Yesterday, Smart Opener 2, yielded a bronze colored Breakthrough on TP increase of +8.2 to 193.1 BUT, my HIE, which has been consistently 15.6 for this same workout, as well as others, suddenly dropped to 5.6, and my 10m w/kg dropped from 3.0, where it’s been for ages, to 2.9 (Weight hasn’t changed).
Today’s 2 mile run (w/o power) also showed HIE of 5.6. Same run in the past has also been consistently 15.6.
I notice that Account Setting / Fitness Signature / HIE is also 5.6, and appears to be a user settable value. Could that have been inadvertently changed from 15.6 to 5.6, (by dropping the leading ‘1’ ), and does not reflect some movement of actual performance metrics? Where does this value come from initially? I’ve never intentionally set or changed it, and honestly don’t know what it means anyway (I assume bigger is better).
When was your last BT prior to yesterday’s?
I assume you have two profiles configured. One for cycling and one for running.
On your cycling profile does your PP to HIE relationship fall within the bell curve portion of this chart?
I don’t have a separate profile for running. I just import runs from Strava to my bike profile, so I get some xss credit’ for the exertion. xss etc. are derived from heart rate, as I don’t have power for running.
Prior BT (on same workout) was about 2 months ago. For some reason while I seem to be logged into the Forum, when I try to log into xert online.com I get ’ 502 Bad Gateway’ (new problem today) , so I can’t look in my activity history to get the exact date.
If two months ago was your last BT that was likely prior to recent updates that address signature calculations and in particular HIE drift.
Here’s the bell curve chart to compare your PP/HIE numbers with. Are you aligned with this? (either band)
Separate profiles for running and cycling are highly recommended.
I don’t know the details but there’s a way for estimated power to be included with runs. I think it’s a Garmin to Strava function.
If that happens the running power will adversely affect your cycling signature.
My PP of 361 (which has not changed) and HIE, now of 5.5, intersect in the lower band of that chart. Prior to the change in question, my HIE of 15.6 would have been consistent with PP somewhat north of 600
Conclusion would be that the latest BT in combination with recent software update has triggered a needed correction.
When I tried a separate running profile, perhaps that did prevent my estimated running power from affecting my cycling signature but it also meant that running did not help me meet my ‘training deficit’ on the bike, causing me to fall behind. I’ve since ‘downgraded’ improvement rate from ‘slow’ to ‘maintenance’. Separate run profile might work out better for me with a more conservative improvement rate.
PP was ~361 since a Nov. BT, and HIE ~15.6 up to last Th. 1/11 (brown BT). PP stayed about the same (-0.4), but HIE was -10.0 after 1/11 workout. That drop in HIE prompted my inquiry.
Today (1/18/24) got a ‘Gold’ BT, with PP +47.8 @409, and HIE +0.8 @ 6.3kj. Most of my BT’s come on Opener 3 by finding the most comfortable (least perceived effort) gearing and cadence up to the last HI interval, then shift to my highest gear and go all out. Also doesn’t hurt to be following several days where I failed to get in any workout.
I don’t know what my max 1s power is, or where to find it. Other than the sudden drop in HIE last week, everything seems to be functioning rationally since that new base line.
This is a result of the changes we introduced late last year, where HIE and Peak Power are more directly connected. This change significantly reduces the chance of signature errors where users could have an HIE value that falls outside the bell curve in the image shared above.
It’s very unlikely that your Peak Power is only ~360 W (and that your HIE is only ~5.5 kJ), unless perhaps you’re a hand cyclist! It seems that you were already able to generate a BT to push Peak Power up over 400W, but might still be a good idea to ‘show’ the system that you’re more powerful than it currently thinks
Any of our Mixed Mode sprint workouts could be a good option for you to generate a Peak Power effort… here’s a 60 min version that you could consider. Use a big gear and push hard on the short ~10s sprints! SMART - Adventure of a Lifetime - 60
Thanks for the tips. I Tried SMART - Adventure of a Lifetime - 60. Pretty much duplicated but did not improve on my most recent BT (SMART - Opener 3). I was unable to approach peak power on the last 10s interval, and required several short ‘pauses’ to get through the following recovery. Seems like there was a lag in feeling the 5% grade on the ‘sprints’, so it kicked in AFTER I’d already upshifted, and I had to suddenly stand up to keep moving at all. Maybe an artifact of my particular trainer (small flywheel?) that I was unable to smoothly transition to climbing. Next time will try hold back on upshifting before feeling the increased resistance.
I usually pick workouts in the 30 - 45 minute range, and usually without big power spikes.
Not sure why my PP and HIE should be higher. I don’t imagine myself in a situation where I would want to Sprint. I do one or two short triathlons (20K bike followed by 5K run) / year, and occasional ‘social’ rides. Mostly bike indoors these days b/c it’s safer, and keeps me ‘on hand’ as caregiver for my disabled spouse.
I enjoy using your product, and it helps keep me motivated to keep working out.
It seems that you were already able to generate a BT to push Peak Power up over 400W, but might still be a good idea to ‘show’ the system that you’re more powerful than it currently thinks 