This year I’ve also joined Xert and I’m set up for the Continuous Moderate 1 level of improvement. I’m currently training for long Gravel Events in April/May. I notice that all the recommended Xert workouts each day are very polarised with VO2 30 second - 60 second efforts (like I’m training for Crits). There are never any longer 4 or minute efforts, so I’m not getting much variety on Xert if it wasn’t for my longer outdoor weekend rides (mostly z2). My projected 6 week improvement looks ok so I assume all is well and I have nothing to worry about, but how does it know what I’m training for e.g. a series of 1 hour Crits is different to a 5-10 hour gravel race. Any advice welcome.
The type of intense workout is driven by your chosen ‘focus” - for gravel I’d probably choose climber focus unless it’s super punchy in which case I’d go for Rouleur or even breakaway specialist
You may also benefit from trying an event focused plan, or ‘base build peak’ rather than ‘continuous’ - that way you will get some periodisation logic starting with endurance and gradually moving over to your focus specificity. Continuous basically gives you an intense workout aimed at your ‘focus’ when it thinks you are fresh, and endurance (or rest) otherwise. It can be useful to manage your own periodisation eg choose endurance focus now for base, shift to climber when you want to start build… otherwise I’m not sure I’d use it long term
(There are a few new terms and concepts to faimilisrise yourself with, and there are some introductory videos, podcasts, glossaries etc to help)
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Thanks Wesley I’ll have a play around with the focus. It’s already on Breakaway SpeciaIist but I’ll try Climber. I had tried the Event AI thing but it didn’t really work as it said I wouldn’t be ready on about 15 hours a week training for events I do easily every year. So I binned that and went for Continuous Moderate 1. 
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Chnaged Focus to Climber and workouts look more like what I should be doing.
I’m on an AI plan and the gravel race I fed it as a goal gave me “polar climber” as a target focus so that tracks with the advice from Wes. My first event is still over 2 weeks out but I hit the targets it gave me at the start of the plan at just over the halfway point.
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I think there’s ready and there’s ready if that makes sense… Xert tries to quantity it with a readiness score but just because that’s low doesn’t mean you can’t do it, it just means you will need more time to recover (which for amateurs is normal after a long event).
You could also try the A I forecast goal… or Race Ai if you have a power file… or use XATA to guide you through phases. You can also write to support (email) if you are stuck trying to build a plan
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As @wescaine mentions when you select Continuous the HIT days will be at or around your selected Focus type.
For example, I’m currently on Continuous (between phased plans) with Puncheur (4 min power) selected and my HIT workouts are primarily at that Focus or Pursuiter (3 minute power) and occasional Breakaway Specialist (5 min power).
I can use Filter to change up a HIT day. For example, on occasion I pick a Road Sprinter workout to do. Or if I’m not up for HIT I can slam the Freshness Feedback slider to the left and I’ll get a selection of easy (blue or blue/aqua) and moderate (blue to green) endurance workouts to select from. My choice.
If you want a more nuanced approach with a greater variety of workouts than Continuous offers, and prefer the freedom of XATA with a blank calendar, you could switch to a Build-Base-Phase progression.
Try it and watch what happens on the setup screen especially the predicted changes to Signature and TL tables.
If you do decide to switch to Base-Build-Peak you can always change back to Continuous if you prefer that. This isn’t going to mess up what you’ve been doing. 
Base phase is 45 days long. Build is 45 days. Peak is 30 days.
For example, if your first event is April 15th that is 54 days from now.
If main event is May 15th that is 84 days away.
If you switch to Base-Build-Peak with a TED of May 15, you’ll be in Base phase with all endurance level workouts suggested until the start of Build phase on March 1st.
If you switch to Base-Build-Peak with a TED of April 15, you’ll be in the middle of Build phase similar to what you’re doing now.
If your main event is in May I’d set that as the TED (target event date). The April event will simply be part of your training at the end of Build, beginning of Peak. Proceed with Peak phase in prep for the main event. You’ll see a warning to taper the last week under your control. I.e. ease up especially day or two before event to arrive in blue/fresh form.
