Introducing Group Ride Data Analytics with Flyby.  This new feature from Xert Breakthrough Training allows athletes, coaches and team directors to analyze team data all on one screen.  Xert now detects when an activity was performed with other Xert users and enables you to add their data to your chart, see who was in front / behind and by how much and even playback the ride using GPS flyby on Google Maps.  It’s the first of its kind to allow data from multiple athletes to be displayed and analyzed all on one screen.

Sharing Group Ride Data

Comparing your performance against others that are at the same level as you is a great way to stay motivated and track your progress over time.  Camaraderie, group ride competitions and comparing your results with others are what make group rides and racing so much fun.

Open a recent activity on Xert where you rode with other riders.  At the top of the page, you will see a notification indicating that the activity is a group activity and notify you if any other users have shared their ride data with you!

Click the first link to access this help page.  Click the second link to share your data with the other group riders.  In the notification above, you can see that Clark K has already shared their data with the group. After sharing an activity with the Group or Publicly, other members of the group activity will receive a pop-up notification in Xert. Again, they can choose to share your data back from the link in the notification.

Using Group Analytics

Use the Advanced Stats tab to open the Group Analysis information panel.  You’ll be presented with this panel on the right with a 2 or more segments.  The first segment is the Entire Ride and shows all the squad members you rode together with on the ride.  The second segment shows the information for the Current Selection on the chart/map.  To use the Current Selection, click-and-drag a selection on the chart and use the Refresh icon on the top right of the segment card to update the summary information:

If you have starred segments on Strava and you are a Premium Strava user, you’ll also see all these segments on the right panel.

Summary Stats

For each segment on the right panel, Xert will calculate the following:

1. Power : the average power for the rider over the duration of the segment.
2. Maximal Effort Time : How much time was the rider at their max.
3. In Front : The percentage of time the rider was ahead of the other riders.

Group FlyBy and Rider Data

Use the checkbox beside each user on the segment card to enable their data to appear on the chart.  Once enabled, mouse over the chart to see each rider’s data as well as their speed and gap relative to you. Use the legend to hide/show each user’s power, mpa or speed data as well as other data from the ride:

View the Google Map to see where each rider is on the map as you mouse over the data:

Playback

Use the play button and the slider above the chart to playback the data together with the Google Map.  You can also adjust the playback speed to clicking the menu beside the play button: 

Pause the playback using the same button.  Using the scrollbar to scrub to a position in the ride/segment you wish to look deeper into.  The guide on the map will align with the scroll position to provide the data at that point.

Note that the map switches to directional perspective mode during playback. Changing the zoom or direction will maintain the choice until the segment is reloaded.

Adjusting other Rider’s Data

Sometimes a rider’s bike computer may not synchronize with a global time clock and their position on the map will be shown ahead or behind where they may have actually have ridden.  Their In front calculation may also be affected by this.  Use the ellipses beside the user’s name on the segment summary on the panel to adjust their Time Shift.  Use the refresh button to apply the change to the chart and map.

Activity Sharing Options

Activity sharing has been updated to allow greater control on who can view your activity data:

1. Public – All Xert users will see your data as part of a group ride and your activity data will also be visible to anyone on the Internet that opens the URL to the Activity.
2. Group – All those that rode with you during this activity will be able to see your data when they open the Group Analysis tab.
3. Default – The default sharing option allows coach community coaches and members of a squad community that you belong to open and view this activity’s data.
4. Private – This disables all sharing for the activity, including coaches and squad members.

Creating Group Discussions

Bring on the smack talk in the group discussion! Xert’s integration with Rocket.Chat can be used to discuss your group activities. To start a new group ride discussion, click the Group Chat button, which will directly open the group discussion in Rocket.Chat. You will only be able to click the Group Chat button once you’ve agreed to share your data with the Group.

Setting Up Squad Communities

In order to protect each users private data, group analytics feature is only available to those that shared their data with the group members. This easiest way to enable sharing with other Xert users is to use a Squad Community.  Squad members agree to share their data with other squad members so this community is used to display group ride data.  When you create a squad community with your riding partners, Xert will look for other squad members that your rode with and if they happened to ride together with you, you’ll see them on the Group Analytics tab information.

