Started with a trial account and synced 3 months of activity - gave me a TP of 170 which seemed low. I did two or three smart activities which all seemed on the easy side for me even though they were indicated as hard. Had two full blue stars.
Today I upgraded and imported all my history since 2018 - Now showing me a TP of 243 which seems high (and I’m dreading the next workout ) (And 1.1 blue stars)
2nd question, and maybe related, prior to Jan 2021 my power data was coming from my wheel on trainer indoors and HR outdoors, as I only added a real PM this year. So my 2018-2020 power data is definitely not accurate (system shows TP in the mid 300s)
(In general my Garmin has been calculating my FTP around 210 on regular to harder rides)
Is this affecting my current numbers? Should I delete the pre 2021 data?
Take note of your training load when you first got a power meter. Delete all of the files before then and enter that training load into the ‘Starting Training Load’ field on your profile page.
Go back to your first ride with a power meter and go to advanced MPA. Then enter 90% of your estimated Peak Power, HIE and TP values and hit save. The next breakthrough ride after that should start to narrow in on your actual signature and the signature will get more accurate with each breakthrough ride.
I would tend toward option 1 (think you may need to recalculate progression after deleting the old files) so you get the right training load as well (which also means XATA gives some more difficult workouts when fresh). The reason you dropped to 1.1 stars is that relative to your new super-high TP it looks like you’ve not been straining yourself in the last 60 days. That doesn’t seem like reality
Once you’ve done that, I would then make sure you have a good breakthrough effort in the system. That means all-out / to failure over at least 5 min if not longer, and ideally repeatedly with a few seconds recovery between. I usually get close to max HR in a longer BT. Do some sprints separately/ when fresh to get an accurate PP. You also need to do this semi regularly due to signature decay (or set to ‘no decay’ during base phase). I say that as you mention garmin ftp of 210 vs Xert 170 before… and that’s coming from “regular to harder rides” which seems less than all-out
Also note it’s not just about TP, but the whole signature… it’s worth keeping track of other elements as well
SMART workouts on their own don’t necessarily test and validate your fitness signature.
For that you need a history of maximal efforts under fatigue which you can test indoors by manually selecting a BT workout from the library (search for “breakthrough”). Ride it in slope mode adjusting gears/cadence to meet targets or exceed them (especially if intervals feel too easy). It takes a little practice to lean how to ride a BT workout to best effect. You will likely find a favorite one amongst the selection.
As others have noted your goal is to establish a reasonable starting signature and move forward from there.
Something you might need to do is flag any activities that contain obvious power spikes. You can determine that by viewing the activity table (XO, Activities, Table) and sorting by column header. You can flag suspect activities which excludes them from signature and progression analysis.
Another option if you have known max efforts along your power curve is to use XO, Power Curve & Calculator to seed your signature. Again, only needs to be within reasonable ballpark territory then move forward from there.
Thank you all for the suggestions. I will try this and see how it goes. I understand TP is not everything but it does seem to guide how hard the smart activities are if I’m correct.
Yes-ish, though the whole signature is relevant actually… two people with the same TP can get quite different endurance and high intensity workout power targets with different HIE.
@Old_Major Tried option 1. Deleted all activity and updated load as suggested. My TP is back to 170 where I started. I was actively training for a hilly century up until 7/29. Since then my load has definitely gone down but the TP just seems to be too low. I guess I can try some breakthrough efforts to see where I’m really at and if it readjusts. I’m new to this process so not quite sure how it all works just yet.
I just want to use structured training to grow and if I am being thrown easy workouts I don’t think it will help.
Update: I tried a breakthrough activity (acheived) and now my TP increased to 194, this seems closer to reality so I will see how it goes from here.
) (And 1.1 blue stars)