, before and after, Xertās assumption of what my HIE was had me conking out halfway through the segment, assuming Iām interpreting that correctly. I buried the needleā¦it went flatline. Iām assuming the fact that it is horizontal means I depleted HIE.
You have to remember there are two variable at work here: the capacity of you HIE ābatteryā and the point at which you start draining it. In this case, based on the way MPA and Power interacted, Xert thought that it was only your TP that has changed - your capacity didnāt change, but the power output above which you drain the battery went up significantly, meaning you could hold on much longer.
Mike
1 Like