To get your riding partners into a squad community, follow these steps:

1. 1. Ask your riding partners if a squad community has been created.  If so, ask them for the Join URL to the squad community and use that to join the community.  You’re all set if the community has already be set up.
   2. If a squad community has not been created, create a new squad community.  Use the share feature on the squad community page to copy the Join Community URL to the clipboard.  Send your riding partners the URL via Strava, email, Facebook, Instagram or whichever platform you use to stay connected with each other.
   3. Once your riding partners have joined the squad community, you’ll be able to open recent rides where you rode together an analyze their data together with yours.

“How fit do I need to be?”

That’s easy: “As much as possible!”

While that seems like the obvious answer, the more likely answer will be “It depends.”  How fit you need to be depends on a number of things about you and what you are trying to accomplish:

• Is there an event I’m targeting or am I just trying to get fit?
  • If there’s an event, am I trying to win, do the best I can, support a team mate or just be able to keep up?
  • If I’m just trying to get fit, how fit? By when?
• How fit am I now?
• How fit do I need/want to be?
• Will I need to make commitments and sacrifices and if so, am I ready to make them?
  • How much time do I have to train?
  • How much time do I *need* to train?
  • Do I need to lose weight?
• How will I keep the training demands in balance with my life?
• How will I handle unforeseen changes in my goals or priorities?

Answering these questions, and perhaps many others that affect you specifically need to be considered. Your answers will help guide you towards what you need to do.

Reviewing Your Goals

Xert can be a great tool to help you prepare, whether it’s for a race, a major event or just to set a goal to be your best during a club event. Xert will help you Discover what the real demands of the event or race are, whether you’re trying to win or just be your best. You can use Xert to help you set appropriate and achievable goals and will guide you to Improve towards these goals within the commitments and sacrifices you are prepared to make. During the training process and even in competitions, Xert will give you feedback in real-time about your ability to Perform, helping you evaluate whether you’re on track or need to make changes to your training program. Xert acts as the window into your own progress and achievements you make towards your goals.

This post will help you understand how to use Xert to map out your training, understand what you can achieve and what you’ll need to do to prepare.

Xert’s 5 Step Review Process:

1. Is there an event I’m targeting or am I just trying to get fit?
   • If there’s an event, am I trying to win, do the best I can, support a team mate or just be able to keep up?
   • If I’m just trying to get fit, how fit? By when?
2. How fit am I now?
3. What fitness do I need/want to reach?
4. What commitments and sacrifices do I need to make?
5. What could happen and what can I do to prepare in advance?

Answering these five questions helps answer the most important question:

What’s the training program I’m going to follow?

Your Training Program isn’t a set of workouts you’re going to do set out on a schedule. Plans are rarely followed perfectly and don’t account for unforeseen challenges.  A Training Program is a set of principles you are going to follow such that:

1. You improve at the rate you need to in order to reach your training goal.
2. The improvement aligns with the target you want to achieve.
3. The commitment you need to make is something that has enough flexibility for you to maintain it throughout the program.
4. Unforeseen challenges don’t ruin your opportunity to reach your goals or demotivate you from staying on the training program.
5. You can adapt and adjust the program, whether life opens up more opportunities to improve, you need additional recovery time or there are circumstances that impede your ability to maintain your commitments.

Examining your Target Event / Personal Goals

Whether you’re looking to prepare to win a National Championship or just want to ride in the A division of your local club, you’ll need to identify what that means in terms of fitness and goals. Xert is unique in that it provides you with specific ways you can assess what fitness level you need to achieve to reach your goals. Let’s learn more about this.

Whilst in the past, we often talked about assessing the target Focus for an event using the focus of an example activity, with the new features announced recently, you can go one level deeper. Let’s take a look at an example athlete and a race they are looking to perform better in. Last race, the athlete could not stay with the lead group. They simply did not have the fitness to keep up. To assess what the athlete needs to achieve, we can look deeper into their ride and assess things further. You can do that same with one of your rides/race files that you wish to use as your target, whether it’s for a race or just for a personal goal:

Looking at this race file, we can see that the opening 60 minutes of the race was really tough for this athlete.  The Maximal Power Available (magenta line) started to really be affected at about the 30 minute mark.  For this race, that early move is what separated the lead group with the main pack.  By about 45:00, the athlete was at the limit (when MPA and power touch) and struggled to maintain a position with the lead group and was eventually dropped.  The remainder of the race, was a gruppetto effort, i.e. without much intensity.

