After a good while lurking I have taken the plunge and dipped my toes into Xert.
I have a lot of quality data which Xert has analysed. The numbers are fairly accurate and representative of what I would expect except for my TP.
I have an FTP in the 360 region, just last week or so I did a relatively flat out Alpe ascent on Zwift and averaged 365w for 44.30. Later that week I did a 1h TT and averaged 355w (granted I could and should have done more!)
Xert has put me at a 391w TP - I have checked the ride which caused this jump and the data seems legit, I remember the ride well (it was outdoors but I have ran my power meter against my Kickr and the values align well). I’ve done some Zwift races following this which were pretty all out efforts. What is the best way to go forward?
I ran my first recommended workout using the 391w TP, it was supposed to be endurance in nature but was more like sweetspot.
I manually adjusted my power curve based on my 5s (1250w), 45m (365w) and 60m (355w) power.
I then realised the workout had uploaded twice as I ran the Xert workout through android app and also concurrently ran Zwift. I deleted the Xert workout from Xert activity and left the Zwift ride remaining, doing so then caused my signature to recalculate and revert me to 391w TP
I’d prefer not to have to manually adjust each time, going forward what would you suggest?
Apologies for the long first post! Appreciate all your help and advice.
TP isnt your 1 hour FTP. If you change your rider type to time triallist your signature will show you your 1 hour power (FTP) then you can change it back again to whichever tider type you are using.
No, TP is not different for different rider types. TP is the same for all rider types. If you look at your signature each type you change your rider type you will see one field change.
Thank you, ive not covered all of the podcasts but certainly listened to quite a few.
I’ve checked and the 1 hour power is slightly over (370~w) which I can love with.
I’ll stick with the figures and see how we go. My stated TP is actually at the very high end of traditional 7 zone model (whereby TP is 100-105% FTP) so not all that surprising in hindsight.
Option A – You can flag that entry to remove it from calculations.
Option B – You can delete it and import back in to confirm the results are the same. Seems likely it will be in which case…
Option C – You can view that activity, select Advanced MPA, scroll down, edit TP and Save/Lock it.
Note these articles:
You can alternately file a support request with support@xertonline.com and they’ll take a look at your data and adjust it for you.
I think my issue was my misunderstanding of TP. I assumed (as per the Xert glossary) that TP was close to FTP. Knowing my FTP is around the 360 mark I was expecting TP to track closer to that.
‘Traditional TP’ (91-105% FTP) puts me around 328-382 so it actually aligns.
I changed my rider type to TT and it suggested my 1 hour power (what I interpret as FTP) as 370. This is pretty close to my 365.
I think things are probably where they should be. I will be challenging myself regularly to try keep things in check. Got a TTT tomorrow and a few races next week so we’ll see how we go.
One other question is what HIE you have and whether you’ve done any hard, above TP efforts recently (maybe not, being TT focused), to make sure that aspect of your signature is accurate? Just noticed that the efforts you put in the calculator were either sprints or TT efforts, and Xert is most accurate with efforts across the curve. If Xert thinks HIE is lower than it is, it will overstate TP. (Same true for PP - Check that’s accurate too). Maybe the Zwift races cover that if you’re going all out from the start, but worth checking. Maybe even try a breakthrough workout when you’re fresh and see what happens… there are loads of posts with tips for getting a ‘good’ breakthrough.
Other shortcut is that you can see your one-hour power (and other durations) on the power curve page, so you don’t have to switch athlete types to see your power at different durations.
Most Xert users report a TP that is close to their traditional FTP test results.
30 pts diff seems a bit high and if RPE is telling you the endurance workout felt like SST that’s another clue. Since you mention one ride was responsible it can’t hurt to flag that activity just to see what happens.
As @wescaine notes some BT style workouts/rides moving forward will confirm the numbers or adjust them.
Changing your athlete type will cause the focus duration box on the signature panel to display the associated target and current value. That won’t affect calculated TP but does determine which workouts are recommended. If TT performance isn’t what you want to work on change your type back to whatever you prefer – strength or weakness. You can determine that visually under Ranking by scrolling down to the spider chart (comparing Xert’s user base). My guess is you are in the top percentile.
I’m going to stick with the numbers, I have flagged a few rides which gave me a TP breakthrough and the recalculation has remained largely the same.
Even when a few were flagged my TP is still pretty much unaffected as a race I did just last week resulted in the same outcome (calibrated kickr - race was dual recorded with garmin pedals which agreed).
The workout that I mentioned was SMART - STUCK IN THE MIDDLE - 60, its labelled as a variation on an LTP workout. So maybe not the Z2 endurance ride I would typically associate with ‘endurance’, but being 1h in duration SS would still effectively be endurance, unless I am mistaken.
I have attached a screenshot of my estimated numbers, taken from my ride analysis.
Let’s stick with the numbers and see how we go! I’ve out myself on a moderate improvement rate looking to peak end of Feb 2021. Will ramp me from 10h-14h which I’m looking forward to!
