I understand that a weekly rhythm may be comfortable for those tied to fixed work/weekend schedules, but even as I am still working, at my moderately advanced age I find that my preferred workout schedule is day in/day out. This means that I am alternating weeks with three and weeks with four workouts, and so a ‘week’ of even length (be it 8 or 10 days, for example) would give me much more consistent projections and recommendations.
Without a doubt others have a similar wish, depending on their own ideal recovery rates, and the huge advantage Xert has in the field of day-to-day training adaptations seems to be only an inch away from this next step in customization – it should only alter the time frame and nothing else in the rest of the engine.
Am I asking for too much? Surely the rigid plan structure on TrainerRoad has pushed me away from them, but even there on the forums I spotted hints that the platform may be allowing for custom ‘week lengths’ in the future, and so it could be a good marketing move for Xert to put it in before the rest of the competitors do.
I may be wrong, but I think Xert is a rolling seven days affair, rather than a fixed Monday through to Sunday. Off course the planner has it laid out as a traditional calendar does, but XSS and fatigue etc are calculated on a rolling basis. It’s one of the reasons I like Xert as I work different days each week so following a set plan is hard work for me.
If that’s effectively the case then I would be fine - hope some insider could confirm. I just have the suspicion that the deficit/surplus may be related to the week (too many variables to check for sure) and then yes, the planner seems to be calendar based, and there I saw my weekly totals oscillate between the three and four workout weeks.
You’re correct, Xert operates on a rolling 7 day week, not a calendar Mon-Sun weekly pattern. However, when Xert is looking to recommend workouts, it looks at what you historically do on that day of the week. i.e. if you tend to do a weekly long ride every Saturday, Xert is going to recommend longer workouts/activities on Saturdays.
Thank you @ManofSteele , that sounds good. About recommendations, though, with my ‘even’ period what I do today corresponds to a rest day last week, and so on, and I wonder if this leads to sub-optimal recommendations (that is, if the engine ends up averaging between the busy and rest days, depending on how far back it goes)…
When you write “operates”, what exactly do you mean? I distinctly remember reading that “training deficits” are quoted based on that Mon-Sun week, and once the new week begins, any deficit is wiped and it begins anew. Xert’s recommendation for any given day take into account in some way what’s required for the “weekly ramp rate” to be completed, no?
Not sure if this is what the OP was referring to or not.
This part I find odd. If I had more time to workout this week, Xert thinks I want to or should duplicate the effort next week?
“If you performed high XSS workouts a week ago you may find more variability of your deficit / surplus numbers than expected. This is normal as the XATA encourages you to keep progressing week-to-week based on the elevated levels your previous training achieved.”
@CarmenV Carmen, that’s it, the old memory of having read that description, which somehow suggests that deficits/surpluses are zeroed at the turn of the week instead of being based on the (moving) previous week. This is truly essential, and this is the point I wish were '‘the actual past seven days’ (or whatever instead of ‘seven’, which is only a magical number for statistical purposes), instead of the ‘past Monday-Sunday block’.
I think the confusion arises in that Xata is doing more than one thing here. Based on your running fatigue, (recovery load?), it’s recommending a “star” value, and at the same time, it’s taking into account your weekly deficit, if any. Or maybe not. I don’t know. I pretty much ignore Xata, I like Xert for the TP estimate and I like trying for breakthroughs on outdoor rides. That’s fun.
XATA applies the principle of progressive overload on a rolling weekly basis using your improvement rate to determine how much more you need to do today to maintain the set improvement rate and achieve progressive overload as compared to a week ago. If your deficit is much higher than what you typically do on that day-of-the-week, it will add additional XSS by spreading out additional training you’ll need over the next 7 days (i.e. it will tack-on 1/7 of the additional deficit to your workout target). This helps you better close deficits (i.e. maintain progressive overload) and spreads the increases over the entire week.
Thank you, Armando, the keyword that makes me feel better is ‘rolling (weekly basis)’ since it frees the predictions from the Monday-Sunday constraint.
So, since this is a ‘wishful’ thread anyway, I wonder if there is any medical reason for choosing to stick with the ‘past seven days’ as opposed to a custom period. Would it be a big change to allow a flexible choice of this ‘rolling period’? (with a little luck it’s a ‘7’ tucked away in some parameter set somewhere ). I know how complex software can get and I am by no means minimizing the potential effort involved:
Theoretically it could and probably wouldn’t be too hard but it would add additional complications to the user experience and it wouldn’t be something that would be widely used.
But it is something that would be useful for a more comprehensive offering in the future. Thanks for the suggestion.
). I know how complex software can get and I am by no means minimizing the potential effort involved: