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Sleep and Intervals

Good Sleep is critical to recovery, so that Intervals can be completed and be effective.

I failed a workout on Friday. The effort was an attempt to get Xert XSS points in. However, I got about 5 hours of sleep on Thursday evening; three hours and then two, after two hours awake. The Xert Adaptive Training Advisor is adjusting my goals every day, but it does not take sleep quality or quantity into account. The Xert ATA does look at fatigue due to volume, but it still acts as a carrot, and I am always out chasing the goal. The thought did occur to me to take the day off, but my goal in this series is to follow the Xert Training Pacer and Workout Goals. I'm trying to do these outdoors as much as possible. I'm also trying to adjust my intensity on the mountain bike, since that is just so much more convenient. The trails are right outside my front door. Due to some time restrictions, I was unable to get outside and ride, so I opted instead for an inside ride with intervals. The Xert ATA was asking for 91 points and a FOCUS of 16:36. None of the recommended workouts in the right column offered anything less than 90 minutes. So, I went to the left tab of the Xert - My Fitness page, and designed my own workout.

Here's the workout in the Xert Workout Designer

Xert OBC GC Specialist 75 Minutes Workout is accomplishable with good sleep and intervals
Xert OBC GC Specialist 75 Minutes Workout. The main set intervals are SLOPE BASED with % FTP GOALS.

On Paper, this was entirely accomplishable. However, this is based on solid sleep and intervals that follow the SMART acronym.

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A Letter To A Client – Xert Progression

 

Dear James,

I Just wanted to give you a heads up on what I’m looking at in terms of your Xert progression.

First Things First – Xert Progression

This is a NICE CHART OF XERT PROGRESSION. It’s safe, it’s consistent, and it’s predictive. The Form line is just a hunch right now. As long as you feel okay, we continue. There are no signs of overtraining.
Xert Progression XPMC Training Load Form
Xert XPMC Chart Shows nice progression, breakthroughs, and a Plateau’d form line, which is just fine for now.

 

XERT Training Pacer and Summary Boxes

IF we were looking at the ATA, well, it’s pretty much spot-on. You’re right on the edge of “Training” and “Training Optional”, and the Xert Progression future workout is arguing for something a little less intense. We’ll see about that. I don’t agree or disagree, but the physiological modeling is rolling parallel to what I’m providing as a coach. However, we communicate more effectively, and we also know when you’re feeling good enough for a breakthrough, when the model might say something different.

Xert Progression Training Pacer Agrees with Coach Wharton Programming
IF you follow the Xert Training Pacer, which is kind of a broader coaching tool, it correlates with what we are seeing in this discussion.

XERT Progression Stress Chart

Xert Progression Stress Chart shows steady growth
Xert Stress Chart Shows healthy growth, but also shows the limits of indoor training. This will rise once the weather turns and you’re able to get Green/Red rides outside.

STRESS continues to trend upward. You and I know that a good hour on the bike can use as much as 800-1000kj’s, and we’re S L O W L Y going to work our way up for that. Still – I like seeing this growth. It’s going to lead to a great aerobic engine. This is one of my favorite Xert Progression charts; we know how much energy it takes to ride, and here, we see it in a rolling average.

XERT Progression Strain Chart

Xert Progression Strain Chart Push and Pull the Signature.
Strain is showing that the quality days are HIGH QUALITY, with a nice High Strain Purple Marking, whereas the Green/Red and Recovery days are all pink, which is exactly as they should be. Those are also mostly lower strain overall.
As for Strain, well…. The QUALITY days are QUALITY! HIGH QUALITY! AWESOME QUALITY! LOOK AT THE PURPLE MATCH HEADS!!! And the QUANTITY DAYS ARE QUANTITY! Little-to-no match head! Recovery days are also just that – Recovery; there’s no match head to speak of. Also notice that your Xert Progression Focus line is out there in the “GC Specialist” area. I am JUST fine with that, as, if you think about it – 8 minutes is a PRETTY AEROBIC effort. The Focus Spike was right before your breakthrough, and it settled down again after those two silver medals. We’ll be attempting breakthroughs less frequently now, but when they come, they’ll be “Big Silvers”, as we develop the HIE capacity, and let FTP float up. IT will pull Lower Threshold.

XERT Progression Fitness Signature Chart

Xert Progression Fitness Signature Trendline HIE Threshold Power Peak Power Lower Threshold Power go UP
Capacity to do work comes in three places. Aerobic Capacity, Anaerobic Capacity, and Maximal Capacity. We don’t worry too much about Maximal Capacity right now, but the HIE and Threshold continue to grow, and pull Lower Threshold Power up.

Speaking of Signatures…..

You’re identifying your TRUE HIE, which is fundamental to interval intensity and duration. You are also showing a GREAT, YAWNING GAP of Tempo Power, from 189 watts to 242 watts, which is what I like to call my “Post-Breakaway With 45k to go” power. Remember – I WANT YOU TO BE THE ONLY ONE IN THE PICTURE WHEN THE FINISH LINE COMES AROUND! All of that will rise as FTP and HIE go up. We’ll also ‘Push’ Lower Threshold with LOOOOONG slow rides once the weather warms up where you are.

