Hello again,
I have a question regarding the signature decay method for holiday periods. During the month of June I had to suspend my training due to lower back pain (my saddle was to high). In that month, my TP dropped about 40 Watts with an optimal decay setting. I assume that this happened since I observed that the TP strongly correlates to the training load. In the month of June I started to ride again and I experienced one breakthrough after another, about 5 to 6 breakthrough activities in 2 weeks. It was really nice to see the readjustment of my signature, but the XSS after the rides, as well as the difficulty ratings, where considerably high due to underestimated signature parameters. The consequence was that my training status was in the reds and yellows during the initial weeks in which I was starting to train again at moderate intensities according to my experience. Since I want to rely on the training status in order to decide each day how to train after a period of holidays, I was wondering how to set the decay method during training abstinence (3 weeks). Wou ld a setting of “No Decay” make sense during prolonged holidays? After retaking the training activities again I could set the decay method to “Optimal Decay” again. At the moment my signature parameters are fine (thank you XERT), which means that I take the training status sereously.
Hi Markus,
There likely wont be a huge difference between the Optimal and No Decay settings, as they’re both reliant on your training load to make estimations about your fitness. I would stick with optimal decay for now and just pay close attention to how you feel, and use the freshness feedback as necessary.
The underlying issue (maybe challenge is a better word…) here is that Xert - as well as all other software platforms - use generalized time constants which determine how fast you gain (and lose) fitness. However, every individual responses slightly differently to training and recovery, so these parameters should vary from individual to individual. I think in the longer term, we could run a progression analysis that would determine your individual time constants, based on your training & breakthrough history, but it wouldn’t be something that we’d tackle anytime soon. Hope this makes sense. Cheers
Thank you Scott.