This is my first attempt at Interval training, and it’s been fun so far. But there’s something i don’t really understand with training, so i hope you guys can enlighten me!
I’ve begun training since May, and i’ve set a target event date for the end of July. I’ve noticed that regardless of the phase i’m in, i’m usually advised to do an Endurance type, and it’s usually 1 diamond. I find endurance type programs quite… easy? So if i feel fine, i usually increase my freshness so it suggests a 2 diamond and up program.
My form is always Fresh/tired. Is it because i’m new to interval training?
Ever since I’ve hit a breakthrough in an outdoor ride, my threshold power had been decreasing. Is this normal?
Should i set athlete type to what i want to achieve, what the target event is, or… it doesn’t matter?
Your Status Stars count is tied to your training load (TL) which is controlled by the improvement rate (IR) you set under Goals.
As your TL increases (hours/week and intensity) so will your star count and in turn the diamond count for recommended workouts.
Base phase is endurance focused regardless of selected athlete type but harder workouts will appear halfway through build into peak phase as you approach your TED.
However, if you selected an athlete type in the endurance quadrant then recommendations will cluster towards endurance throughout the phases. You can mix things up by using Filter and changing focus duration to another quadrant such as Climber, GC, or Breakaway Specialist.
Hopefully you can increase your TL before your event as hours/week is the major factor in increasing your status stars count which in turn boosts diamond count for recommended workouts.
If you aren’t sure your fitness signature is correct you should select a breakthrough (BT) workout from the library and ride that in slope mode to confirm.
A gradual decrease in TP is normal (due to decay) if weeks go by without BT events occurring during rides or workouts.
I’ve read through the link you’ve given, and the subsequent FAQ within that thread, and now i understand it a little clearer!
I understand now that for my situation, it’s because i don’t train much, and subsequently my training load is low, and thus i’m a 1-star rider, and thus, Xert thinks i should be tire faster. So i assume (from the FAQs) that either i train more, or i adjust the freshness slider to get a harder recommendation, which i guess works for me!
The only thing i don’t know (due to lack of knowledge about training) is whether i’ll be over-training, since i’m doing harder workouts, but i don’t have the training experience for it? But i guess time will tell!
Your legs will tell you (heavy, stiff, crampy) if you are taking on too much and not recovering between your cycling activities .
You can also monitor your resting pulse each day before rising. If it jumps up higher than normal that’s a good indicator more rest is needed and to limit things to slow recovery pace (below LTP).
The way most of us reach 4 stars status is by riding 5-6 days a week including long rides on weekends. We’re up into 11+ hours/week territory although much of that time is lower intensity.
If you can’t schedule that amount of time and you’re handling the intensity of harder workouts more often, I say go for it.
The other reason that workouts may seem especially easy is that your signature is ‘stale’ since it’s been a long time since your last breakthrough. You’ve been increasing training load and are likely fitter than your last breakthrough, which is already 10% above your current signature due to decay… so it’s worth going for a BT as soon as you feel up for an all out effort
I had a thought about BT, but i guess i’ll try to get a BT while i’m out on a ride (weather’s been bad these past weeks) and hopefully it’ll update my fitness signature!
