When I look at training advice (and the “star rating” for that matter) it’s focused on weekly hours rather than weekly TL or XSS, as seen here:
I probably wouldn’t be too bothered by this, but my group rides often have a coffee stop close to the end, and this pause time ends up getting counted as part of the workout duration, which gives misleading totals. I know that I could solve this on Xert by stopping the activity at the coffee stop and then recording a second activity for the ride home from coffee…but this is also annoying because it makes dealing with rides on Strava and other sites more of a pain in the butt. Also, having 2 rides throws off activity counts, etc. It seems to me that Xert should be able to recognize these gaps and exclude them from activity duration.
I’ve often wondered the same thing, never got around to asking. Personally, I’d much rather see an XSS target compared to hours. Or, if there’s a great reason to have hours be there, why not both?
The ATP hours/week bar represents the estimated commitment required at your current training load/intensity and Improvement Rate setting.
XSS within those hours will vary depending on how you allocate your week and at what intensities and focus duration.
XSS (strain score) is not the same as TSS (stress score) so you don’t want to treat it as a simple target like you might do with old-school TSS. The two values can differ widely based on how deep you go and for how long. XSS factors in fatigue and also short bursts. TSS does not.
OTOH the Training Pacer needle tracks your XSS as a moving average over a rolling 7-day window, factoring in what you did last week on same day.
The relative position tells you what you need to know about your strain score against your ramp rate. Are you “on pace” (inner grey band, 11am-2pm), falling behind (inner red), or ahead of plan (inner turquoise).
Surplus/deficit is the value either side of the Noon position which doesn’t carry over from week to week. No need to chase down a deficit if you are within the optimal band. Or you may ride long on weekends to raise a declining needle during the week.
Since ramp rate can be changed at any time and my schedule may change from week to week, I consider the Training Pacer tracking XSS more important than the ATP bar estimating hours/week. The two work together as components of your XATA guidelines.
As far as the OP goes, my opinion will never change. If you stop to pee that’s RIB (rest in between). If you sit down for coffee or a meal midway through a ride, you should end the recording for that portion of your day. If you record both activities as one, they really weren’t.
However, XSS-wise it doesn’t matter. The pacer needle knows what you really did.
It’s good that you’ve acknowledged that your opinions have stagnated.
The training pacer is great for daily use. It’s not so great if you’re trying to plan out a week, knowing, for instance, that you have a big ride on Saturday, and might want to adjust other rides that week. Or, when you know that you’re going to miss a day and want to compensate.
The other point is that I don’t want to be splitting my activities for Strava, Garmin, and other parts of my fitness ecosystem. Xert is important, but only one piece of the puzzle.
For those of us who rarely populate the Planner and train day to day, it works very well.
The Academy I3 video demonstrates how to use it when planning a week in advance.
If you stop to pee that’s RIB (rest in between). If you sit down for coffee or a meal midway through a ride, you should end the recording for that portion of your day. If you record both activities as one, they really weren’t. 
