Xert is reporting that my fitness signature is “stale” because I haven’t had any breakthroughs in a while.
I’m a century rider. None of Xert’s endurance workouts seem to push the limits that would result in a breakthrough.
Since the workout planner never suggests any sort of fitness test, how do I resolve this? I’m mostly doing the rides it selects automatically (though occasionally I pick something tougher, or something to fit my available time for the day).
Hi Seth. The adaptive planner doesn’t prescribe tests at this time. It is something you should be aware of and to plan accordingly. Some athletes incorporate efforts that result in breakthroughs in their group / Zwift rides to provide feedback to their signature or the simply add harder, exhaustive efforts in their workouts. An alternative to use the No Decay setting for your Signature Decay Method under your Profile. This will have your signature track your training load, avoiding the need for breakthroughs however. This works well when your data has a strong correlation between training loads and signature values. Review your Fitness Signature Progression chart to see if that is the case. You can inspect this visually at this time.
It sounds like Xert isn’t intended to be used as the sole training program, even in the off-season. Is that right? I have no interest in riding outside at 20°F, but in order to get the data points that Xert wants I have to do something besides Xert?
Should I just choose to “manually” mix in some non-Endurance rides, even though that’s all Xert recommends for century riders? Which ones? Or should I just do an unstructured ride in Zwift occasionally? Once a week?
Are there docs on this subject? (Sorry if I’m being difficult.)
Quite frankly, even though we have longer duration athlete types such as Century Rider and Triathlete, most all our athletes will review the activity that represents their target event (see the FAQ on choose your Athlete Type) and use the athlete type derived from the target event. It is rare that these are longer duration athlete types since they often require higher intensity efforts during those events. Hence, if you choose something like GC Specialist, you’ll see a greater mix of higher intensity in order to prepare you for that type of event. If you’re not into pushing for a breakthrough every month or so, then use the No Decay setting. Otherwise, simply push yourself during one of your workouts and you’ll be fine. Far easier than doing an FTP test and something that most athletes that use the system don’t even think about since they happen quite often whenever they ride in a group. With the latest changes, these recalibrations of your signature don’t need to occur very often, technically never if you use No Decay. Cheers.
