Where Cyclists and Triathletes get Faster/Stronger/Leaner/Sooner
In Today’s Xert Daily Ditty, I’m showing how sliding the Freshness Feedback bar changes the suggested workout and intensity, and how the past two days of workouts affected my Weekly FOCUS.
I’m also going to talk about using the Xert TTE-TTR Field to achieve a Suppressed and a Depressed MPA during workouts.
Enjoy the Ride!
Today’s Xert Daily Ditty
I changed the Xert Training Suggestions and Adaptive Training Advisor by altering the Freshness Feedback under my Goals.
Instead of an “Endurance” Focused Ride, I got what I wanted – a “Breakaway Specialist” FOCUS.
I think my Fitness Signature is stale, and I want to work towards a breakthrough, possibly today.
Hop on to my Online Bike Coach Facebook Page to watch it live, at 10:00am, PST!
My wife has been a successful competitive cyclist for almost 20 years. She earned a Master’s Degree in Human Performance, and was a certified Cycling Coach and Triathlon Coach. She even wrote a book about resistance training and stretching! We worked together for 8 years, and now we enjoy riding and training together at our new home in the Sierras.
In 2017, using an early version of the Xert training system, Tracy won a State Championships in Texas. I called out to her from a spot on the course, “GREEN!” YELLOW!” “ORANGE!” “RED!” to indicate the different colors on the wattage screen that I felt would best suit her needs at that moment. She ended up reducing the field from 25 riders, down to 5. She won two of the three primes, and won the finale.
At the end, everyone came up to her and said, “YOU OWNED THAT RACE!” “HOW DID YOU DO IT?!” “WHAT WERE THOSE COLORS YOUR HUSBAND WAS CALLING OUT?”
Unfortunately, we never got as many women on Xert as we would have liked, though I still have female clients around the world who use it daily. I just wish there were more women cycling in general. That crusade was lost a long time ago. Other coaches and governing bodies will need to work to improve gender ratios and overall counts.
Tracy has had some struggles with her performance lately. She’s still very fit, but the lack of races in the US due to Covid has left her and others without goals. So, we started looking for Strava segments to ride, and she’s bagged some QOM’s. Yet she still expressed frustration about Xert’s Adaptive Training Advisor, and how to interpret the suggestions, as well as volume and the Fitness Signature.
This video is the first of what might be a series, where we discuss Xert for Women, Xert Training Questions, and how best to set things up for goals and training limitations.
Thanks for reading – I’m going mountain biking!
Here’s my ride recommendation from the Xert Adaptive Training Advisor. In my Journey to 300 watts, a solid foundation of base is necessary.
Base training is low wattage power. It’s aerobic. Low Steady Distance. “RED FAT”. It’s BLUE or BLUE/GREEN Watts on the Garmin Xert Fields. In order to get faster, I need to go slower. To ride stronger, I need to ride easier.
I’m going to ride on the trainer this morning, since the air in Reno is pretty bad. There are fires in California. The XSS goal is 51 points, and the Xert FOCUS goal is 17:37. I’ll share my ride with you once I’m done.
There’s an old saying… “Temper Action With Wisdom.” I consider these Base rides to be my own effort to get wise. The exuberance of fitness can lead to a plateau. Instead, putting time in on at low intensities makes a subtle, but significant, difference.
Here’s what my Garmin Xert Fields Showed after 45:00 today.
Remember that the Xert XSS Goal was 51 points, and the Xert FOCUS goal was 17:37. I held FOCUS at “–:–” for over 30 minutes. Then I hit some intervals to bring the FOCUS “Down” (more intense) to “30:00”. A few minutes later, I hit some more intervals and brought it down to “17:00”, before it drifted back up to about “18:00”. On the last interval, with my Xert XSS at 48 points, I attempted one more interval — and overcooked it.
I ended up with a FOCUS of “16:52”, and 52 XSS. However, it accomplished the goals of the ride. You can see the results in the Xert Training Pacer Rainbow Dial….
Furthermore, if we look at the big picture, we can see definite growth in my Training Load. The form fatigue is there as well, but it should be recovered by tomorrow morning.
I’m going to stick to the Xert Adaptive Training Advisor’s recommendations, and let the plan play out.
Thanks for reading!