A ‘No-Decay’ Breakthrough! Most Excellent!
It’s not that Breakthroughs aren’t allowed during No Decay, but it simply indicates that you performed even better than what Xert had predicted, given your training data. This allows you to consider what other things (outside of the data in Xert) have changed and might have allowed you to improve more than what Xert would have predicted… diet? Additional training (running, lifting, etc.)? …
Today I tried OBC Billat 30-30s this was the first time I really done intervals like this. To be honest I fine workouts like this very intimidating but I needed a challenge to push myself been feeling a little board lately even though my training has been going well. I won’t lie I felt like giving up in the middle of the second set but kept pushing got the breakthrough +9w increase in TP couldn’t be happier.
Thanks for the info. Haven’t done anything on purpose, besides following the training advisor as best I can.
Great stuff Dan - that’s a tough ride! I think you can even get a few more watts out of your Threshold yet! 198 DS is very, very high.
For those who might seem intimidated by this sort of effort, I recommend trying it in a group session! It’s motivating to have other people pushing you on in real-time! We’re doing a similar workout (originally inspired by Billat’s 30-30 intervals) this Friday at 0600 EDT (1200 CEST). I’ll be riding it myself actually, trying to reset my own fitness signature as it’s been ~4 weeks since my last… hopefully I can share my Breakthrough in this thread afterwards!
Check out the session and join here: https://www.xertonline.com/sessions/a850gtlsvj3rosq7/details
Did an indoor climb with Rouvy (Col d’Eze in Nice). Felt really good and probably could have pushed even harder. Still a nice increase of 15W for my TP (207 to 222w).
Been doing a lot of LTP riding indoors lately due to windy conditions but today we had no wind so I took the opportunity to smash it. It was also my first outdoor ride on Absolute Black oval chainrings which I feel like they did a big difference. Going up 2 to 4% inclines felt like I’m still riding on flats and it felt easier to push through the fatigue and also hit a bunch of power average PR’s for this year.
I’ve been trying to fit a 30/15 interval workout into my local climbs as I don’t own a smart trainer (yet). My first try on this new hill resulted in a fake-through due to abysmal timing of the hill gradients, cresting the last climb with about 1s purple power.
Today I finally managed to get good timing using manual laps which resulted in a gold breakthrough. First set of 7x30/15 with increasing power each interval did the trick. Best ever signature atm.
I’ve just had a breakthrough after fitting some new power meter pedals, calibrating then doing 4 short sprints before re-calibrating. A 3km ride in under 10 minutes. The peak power reads different between Garmin connect and Xert - the file was auto uploaded into Xert from GC. The breakthrough effort in GC is 1133 watts and in Xert 953 watts. (All my previous rides have been indoor on erg mode which would explain the peak power breakthrough of 292w)
Can anyone explain the difference? I would guess there’s maybe some sort of smoothing going on. I’m a recent subscriber and have listened to most of the podcasts but don’t recall this being mentioned.
Not unusual to see a big jump in PP when moving outdoors where you can “really” sprint to establish your top wattage.
Notice that HIE and TP adjustments were minor in comparison which is how the algorithm is designed to work.
Then there is this factor – My Garmin said I had a breakthrough but when I uploaded, it wasn’t there. What happened? – Xert (baronbiosys.com)
Many thanks rr2, that link explains what I was trying to understand
Once again, I failed my Seilers 4x8 workout (the last one from my FLP month): it was so hard that I gave up only after 4 minutes in the first interval (with a very low 289W on average) !
3 days later, I did another “Xert Fitness Test for Breakthroughs - Under Pressure” to check the results of my FLP month, and, once again, I got a very generous BT (298W TP).
OK, I’m going back to the start: new plan with more volume (vs a lot of HIT during the Winter)…
PS: I switched my PM with the one of my other bike, and calibrated it (it’s a XCadey, see GPLama about how to fix it: XCadey XPOWER-S Cycling Power Meter: Details // Data Review - YouTube). It’s still potentially 1-2% lower than my Stages which I was using during the previous tests (reason why I failed that Seiler WO ?). Yet, I have almost identical results on the “Fitness Test for BT under pressure” (298W vs 295-296W two months ago). That’s why I now think that, without volume, you (at least, I) lose a lot on “SS and over” long intervals.
That looks brutal.
Brutal is one way to describe it… The race was a handicap with 6 in our group, if you look close enough you can see when it was my turn on the front. We were caught with about 7km to go and stayed with that bunch until the end.
Should have pressed harder on the pedals!
In all seriousness, if it was a full-on effort, it means that Xert has your signature spot on.
Mike
Two BT’s in as many weeks, looks like the training is paying off. Don’t think I will see another for a while…
I can finally add a (non-Ronnestad/Billat) breakthrough to the list again. Hard few minutes trying to push up and over a short (~1 km) and steep (~8.5% avg) climb on my weekend long ride. For those that might not have noticed, if you get a Breakthrough outdoors, you’ll get a google maps streetview of the point where the BT occurred as the backdrop for the BT report 
…why?