XERT Progression Fitness Planner

Xert Progression Fitness Planner GC Specialist Ramp Rate Polarity Ratio Fitness Signature Total XSS
Ramp Rate is rising steadily. Polarity ratio is improving. Fitness Signatures are trending in green, and Total XSS is showing a healthy bump as well. Weekly focus is right where you want it.
Finally – let’s take a look at the Planner, as it confirms a few things, and points out a few others…
We’ll start with Ramp Rate. Outside of the week of the 18th, which is still okay at 7.2, look at what the simple act of Progression has built for you; a nice, steady Ramp up of XSS/Day volume. We’ve also seen improved Signatures because of this, and in the last two weeks, we’ve hovered near a 90:10 ratio through Friday of each week. I’m not concerned about smacking a 90:10 or greater for a whole week – THAT would take less volume, and would be too intense for this time of year. Look back at the Strain Chart, and you’ll see that those Quality Days were so beautiful, and fun, that the Easy days ended up being easier, and longer, at higher levels of wattage and energy. Total XSS for the week ended at 669, and it’s THAT number, along with the FOUR WEEKS of GROWTH, is what MIGHT necessitate a Periodization. NOT this week, but maybe NEXT week. We’ll see how this goes as we progress.

For the upcoming week, don’t forget to try and RAISE your watts over the set time periods, and follow my “bank it, then spend it” philosophy. Think of it as half-wheeling from hell. We’ll get appropriate dips in MPA, we’ll see better colors in the “Focus” field, and we’ll continue to see breakthroughs AS YOU SEE FIT!

You’re on your way, and I can’t wait to see what the next two or three weeks bring you in terms of Signature, Volume, and Fatigue. Don’t forget to do some resistance training, and if there are ANY twitches or warning signs from your hip, calves, or heart, we back down, and recover. No injuries. Train hard, Rest Harder.

Chat soon.
— 
Richard Wharton
USA Cycling Level 1 Coach
Author: Watts per Kilogram
Looking for resistance training for endurance athletes? Buy Suspension Fitness today!
Cycling Center Dallas

Ph: +1 (214) 616-9850
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Xert and Texas Mountain Biking, Part One

If you follow these posts, you know that I recently installed a power meter on my mountain bike, and began using it to study the demands that mountain biking requires for fitness. I installed it just before a trip to Arkansas, where my wife and I rode the Womble Trail, and I have since ridden several times at a local trail in Dallas, named Boulder Park. I’ve been riding with a Shockwiz Suspension Tuning device, front and rear, which has helped my comfort and confidence tremendously, but this weekend was the first time in a very long period, that I’ve gotten to ride for fitness and exertion, instead of just as a “Trail Tourist”. With the power meter and Xert on my Garmin 1000, I got some exciting insights, which I’ll be sharing.

Trails in Dallas resemble a small intestine; fit as many kilometers of trail in to the available acres or hectares. There’s little public land, and the trails are highly maintained by a responsible group of trail stewards under the leadership of DORBA.ORG. The trails are twisty, turny, curvy, with short sight-lines and lots of accelerations and braking. For this weekend of testing and tuning, I chose the “A” loop, with all of the “Red” options, which is found below on Strava.

Let’s first use Strava, since it breaks down the segments better than I can on Xert at this time. Here’s a block of my recent efforts over a known segment that mimicked my ride.

Specifically – take a look at the efforts that recorded wattage. Here’s a screenshot….

 

Watts Mountain Biking Average Power Strava
Average Wattage and time splits, along with Heart Rate and speed.

Now, the first thing to look at and consider are the average speeds. Mountain biking in Texas is so twisty and TRUE SINGLETRACK CYCLING, that it’s hard to get a good speed. By the way – if you look at that Strava segment, you’ll see that my fastest time this weekend, was about SIX MINUTES SLOWER than the fastest times ever, and about FOUR MINUTES SLOWER than some of the athletes I’ve coached (using Xert, interestingly enough).

But look at the correlation, or otherwise, between average power (with zeroes), and time. Specifically, look at my fifth-best time, and my 2nd-best time. The average power output was different by just ONE WATT, but the time split was OVER SEVEN MINUTES. Why? I can think of just one thing, and that’s BIKE HANDLING. And I think my bike handling was improved by the tweaking I was performing on the suspension, front and rear.

But I think there’s something else going on that is important, and I think Xert is the system to use so we can understand it, and improve.

Click here to see the mystery solved, plus some training tips for handling short, steep, punchy North Texas-style terrain in Part Two (Premium Content—subscription)

 

ShockWiz Tuning – A Video Discussion



Here's another video highlighting my experiences with the ShockWiz Tuning System for mountain bikes. This is a tougher trail, with more rock and twists and lips, and I'm convinced that I'll be faster, and smoother, because of this investment.

OH yeah—6 watts difference on my average power between the first and second lap, led to a 2.5 minute improvement over 4.8 miles. THAT IS HUGE!
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