Hello,
I am new, paying premuim…
When I am fresh (Today) XATA recommends on couple of workouts, most of them are test workouts,
Is it going to be the usual recommendations for me when I am fresh (4.5 stars from the gun)?
Is it because I had fakethrough 2 days ago?
thx
Hi @arnonz ! Welcome to Xert! 
Could you maybe share some details about your selected athlete type, improvement rate, XSS surplus/deficit? Those details will help determine why Xert is recommending what it is
Cheers!
Hey,
Yea sure… I am
I did the test yesterday, it did “reset” my fitness signature upwards so I guess it was good…
Another thing I noticed is that probably due to my high volume history and form I can barley get a “rest day” recommendation.
Even when I am using the planner and filling it with back to back workouts I stay “tired” (=endruance). So I guess I have no choice but to deliberately take a “day off” to reduce some load so that I will be fresh and that the workouts recommendation would be for fresh, and then again they are the hardest possible (4.5+) which is good I guess (polarized?)…
First of all I am not sure why am I 4.5 stars form, I am doing about 12hrs a week… pros usually do 20+ hrs/week so I should be somewhere in the 3 range not?
Second, I feel like I am in a loop hole with my current signature / form and that I have no choice but to reset it brutally with a weeks or two off, am I right? (that would be mentally difficult to me, very difficult)
Third, I normally doing a long ride on Saturdays (4+ hrs) so when I use the planner have a big XSS (300+) deficit on Saturday, What I am trying to do is to plan the workouts so that I will be tired on this day and to keep the short and intensity for the week days, but Xert have almost no workouts to fill this deficit, it would be nice to create some simple 4+ hrs workouts or just "Go out and ride your bike @ low intensity ", dont you think?
BTW,
I am asking for me (we are both in similar situation)
Xert doesn’t recommend rest days unless you get to red status, which is tough with a high training load. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t rest though, you just need to plan it yourself…
You don’t need to have a day off to return to ‘fresh’ - just don’t do any riding above threshold, and you will still return to blue.
There is, though, a difference between always being yellow due to daily intensity, and always seeing yellow with polarization I.e. it could just be because you do a hard workout each time you return to blue for a few hours, returning back to yellow again… which is probably ok
Re being at 4.5 stars on 12 hours, assuming your signature is now accurate (recent true, all-out breakthrough?) I guess you are riding quite a high average intensity (tempo or sweet spot), or you have long periods in your history where your signature was too low (eg due to decay / lack of breakthroughs)? You can post a pic of your progression if you’re happy sharing. I think most would average max 60 XSSR over 12 hours which is around 100 XSS a day, so about 4 stars rather than 4.5
For the long easy ride, you can just create some workouts yourself and they will be considered in training recommendations. Or just choose to ride that way yourself. It doesn’t have to be in Xert recommendations to be a good idea 
Follow @wescaine’s advice. 
Here’s my breakdown for anyone who finds themselves in similar circumstances.
The Planner is for playing what-if scenarios for the week ahead (at most) – which you may or may not decide to do when those days arrive. Many of us do not populate the Planner.
Watch this Academy video as it explains how deficit/surplus and form apply to the Planner:
https://youtu.be/3YxOKsvpx9I
“Hardest possible” is relative to intensity of the workout and not necessarily the 4.5 diamond count. See below.
4.5 stars represents your training load due to a combination of hours and intensity. “Pro” is the label assigned to TL >= 150. There are a number of Xert users with lots of time to ride their bike but they are not getting contracts.
See: The stars: training status and form – Xert (baronbiosys.com)
XATA will recommend workouts that are close to your status stars count. IE, around 4 diamond workouts if TL has reached 4 stars, etc. There are a variety of workouts at various intensities that correspond to your predicted form at that level. If form goes to red, you’d only see active recovery rides recommended (or take a rest day). If yellow, then endurance rides which can range from mild (mostly blue) to “hard” endurance (some sweet spot). If form goes to blue/green you should be ready to handle harder workouts or deliberately select the hardest if you feel up to it. For example, try tackling the Hardness Test ladder starting at 4 diamonds or higher (Level 08+) and see what level you can reach.
XATA adapts to whatever you decide to do. In all cases you are in control of your training. XATA is providing guidelines. You choose your own path by the decisions you make. IE, which workout is selected from top four or Load More, whether to use Filter to change the list, or whether to ride outdoors instead. That might be a free ride to focus type or roughly replicate one of the workouts if practical to complete on the route you pick.
You can adjust the Freshness Feedback slider if predicted form does not match how you feel. That will immediately change the recommendations.
See: Freshness Feedback – Xert (baronbiosys.com)
OTOH if you are not taking days off on a regular or occasional basis or modulating your ramp rate deliberately over time, you could be driving yourself into a rut or at least a fitness plateau.
If that’s the case, then yes. You’ll want to scale back or take time off and reset.
Using improvement rate (IR) for periodization is discussed in this Academy video –
https://youtu.be/8OQm19_NFjc
Any workout can be modified/lengthened by opening in Workout Designer, select Copy, make your edits including description, Save and the workout is available from your Personal folder. You can also mark it as a favorite and it will show up on the Planner list for drag and drop.
Outdoors you can simply free ride at the pace you want by RPE or HR. Or you might choose to free ride to focus type by monitoring a few Xert data fields on your head unit.
Again, many of us do not enter our future activities on the Planner. We just do them when the day arrives. For example, during the summer I always ride long on Sat or Sun but never add it to the Planner. XATA recognizes that pattern and will say “Advice is based on your recent activities performed on Saturdays”. However, you always have the option to do something else.
The pacer needle position lets you know if you are on track to maintain your current ramp rate whether you’ve set a progression (Slow or higher), topped out your time commitment (Maintenance) or want to ease off (Taper or Off-Season). If the needle hovers between 11am-1pm you are on target for that ramp rate. But you can also waver and bring things back to “normal” based on what you decide to do during the rolling seven-day period XATA operates on.
Myself, I rarely populate the Planner or worry about a calendar. I simply monitor the needle. If it’s pointing north, I’m doing fine. If it dips towards red that’s okay when I know a longer weekend ride will factor in soon. Which reminds me. That time is now. cya
Thank you for the answers,
np @wescaine here is the progression chart,
I am trying to change my training to be more “polarized” than “sweet spot”/“pyramidal”… I guess I would have to ignore XATA recommendations for a period so it will “learn” how to advice “better”.
Again, thank you guys…
Looks like a good progression chart overall, so the high training load is due to sweet spot rather than data issues 
Xert can help with polarizing training, but if you want to do ‘full’ Seiler polarized you may need to filter your endurance day recommendations or create some of your own easy workouts since LTP is above LT1 for most people. Most Xert endurance workouts ride around and sometimes above LTP. Training load may also drop (unless you find more hours) but you can still improve your signature from the new intensity distribution
Good luck with the training