To see how a phased progression differs from what you’ve been doing in Continuous ATP, view the chart and explanation is this article – Program Phases – Xert
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That’s really useful. I’ll have a look at Base-Build-Peak…. I just need to decide which event to focus on as my A race. Probably the Gravel Worlds qualifier end of May with my end of April and mid May events being part of the training
Sorry for reviving an older thread, but what focus did you end up choosing?
I’m also taking part in the UCI Gravel Worlds qualifier series and I just can’t decide on an athlete focus. I feel like it’s so important to have a lot of HIE for all those punchy climbs, but TP seems so important as well.
Hi not a problem. In the end I used my go to training platform at the time - Wahoo SYSTM. The workouts, combined with outdoor rides and TT races meant I was doing a variety of different FOCUS types which isn’t a bad thing.All went exceptionally well for 3 events of 4 to 9 hour plus short 20 minute to 2 hour TTs. Now I’m more in tune with XERT, I’ve made the switch away from Wahoo for this years events. Currently I’m on Continuous, Moderate 1, Sprint Time Triallist/20 minute power for my TTs. Outdoors (free rides) I use XMB which are mostly GC Specialist focus. It’s a bit of a mix and I suppose I’m not fully focussed on either my shorter TTs or my longer gravel events but trying to cater for both types of event. Not sure if this is much help to you but in summary I’m mixing it up a bit.
Thanks for your in-depth answer. I’m only focused on gravel races, but none of my earlier races comes close to the profiles of the UCI qualifiers.
My takeaway from your post is to just stick to a profile with longer efforts and stop worrying about finding the perfect athlete type for the event.
Have you uploaded any of your gravel races & analyzed them in Xert? If so, what was the focus/specificity of them?
I often find that racing will require a lower focus rating (needed to train your HIE & PP systems to handle harder, punchy efforts above FTP). Something like Breakaway Specialist (5 min power) or Rouleur (6 min power) should both be good in those regards.
You could use a GOAL program with Polar specificity, which tells Xert to help improve your 5-6 min power, but to focus those improvements on your FTP. This should help you accomplish your goal of increasing your FTP (& sustainable power), but also helping improve your ability to punch harder above FTP when needed! You won’t get this as much when selecting a very long focus duration (10-20 min power), which provide minimal training on your HIE & PP systems.
Hey Scott, thanks for your input. I sadly have no gravel race, which comes close to the UCI qualifiers, all of my gravel races were pan flat. In those Xert rated them as Rouleur. That’s why I thought a longer duration would have made sense.
Now that you mention it, I never “lost” a race, while we were going straight in a paceline and always, when things got punchy. So it actually makes a lot of sense to be prepared for the punches, than just increasing TP.
If I select a GOAL program, do I just stop the program a week before the race, change to continuous with taper as a progression rate?
Here is the data from my UCI Gravel Race. Happy to share other data such as power profile if you want to see it.
Thank you so much! Would be interested in the power profile, if it’s fine for you to share it 
Hi, chart attached. Lots of short sharp efforts so my TT / 20 minute Focus isn’t exactly ideal for this type of race but works for my TTs. I guess it’s harder to train for completely different disciplines🤔
That looks like a lot of short efforts. I didn’t think the profile would be like that.
I will choose a shorter intensity as my athlete profile. To me, it seems like it’s best to work on HIE energy for those kind of races.
I can see how TTs and gravel races don’t need the same training methodology 
Indeed, if I was you I would follow what @ManofSteele recommended👍
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Yep - each of those short, spikey bits are putting strain on your HIE & PP systems. If you train only FTP, you’d be neglecting your preparation for those harder punches.
Almost always, if you’re preparing for any sort of a race, I recommend using at least a ~6 min Focus (Rouleur). For Criteriums, you might even go shorter yet - I’ve had some of my crits analyzed as 2-3 min focus (Road Sprinter/Pursuiter).
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Yes, I decided to choose Puncheur as a goal. I also set it up as a “Goal” training plan. Should I switch over to continuous and taper a week before the race? Right now, it seems like a “Goal” training plan doesn’t include a taper week.