I have a training peaks account ( had a coach but because of time commitments couldn’t keep prescribed workouts), Xert has been quite useful allowing me to pick and choose workouts according to time constraints. I just started this week.
I train 8.5 hours a week on average, I’m on the Moderate 2 8 week plan for a gravel race coming up.
Right now on training peaks I’m nearing -30 on my fatigue which usually means I’m about to get cranky and feel over trained. I’ve been doing lots of LTP intervals this week and really and have had a big week in terms of time (the last 4 days already at 7.5 hours), just been lucky that way. I actually feel better than I usually would at this amount of fatigue (maybe not that much better though). However, XERT says I’m fresh! Why the discrepancy here I wonder?
I’ll start by pointing out that it’s not possible to reach a tired (yellow star) status without doing any HIIT during your training. This is because yellow/tired status is only reached when your High/Peak energy system form is negative. If you’re only doing low-intensity training, the only training status options are Very Tired (from a lot of low intensity strain) or Fresh (and also Very Fresh & Detraining).
With that said, you can certainly ‘feel’ tired from a large improvement rate without the system telling you that (keep in mind the system only calculates training status based on power data - it’s not telling you how you feel!)
You could use the Freshness Feedback slider to move you into the yellow, take a rest/recovery day and allow yourself to freshen up a bit!
For me that’s the main function of the planner tab. You can play with it and see the different outcomes. Not just in your tiredness level but also in your progression charts.
Aside from trial and error with the planner as suggested, I don’t think so. Yellow is when high and peak form (together) go below zero, so if you knew your current ‘high+peak’ form you could see how much ‘high+peak’ strain would make it negative… however as far as I know that’s not visible anywhere (I can only find my high and peak training loads).