Looking at the Focus for the race, it was Rouleur (6 minute power) however that may not actually be what’s needed since the decisive parts of the race did not have several hours of easier riding.  Using the new analysis metrics available when reviewing an activity, let’s click-and-drag the section of the race where all the action was:

What’s most important to note is that this section of the race where the decisive move was made has Focus of Puncheur – 4 minute watts/kg.  This section had some sharp rollers where the puncheurs in the race would put the hammer down making difficult for others to stay with them.

What If?

To get a perspective of what fitness you may need to compete in the race, you can use the ability to test out different fitness signatures and use the Refresh button to see how they would apply to the race data.  Adjusting the signature to PP=1300W, HIE=32kJ, and TP=328W and clicking the Refresh button, we get the following chart:

You can see that with a higher fitness signature, the athlete has a lot more power available (MPA is higher) to withstand the attacks made in the lead group. Indeed, he/she may have enough power available to contribute to the attacks rather than just trying to survive.

The fitness signature we chose was somewhat arbitrary but that’s ok.  What we really want to know is “What’s the demand on Puncheur power, i.e. 4 minute power?”.  The signature expresses this power and that’s what’s most important.  Reviewing the chart under the Power Duration tab using the original signature (PP=1225, HIE=29.2, TP=318) we can inspect the curve to see that 4 minute power was 432W:

After we adjust the signature to the new values:

We see that the athlete needs to increase their 4 minute power to 453W in order to raise MPA sufficently to contend in this race.  If the athlete weighs 80kg at the time, the will need to reach 453/80 or 5.66 W/kg.  After performing this analysis, the athlete decides that a fitness signature that yields a 4 minute W/kg between 5.6 and 5.7 is where they need to be to contend in this race.

Setting up the Training Program

With a target fitness of 5.6-5.7 W/kg as a Puncheur (4 minute W/kg), we can now start to look at setting up the program.  The Target Event Date for this race is August 8th.  Given that we’re now near the end of June, this doesn’t leave a whole lot of time to prepare.  But let’s see what Xert says.  Using the Goals and Settings dialog on the My Fitness page, we can set the Athlete Type to Puncheur and the Target Event Date to August 8th, leaving the current Improvement Rate as Slow:

The Adaptive Training Advisor determines that to hit the Slow Improvement Rate this week, requires 12.5 hours of training and by the Target Event Date, will be 13.2 hours.  However, this won’t enable them to reach the goal of between 5.6 and 5.7 W/kg.  Increasing the Improvement to Moderate-2, we can see that they can reach the lower 5.6 W/kg limit (assuming they maintain their weight):

They will need to train 14.7 hours this week and 17.5 hours at the end of the program in August.  However, they acknowledge that some work obiligations in July could affect the amount of time they can commit for a brief period.  They feel they should add in some more training as contingency for this. Adjusting the Improvement Rate to Aggressive-1:

They can reach their upper end fitness goal of 5.7 W/kg by race day if all goes well with their training.  The time commitment of 15.8 hours this week increasing to 19.8 hours the last week is something they are prepared to commit to.  Looking at the Training Progam slider:

They are already in the Build phase of the program starting with a Focus of Rouleur.  After the first week in July, they’ll be totally focussed on improving their 4 minute power as much as possible, leading up to the Taper Week before the race:

The program is clear in the demands that are needed and the path to 5.7 W/kg is something that athlete believes they can achieve.  With that confidence, the athlete can feel assured that if they commit to following the program and follow the advice of the Adaptive Training Advisor, they can reach their training and fitness goals and be prepared to race the event.  Even if they see interruptions due to work or otherwise, they’ve left enough in their program as a buffer to ensure they will be ready come race day.

