It is only recommending or selecting active recovery workouts even though it says training is necessary.
Jan 19 - no ride and very little ride the previous week.
Jan 20 - Zwift group ride fairly hard 90 minute
Jan 21 - no ride
Jan 22 - no ride
Jan 23 - First Xert workout was a Smart Almost Easy for 1 hour.
Jan 24 - Easy Zwift ride for 40 mins
Jan 25 - no ride, xert recommended active recovery so I took the day off
Jan 26 - Did a 45 min active recovery base on recommendation…
Jan 27 - recommending active recovery again??? this seems broken as it is also recommending active recovery for the entire week?
Been reading as much I can about the platform since joining but really confused on how it is selecting workouts and why it has me recovering for a whole week???
At this point I have no clue what to do other than go back to my old training plan and give up. No matter what I change it continues to recommend active recovery for the next week.
Same here. I think the software is looking at past history, that to it, that means that “if it wasn’t in Strava, it didn’t happen.” My training status is always “very tired” and system programs day after day of easy 45/60 minute recovery rides - as if I were just starting off the couch. My guess is that the system needs to “learn” more about the rider’s volume tolerance before it begins to recommend normal-looking training structure and volume (e.g., at least a couple of hard sessions per week). I’m going to train as I want to for a few more weeks, typical 5-7 hours polarized, with a couple of hard MAP/AC interval sessions, and see if it figures out that I don’t need to be recovering or working in Z1 all the time. Interested to hear what others say about this.
I think you are correct however I was expecting it to give me a plan of something other than do nothing to get that data. Guess not, I will need to look elsewhere for a plan to follow then as I don’t really know what to do and just riding hasn’t helped me to get better.
Can you send a pic of the recommended workouts? I only see the selected one, and also can’t see your training status which will affect it
Think you get active recovery recommendations when you are (thought to be) very tired (red stars)… and if your history has no intense efforts, and you then do a really tough workout, it can take a while for Xert to think you’ve recovered…
You can move the freshness slider to the right so that you are blue or green, and it should then recommend normal workouts again
I did play around with the freshness slider and can force it to give me workouts with +8 or higher. Not sure where I should be putting it at though. Seems to be just a guess.
I guess part of my issue is I have no idea what Xert thinks is a really tough workout. I wonder if I should just delete all of my past and not use that data?
Here are the recommended workouts and has been the same list since last week except it has went from selecting 60 mins to selecting 40.
Possibly worth getting in touch with support directly via their email. Aside from some error, the other guess would be that you don’t have much history with power data as noted in an earlier response. i.e. it thinks you are ramping up training more than before. Think I’ve seen an option to select a starting training load in account settings, but not sure what it does / never used it
Worst I’ve had is a couple of days of red, and +8 on the slider is probably ok for a little while but you shouldn’t need it permanently
Thanks for the replies. I had read the FAQ you refer to and was still not sure what the issue was. I had 12+ months of data however a good chunk of it were MTB and gravel rides with no power data. I suspect that was part of the issue. I am currently following a training plan from another site and hope to see the data get analysis get better overtime. I was hopeful to only use Xert but didn’t work out that way. Following the other plan has raised my TP 30 points in 10 days, seems to be a bit much or Xert was not calculating it right to begin with…
I will keep putting in the work and uploading the data to Xert and check things out again in a few more weeks.
“TP 30 points in 10 days” - just keep following that program
When you have data without power, you can try a setting under profile, “Heart Rate Derived Metrics” which tries to derive data from your heart rate. Try turning it on and recalculating your profile…
I’ve six days to go of my 40 day trial and beginning for to lose a little faith in the algorithm underpinning Xert I’m afraid.
The system has, for me, too regularly told me I’m tired, or very tired and recommended a recovery ride. I think roughly half the time I’ve done them (certainly after a hard day, say, on a ride outside when I know I actually need one) and half the time I’ve chosen something more difficult.
I’ve been a cyclist on and off all my life and, since moving and riding regularly with a club, have been training more seriously over several winters now with Sufferfest and TrainerRoad programs while the weather is bad and then riding and occasionally racing through the the spring/summer/autumn.
At the tail end of last year I had nagging knee pain and took November and December fairly easy, though I did still ride. This, along with splitting my time on and off road, where “off” doesn’t have a power meter, I suspect has created a hole in my data and means Xert thinks I’m new to training.
Thing is:
I can only upload the last three months of data- if I were able to upload more then the system would be able to see a more accurate picture of my form and prescribe training more accurately for me. I can’t do this though.
I contacted support (who were very prompt and helpful) about my concerns re: my off road rides not having any power data and Xert therefore missing chunks of my exercises and was told of the newish cadence/heartrate estimation factor. I thought this was brilliant and it was the thing that finally pushed me to give Xert a try. It might be, but, again the 3 month limit renders it a bit moot. I’m starting to not want to ride my CX bike because I’m not sure whether the effort will be factored in accurately.
As of the past few days I’ve shifted from the Base phase to the Build phase. I’m still being told I’m tired and still only being offered endurance based ride or recovery rides. I understand that more intense sessions may be blended in perhaps? I’d like to try some but I don’t think the trial offers them for to me, they’re locked out.
Also, as of today the “rev counter” is telling me I’m Fresh (finally!) but the Training Advisor is STILL telling me I’m tired which is both confusing and a little odd.
I’ve read the link posted above, thank you, but am unable to edit the Starting Training Load in my profile- the text box remains locked out and unchangeable regardless of whether the Calculate Am Estimate toggle is on or off.
Apologies for the wall of text. I’ve enjoyed using Xert of the past few weeks and kept faith with all of the low level endurance stuff it’s offered me, but now, with events coming up and starting in March, I’m beginning to think it is all been built on a house of cards slightly, on incomplete data and a partial picture of me.
Try boosting your Freshness Feedback up to 5 (or more) so that your training the status more closely matches your actual feelings. Your training loads have likely jumped quite high recently. Either it’s time for a recovery week or your fitter than your numbers indicate and you should increase Freshness Feedback. I suspect the increase in FF is likely what will work better for you.
I’ll try that for the final week and then decide, appreciate the feedback, thanks.
Last night when I posted Xert was indicating I was blue/fresh. Woke up this morning and it’s now saying I’m yellow/tired again and recommending a fairly easy endurance ride. As far as I’m aware I don’t sleepride! I’ve also lost a chunk of a star and am supposedly losing form, despite training 2/3’rds of the last month’s days with Xert.
I love the more detailed, more customised and data driven approach here, but, given that is Xert’s USP, you’ll have to forgive me for trying to drill into the detail. Sure, I could just say ‘what the heck, I’ll just train hard”, but I wouldn’t pay for a coach in real life who’s advice I’d begun to ignore and, if that’s what I need to start doing with Xert then it basically becomes a workout tracker akin to Strava for me. I need the advice, the advice is what would be worth the fee. At the moment the advice is simply both a little off and confusing to interpret t’boot.
Understood. Xert works best with quality and complete data but even without, once you understand how it works, you can very easily manage things yourself. Most users use Xert to help them understand what’s happened (or going to happen) with their training. It can work blindfolded but works best when you use it to understand how your fitness changes. It doesn’t rely on some predefined training methodology but on your numbers and how your fitness numbers change over time; hence it all makes sense and adds up once you understand things.
…and your deficit changed likely because a planned workout has expired so its XSS comes off the progression. See your Activities Table under Expired Activities. (Planned workouts count towards deficits until their time passes, at which point they are expired and removed from any calculations.)
