New Xerter here and I am really enjoying it so far!
I really liked the planner as it allowed me to go into a race today Green Star fresh and I was able to plot out the most training I could get in before tiring myself today. It resulted in a 4th overall!
I am still in my pre-base phase and just training as I want and getting ready to start my base at the end of the month.
I had a weird message pop up today when I logged onto Xert with my phone (to check my planner) and it was recommending that I have not had a âbreakthroughâ since July, which I can attest ive been very lax since then and that it recommends setting my Decay to âno decayâ
I played with it and it took my TP back to what I imagine is my peak season TP and there is no way I could train on that, any ideas recommendation? Maybe I need to set it at No decay and hope for the best?
The very minimal workouts I have done so far (about 4 weeks) I would say feel just about perfect, not so overly hard and not easy at all⌠Doable with a little bit of focus.
Thanks everyone!
*Edit, the race today I did not have a breakthrough. I came very close to a MPA one but Xert did not say I had any others. I know I was 100% today and couldnât go any harder (or could have I if I didnât have a breakthrough?). I had a average HR of 176 (max is 186) and my equivalent power was 2 watts lower than my TP for the entire event.
Itâs a recent change that we released to make Xert more useful for users who tend to not push routinely for Breakthroughs. For those athletes, Xert would almost always result in an underestimated Threshold Power, which could negatively impact their experience with the Xert platform. With the recent change, Xert will let users know if itâs been a while since their last BT as well as offering to automatically change the userâs settings to improve their experience.
To answer your question, would you mind sharing a screenshot of your XPMC from your last BT until now? Alternatively, your year to date XPMC would be more helpful.
In the second image, you can clearly see how the âNo Decay - Training Load Matchedâ decay works⌠youâll see your Threshold Power increase (or decrease) directly in line with Training Load. Looks like a small decay from your last BT in July to now has decayed ~40 W.
What was the change in your signature from that last BT? Looks like that BT increased your TP about 40W over the TP throughout March-July, where TP appeared to be relatively stable around 250 W.
Please tell me if I did that correct, I just went to the two different breakthrough activates and looked at the signature at the bottom of those activities.
I distinctly remember the breakthrough in July, I was well rested/recovered and it was a major/massive sprint for Thursday night glory (Which I won!)
I would consider using the âNo Decay - Training Load Matchedâ option from your last BT in July (as was prompted by Xert) and allow the signature to decay a bit for now⌠If the signature is a bit too low, you could always prove Xert wrong and push for a Breakthrough effort. This should either confirm (or correct) your fitness signature before you continue with your training program.
Build phase is a good time to switch back to optimal as weekly intensity sessions will kick in then.
Another way to look at it is Optimal works best when there are more BT dots on your XPMC chart indicating BTs are being detected often. That could be weekly during the season if racing every weekend.
No Decay works best when you donât expect to be making max efforts to failure for weeks on end. E.g. an extended base period.
The only caveat is you should be satisfied with your signature before changing to No Decay.
I donât mean an exact number, but it should feel about right. I can tell if itâs in the right ballpark when riding an over/under LTP workout by RPE.
The best decay setting for a user likely depends on how often they have maximal efforts throughout training. As @ridgerider2 mentioned, if you have frequent Breakthroughs (once a month or so), then Optimal Decay is likely sufficient. For prolonged base periods, âNo Decayâ will generally perform better - just make sure that your starting signature at the start of your base period is accurate.
FWIW, I tend to utilize the âNo Decay - Training Load Matchedâ during the winter months & then switch to âSlow Decayâ during the outdoor season, where I generally achieve a BT every 4-6 weeks or so.
I ultimately went into the July ride and flagged it and then set my profile to No Decay - this took me down to a 230TP (I think even my peak July on Optimal decay which is 240ish is even closer to correct) and to me that is WAY more realistic number right now from a training standpoint.
Please let me know if this doesnât make sense, I cant wrap my head around why you wouldnât leave Xert on optimal decay and let it continue to negatively affect/decay your TP until you hit a point where it senses you getting a fakethrough or break through again. Maybe this works in my mind better because I participate in so many aggressive outdoor group rides and races that I constantly am challenging a BT?
Thatâs what Xert expects users to do and why âOptimal Decayâ is called that. It constantly draws your signature down in the hopes that you race and push it back up.
Some of us donât do that, canât because it takes too much out of them or just donât want to because racing is not their goal or just hate it because âall out effortâ is not in their DNA.
For those or just for long base phase training where there is no effort above TP and thus no breakthrough in the plan the no decay/training load matched is a very good option once a correct signature is established through a couple of ideally different kind of breakthroughs to get all three parameters as correct as possible.
The signature will still change up and down with training load (all three values independently of each other based on their training load) but it will not âartificiallyâ draw the values down so that you can and have to push them back up. Most people here report it works quite well even over months of time. Sometime though you have to âbite the lemonâ as we say here and do a breakthrough/fakethrough (both are very possible in case of long time on no decay so donât be disappointed if it is a fakethrough) to correct any âdriftâ between expectation (training load) and reality (correct signature) that might have occurred.
