Tried Magic Buckets for the first time today, pretty cool stuff @xertedbrain! Lots to learn still.
The Training Program I have chosen is Continuous Improvement, Breakaway Specialist.
My question is:
Today was a dedicated endurance ride on Zwift. I ride with my Garmin Edge running as well with the Xert Magic Buckets page. The buckets screen today was the Magic Intervals interface (I imagine as it follows the plan by Xert) but I would have preferred the Magic Endurance interface.
Do I accomplish this (seeing the Magic Endurance Interface on the Garmin device) by selecting an endurance ride in the Training Tab before firing up the Garmin edge? Also with the Magic Intervals interface is there any way to see HR data?
Yes. Magic Buckets grabs the XSS goal and Focus for the day as indicated on the Training page.
This is based on whatever workout is selected so if HIT was recommended today and you switched to Lucy, Buckets will reflect the switch from HIT to LIT.
You’ll also see HR in upper right when the Magic Endurance screen is displayed.
I’m not sure if I’m missing somethng. I agree with you Armando, 20 X 1’
is less fatiguing. I modeled 20 X 1’ and 1 X 20’ in TP and got very similar TSS.
TP does see the work as the same, as it should, and see the IF as much less, hence less fatiguing for the worjkout duration. Am I seeing things incorrectly. Trying to understand you statement about comparative TSS, that’s all about .
The “easier” workout gave you 44 TSS. The 20 min all-out effort gave you 37 TSS. So you get less credit for a harder workout? Doesn’t make sense to me anyways!
Looking only at work or time in zones doesn’t work since it doesn’t account for work done under fatigue - e.g. when your MPA is lower. Similarly, NP doesn’t give you any indication of how much hard riding was done under fatigue, therefore IF can’t either, since it’s just a ratio of NP to FTP. Funny enough, we have a workout specifically designed to “game” normalized power as high as you can in a single activity - it’s a potent one for building your HIE if you ever want to give it a try!
Because I’m a curious individual, I did the same exercise with one 20 min effort fresh to failure & 20x 1 min at 20 min power w/ 1 min resting recovery. To make it more relatable, I also threw in a 10 min warmup at 50% TP & 5 min CD at 50% TP. If you’re keen to dig into it more, you can check out my detailed analysis below:
More Details
For all-out 20 min effort Xert gives me 85 ( 80.3 | 4.5 | 0.1) XSS in 35 minutes, while old methods give me 51 TSS:
But if I split this into 20, 1 min intervals with 1 min rest between, my workout is now 55 minutes (20 min longer) and Xert now gives me only 48 ( 45.5 | 2.3 | 0.1 ) XSS, while older methods now give me more TSS… 54 TSS now:
Interestingly to get the same (roughly similar) XSS by doing the 1 min on, 1 min off pattern, I needed to DOUBLE the repeats to 40. This workout would now give me the same XSS as the 20 min all-out effort, but now takes a whopping 1 hour, 35 minutes. Again, older methods rate this workout as being the “best” of all options so far, coming in at 99 TSS!
Was it intentional to remove the green checks, orange, and red marks in the new “magic buckets”? I found those useful to help me know when I had done “enough” and also when I had got to that point of “too much”. It was somewhat satisfying to hear that single ding when pushing hard that let me know I had hit the peak target.
I don’t know if there’s any relationship here but I’ll ask. I added Magic buckets to a Garmin Edge 840. Now when I try to change from Indoor profile to Train, the unit powers down and restarts in Indoor profile again. I can’t change the profile. I have been using this unit for outdoor only lately and haven’t used it for indoor use in a few weeks so wouldn’t have needed to do a switch back to outdoor in a while, so can’t say for sure that a problem hadn’t arisen prior to adding MB. I changed the Magic Buckets data field back to Buckets but this effect is still happening. I have also added Magic Buckets to a Garmin Edge 520 Plus and there is no problem with this.
My problem with changing profile seems to have resolved. I’ve loaded Magic Buckets again and I’m able to change profiles without the unit powering down and restarting back in Indoor.
