For any of you all who are interested in adding SMO2 and THb metrics to your Xert workouts and seeing the data develop in real-time, I discovered today one way of doing it. Here’s how:
YMMV, but I shut off all BLE connectivity on my iPhone 12 ProMax, save for my Polar H10 and KickR Smart bike. Same with my iPadPRO4.
I had pre-installed on EBC one of Richard Wharton’s (my coach) EBC/CCD workouts. After doing that, I checked to see if the EBC settings had connected and they all. had. :YAY!!!
I them went to the iOS version of the VO2 Master mobile app and I adjusted the panel/tiles setting to configure each of the Moxy sensors I had applied to my left deltoid, and the other to my right lateralis.
I pedaled for a few minutes to make sure that the VO2 app was working. It was. I then reset that app to begin a new workout. To do that I started the EBC app and immediately the power showed up on the VO2 app as 45w the same as on EBC, all EBC metrics were showing, and I had power, SMO2 and THb on the VO2 app.It turns out I can also record RR intervals, potentially allow me to use HRV logger or Fatmaxxer to collect DFA-alphia 1.
The fluctuations in SMO2 were entirely consistent with the power demands of each of the interval, depleting on the right leg w/ inc’d demand, restoring during the “rest” interval. And, as expected, saturation inc’d with each successive rest interval in the presence of power output at the same level on each of the successive work intervals.
I’ve got more playing around with the panels on the VO2 metric display to get real-time charting that reflects the changing saturation #'s.
Now, if I could afford the VO2 Master, I’d have my very own Exercise Physiology lab in my home office. Time will tell.
Hey Anthony, did you ever get that stem adjusted on your Kickr Bike? Since I replied to you last time, I saw a new trick: Just reverse the stem. Have it point backwards! You use the existing stem, but just remove it and reverse it (not flip it). So now the stem points back at you when you’re sitting on the bike. Make sense? Easy peasy.
Roger that, Carmen. I tried the el cheapo version of it by simply lifting the post out of head unit, but KickR designed it so that the post is NOT circular, precluding that option, Grrrr… so, I have to loosen and then rotate the stem so that it in fact points back to me. One potential glitch in doing that is the length of wires for the BLE connections via Wi-Fi in terms of whether or not they are long enough to allow for the rotation. The other potential issue is how close the grips on the bar will be to my knees while pedaling… We shall see, what we shall see. Take care, Carmen
The grips? Not sure I understand, You turn the stem around as you said, but you also remove the handlebar from the stem and flip the handlebar so that’s it’s in the normal position. Have you done this before, changed a stem and/or bars? There’s a way you need to tighten the bolts, like the way you tighten the lug nuts on car wheel.
Long day, Carmen, Reversing the stem will bring the bars close to me, although the KickR has a lot of flexibility in terms of fore and aft positioning of the entire handlebar components. I’ll give it roll tomorrow before my workout to see what develops. Thanks again
Hi,
Thanks for the heads-up that the VO2Master app will display a graph of SMO2. I typically only collect my 3 Moxy’s on my watch and analyze later in Golden Cheetah. The Garmin watch also collects rr intervals for dfa-alpha1 analysis, too. Which I also do in Golden Cheetah.
I don’t care too much about SMO2 during the workout, though. It’s more like heart rate for me…post-ride data.
In my opinion, pass on the VO2Master unless you have hobby money to spend. I own a portable metabolic cart (Pnoe, which has its own set of quirks) and was talking with VO2Master for a while about purchasing one. The device is good in some situations, but it is very limited. Also, 5% is the best error estimate on readings. And no CO2 measurement, but that’s supposedly coming.
My next cart is going to be a refurbished Vacumed cart, I think. It’s not portable though and they’re getting close to 10k USD. But better data.
Thanks for your reply on SMO2. I really appreciate your comment that it does not have CO2, which to my naive thinking indicates that metric is seriously important to performance capability. So, you just saved me a lot of money, as others of you all here have done as well.
I found out yesterday for the first time since actually doing Xert workouts on the iOS app, that using the visual output of the real-time data really helped me understand, first, how long it took me “warm up,” good grief, nearly 25’. I saw that in a continuous elevation of SMO2 on the right lat as I continued with the warmup intervals.
Second, I was impressed with the rapidity with which my SMO2 recovered after (for me) significant energy expenditures on the just prior work interval. And, with each successive interval, my SMO2 continued to elevate during the recovery interval for that work time to a level above the previous recovery. So, more so than HR, and admittedly this was a one time occurrence, I’ll see what it’s like in my following workout tomorrow. I actually found myself ignoring all other metrics save for SMO2 recovery on the RL and an occasional glance at Power, while noticing concurrently that the LDelt was relatively stable.
as a follow-up, I’ve reversed the stem as we’ve talked about doing. That of course required that change the top tube distances, for and aft, because with the original settings, coming out of the seat did have my knees banging the horizontal bar of the handle bars. Nevertheless, after raising the vertical post several cm’s, and, of course having already reversed the bars themselves so that they were pointing in the correct direction, I extended back to the original location of my seat post gotten from a $200 custom fit - so much for those metrics. I then readjusted the vertical post a cm or two, sat in the seat with my arms out laterally, and began to lean forward. I did not fall forward out of control, but was able to do that as I took control on the hoods. So, I’ll do a workout to see how the set up works. BTW, with the setup as it is now, I do not have my knees banging on the handbags when I come out of the seat. Thanks again for your input.
