Some other training programs, like Trainer Road, automatically build a rest week into their plans every 3-4 weeks. Does Xert ever do anything along those lines?
This isn’t quite the same as a recovery ride, obviously. In TR’s parlance, it’s “allowing the body to absorb the training from the last few weeks.” I realize there’s no science behind a statement like that, but I will say that the legs seems to tire more quickly after weeks of this.
I can almost hear you (Armondo…) saying something like, “It’s left to the rider to take advantage of Xert’s adaptive training plan…” In case I’ve guessed that statement correctly, I’ll response-in-advance by saying that I’ve been training for years and I like being told when to take it easy. (Or perhaps you’ll tell me that it will eventually suggest I take an easy week?)
Hi Seth - the idea of rest to recover and improve from the work done is alive and well with Xert! But a fixed, concrete ‘take every 4th week off’ or ‘take monday and friday off’ doesn’t always work. In some cases one needs rest more often than that (some older athletes now prefer a ‘take every 3rd week off’ approach), and sometimes one need rest less often than that (if, for example, you’re doing many days of low strain endurance work that the body recovers from quite quickly). Xert takes a custom approach for each athlete based on how much work is done, what type of work is done (peak, high, low strain), the Training Load and recent ramp rate of each of the three types of strain, selected improvement rate, etc. As you do workouts you’ll see the adaptive training advisor recommend easy days if it believes that you should be tired from the recent work. When you see a recovery ride recommended, you could take this day off if you’re not feeling fresh, or if you’re able to do a very easy ‘glass cranks’ (pedal like your cranks are made of glass) on a trainer, you can do that as well. It doesn’t always need to be a week, or a day, because, well…it depends on what you’ve been doing!
Hi Seth. If you click on Training Advice button and your deficit is above 100XSS and your Training Status is Very Tired, Xert will recommend you take a recovery week. It doesn’t make any sense to take a recovery week if it isn’t necessary given your training status and ramp rate.