I’ve been an xert user for a few years and in the past would see the threshold power recalculating quite frequently. Since the fall when I was doing some cyclocross races, I had a breakthrough, and haven’t raced since and have mostly been riding lower intensity indoors, and my threshold power has stayed pretty much the same. Previous years in the off-season, I would see signifigant drops in the TP when my training volume/intensity dropped, but for some reason this year it’s stayed the same, and I’m definitely not as fit as the fall. Is anyone else experiencing this?
You’re likely noticing the change in how signature tracking has evolved since the original model was introduced. This change has been in effect for a while now.
In the previous version, signature decay over time could be prevented by switching to the ‘No Decay – Training Load Matched’ setting. However, in this latest update to Xert incorporates aspects of the ‘No Decay – Training Load Matched’ method into all other decay settings. What this means is that rather than allowing your signature parameters to continually decay slowly over time from your last fitness breakthrough, your signature will decay a little, then follow your training loads. This allows the system to more easily detect your next Breakthrough, while simultaneously preventing excessive decay. See the images below to compare the difference in ‘Optimal Decay’ before and after the latest update, using the same activity data:
Details at: Improvements to Fitness Signature Tracking – Xert
You can always validate your signature by riding this standard “fitness test” workout in Slope mode on a HIT day and see how close you get to a BT.