Two queries regarding the magic buckets feature if anyone could please enlighten me.
I am returning to cycling after 7 months away due to illness. With a current threshold of 199 w at 66kg at present, with my profile set to GC. So far, I have completed 5 magic buckets workouts on my high intensity days. And love the concept of it. however I have questions.
All five workouts so far have been 23 sec intervals at 317watts or 168% of threshold. Which are challenging, and fatiguing. However I am looking for confirmation this is correct, as I was expecting longer intervals at lower targets. Will they all be this same format, while completing via MB feature?
In between the high intensity intervals it asks me to ride at z2 or 140 watts, why does this matter? surely for a high intensity workout recovery for the next interval is key? If I pick a route good for the interval, it can be hard to achieve the z2 level of recovery. And this xss will be accumulated on the low intensity days?
Sounds correct to me! The interval target Power & Duration are determined by the specific Low, High, & Peak XSS targets. Do you have limited training time on those days? If you have limited time available, Xert will only schedule the amount of XSS it thinks you can do in your available time - this is determined using the XSS Per Hour preference in your profile settings. So If you have limited time to train, you’ll likely see the same combination of XSS targets recommended, as that’s all that Xert thinks you can achieve within that time. Also, if you’re on a Continuous Improvement program, I’d expect to see relatively similar Focus Duration intervals recommended, based on your selected athlete type. So you’re likely seeing that combination of Low/High/Peak targets because they’re associated with a GC Specialist focus (which is likely near ~317 W for your unique signature).
I find that XMB tends to leverage shorter intervals to efficiently accumulate the High & Peak XSS, and generally aligns with the reported efficacy of many types of micro-intervals (30-30’s, 30-15’s, 20-10’s, 40-20’s, etc. etc.).
Rather than doing shorter efforts where you go up 1 Challenge Level per interval, you could hold the effort and aim to go from CL 1 → CL 5 or so and then ride easy & allow CL to come back down before starting another effort. You could do that if you wanted. Or you could do a few shorter, harder sprints to partially fill your Peak bucket and XMB will adjust the target power towards longer & less-intense intervals.
XMB just tries to fill the buckets as efficiently as possible while also allowing your MPA to recover between intervals. You can ride harder (or easier) if you want, but that will impact how much MPA recovers & how much Low XSS is accumulated during the recovery period. You’ll also notice that the recovery target power will vary depending on your challenge level. As you reach higher (harder) challenge levels, the recovery power actually goes down because you’re more fatigued at higher CL’s.
If you have a lot of Low XSS to achieve, you’ll find that Xert uses the high-intensity interval to draw down MPA & cause fatigue, & then the ‘recovery’ interval has you pedal under that fatigue at a moderate effort to accelerate the strain on that system.
You’ll see several structured workouts in our library that use this same principle, such as SMART - Bangarang, which features a hard effort to draw down MPA followed by a longer “sweet spot” effort that generates a great dose of Low XSS in a time-efficient manner:
Thank you, Scott, for the detailed response, really is appreciated.
However if I was to train indoors with the same perimeters set, the work outs available include longer intervals working towards 8 min power. 8 x23 secs is just over 3 mins well above threshold in a 1.5-hour workout. I did hold the interval, and push up the challenge, but still only added up to 3.5 mins work total.
whereas the indoor workout suggested was nearly 26 mins around or above threshold.
If the workouts aren’t similar, how can they be achieving the desired effect? And this is four workouts in a row, will mega buckets always suggest short hard intervals?
Just want to be sure I am using it correctly and there is logic and science behind the workout format. As it feels completely different to previous training on xert completed indoors.
If I wasn’t set to continuous improvement and picked a target date for later in the season, would this allow the system to pick more challenging workouts? How should I set up my xert to best use mega buckets.
As I said previously, love the concept of buckets. Just want to ensure variety and efficiency of my training.
It might not answer your question, but it’s the amount of high and peak XSS that determines the final time above threshold. 4 high XSS is very different from 14 high XSS in terms of time spent above TP.
Have you ever run Autogen to create a simple workout to ride outdoors (or indoors) that matches the goal for the day? (Focus, Difficulty, Duration, XSS ratio).
Magic Buckets is an advanced version that dynamically adjusts in real-time to help you fill the XSS low/high/peak buckets for the day.
For an example go to Planner, select [+] on a blue/fresh day, Magic Buckets tab, and notice how the default specs match the day’s advice.
Your Training Status is Fresh and should consider a GC Specialist workout or activity generating about 114 XSS of overall strain, with less than ◆◆◆⬖ difficulty.
XMB will dial in to match those specs.
When I select XATA Continuous with Athlete Type set to GC Specialist I am instructing Xert to put me in a perpetual “build” phase at the ramp rate I define and change over time.
XATA will continuously recommend HIT workouts (when calculated form is Fresh) at or around my selected Focus/Athlete Type.
That does mean redundant HIT workouts if using XMB although execution will vary. As long as I fill the buckets, I’ve achieved the day’s strain goal.
If I want something different, I will change Athlete Type for a week or more or use Filter to select a different Focus workout for the day. XMB will reflect that change primarily in target watts.
Alternately, a variety of indoor workouts are available that add up to a similar low/high/peak ratio that meets today’s goal for Focus, Specificity, and Difficulty.
That differs from the exact ratio that XMB prescribes at the most efficient %TP targets and duration for work and recovery intervals to fill the buckets at the same rate.
Whether I accomplish that or not outdoors is up to me, the terrain, and traffic.
With Continuous ATP I am in charge of my own training blocks and target Focus.
If I want a week off, I’ll drop Improvement Rate to Off-Season or Taper and do just that (ignoring the pacer needle). Then enter a positive IR setting when ready to resume.
If I get bored with the regimen, I will shake things up.
For example, no matter what Focus is configured I’m going to do a sprint workout on occasion, not today’s suggested HIT. That means 20-30 sec all-out efforts with long rests-in-between, times however many I can do before fading.
Or I might begin a three-hour endurance ride with Z2 in mind but attack a few hills on the way back in.
Or I may take two days off in a row if I don’t feel recovered enough after a hard session.
Xert will adapt to whatever I decide to do. With Continuous I have options.
