I’ve had a paid subscription for a few months, but only started to use Xert to focus my training this past week. I’ve been following the recommended workouts each day, but skipped Wednesday’s workout completely. The adaptive advisor picked a longer endurance workout for Thursday to compensate. Today, Friday, I have an XSS deficit of 93, but the recommend workouts range from 57 to 75, so will not fill the gap. I am considered “fresh”.
I don’t understand why my deficit is so large today, nor do I understand why the recommended workout will not close the gap. The advisor actually suggests a 61 XSS target, but has picked a 75 XSS workout. I have no constraints of time. Should I follow the recommended workout only or should I aim for at least 93 XSS today? I have not planned any further workouts beyond today. I take each day as it comes.
Don’t over think it. If you’ve got more time then do a longer workout if you feel like it, but you don’t need to make up the deficit immediately. The advisor looks at previous activities on the same week day and generally recommends one around the same duration, but you’re free to vary the routine if you wish. The main thing is to not let the deficit get unmanageable, and try to follow the focus recommendations on your rides. As long as you eventually bring the need back to the middle, you will improve at the rate you’ve set in your goals.
Good response Stephen. I think I have had this discussion with myself about the daily XSS required and how it sometimes does not seem to be enough.
I suspect there is an internal conflict within the Xert coding of how much precedence ‘normal’ activity for that day of the week overrides the required XSS. My guess is that the algorithm does favour what it thinks you normally do that day as opposed to what you should do that day.
Either way your advice is sound - do not stress about it and it will right itself
This is, in my opinion, the greatest misunderstanding of the XATA. We’re really not asking you to close the deficit to exactly 0 XSS every day. We are trying to get you to follow a sustainable training pattern. If you train too much too soon, the needle will be ahead, and you may be susceptible to burnout or injury. If you leave the needle too far behind, you wont be training enough to improve as much as your Improvement Rate predicts.
The XATA considers many factors when recommending workouts, such as Training Status, Training Load, required XSS, workout duration, etc. etc. Remember that you can still choose any of the ‘recommended’ workouts, you don’t always have to choose the top recommended workout. Cheers
That is not saying that I am incorrect Scott is it. When it considers many factors it must have some method of prioritising the weight given to each factor.
Thanks, guys. I decided to wing it with a free ride warmup, time trial and cool down, totalling 94 XSS, more by luck than judgement. Now I have a 3 XSS surplus.