Loes Adegeest Wins the 2022 UCI eSports Women’s World Championships

On February 26th, 2022, athletes from around the world competed in the UCI eSports World Championships.  It was the second edition of the event and in the women’s race, former World Champion and professional rider Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (who also just finished 3rd place in this year’s Strade Bianche) was the overwhelming favourite.  This year’s race was two and a half laps of the NYC Knickerbocker circuit with the finish line atop the NYC KOM.  The circuit is relative flat aside from the NYC KOM climb giving the entire race nearly 1000m of elevation gain over the 57km.  It’s a tough finish with a middle 500m section at 10.6% for 400m and then 100m at 15.7%.  The final 500m of the race features a flat 300m followed by 100m climb at 10.8% and a flat 100m to the finish.

Courtesy Zwift Insider

Loes Adegeest is an accomplished speed skater, having started racing as a teenager and races for the Dutch National Team.  Speed skaters make great cyclists and vice versa and Loes is no different.  She had always enjoyed cycling and quickly saw success on the Zwift racing scene.  She joined the Aeonian Zwift cycling team and she has been a consistent and strong performer, racing in the Zwift Racing League’s Premier Division.  She qualified for the UCI World Championship Women’s event in December 2021.

Over the 11 weeks leading into the event, she trained, strategized, focused and prepared herself for the final race on February 26th.  On that day, she raced a perfect race and crossed the line to become the 2022 UCI eSports World Champion.  Many saw this as an upset. But one look at her Xert breakthroughs and training leading up to the race, it wasn’t.  She was destined to win.

The Race

The race was a tough race from the beginning with two hard efforts up the NYC KOM that wittled down the field.  To see the story of the race, we can look at her power and elevation data and as well as her Maximum Power Available (MPA).  MPA is Xert’s unique metric the depicts how much power an athlete has any given moment in a race.  It is the purple line on the chart above and is an indicator of fatigue. The value goes further than just showing fatigue as it also depicts how this fatigue is affecting an athlete’s ability to produce power – their maximum power.  When an athlete’s power reaches their MPA value, it’s a maximal effort and often results in a breakthrough in Xert.

As you can see, Loes’ MPA sees some relatively minor dips during the first two climbs.  Her power data is mostly blue (low intensity) with only short yellow and red efforts during the NYC KOM climbs on each lap. She had conserved energy very effectively, never being pushed or tested at any point in the race.  On the final lap, a few women remained, including defending champion, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio.  Team USA launched attack after attack with Katheryn Curi making a strong move leading into the final NYC KOM climb.  She was caught passed by “AMP” and three women managed to bridge and hang on: Cecilia Hansen, Zoe Langham and Loes Adegeest.  Loes had been preparing for this moment and knew exactly what to do.  She took a moment on the flat second section before the final pitch to the finish to gather just a bit of needed energy and at the base of the climb she deployed her feather power-up and launched an all-out maximal effort with everything she had for 20s.  The power-up and effort were perfectly timed, something she had practiced over and over with breakthrough after breakthrough efforts in her training.  With her fitness at a level it had never been before, everything had come together at the moment:  the perfect strategy, perfect execution, perfect planning and perfect training.  Loes wins the race.

Examining the Winning Effort

Looking the final winning effort, Loes gets the hallmark power and MPA representation of a win – a breakthrough-on-the-line.   This happens when an athlete reaches and sustains a breakthrough effort as they cross the finish line.  It’s the definition of a perfect ending to a race.

The system evaluated her signature on this day to be 853W, 19.3kJ and 309W for her Peak Power, High Intensity Energy and Threshold Power, respectively.  These three numbers are called a fitness signature in Xert.  Her Threshold Power was 309W and at just 57kg is an impressive 5.4W/kg.  This saw an increase from her previous high of 302W just 5 days earlier.  But it wasn’t just her Threshold Power that made this win happen.  It was her High Intensity Energy too.  It’s as important as Threshold Power, if not more, to achieve this race-winning, all-out effort.

Is it all about FTP?

It was just recently that her High Intensity Energy was as low as 15.3kJ, in fact.  This was at the end of a phase where she had focused on raising her Threshold Power (more on this below).  What if she had continued to focus on her Threshold Power and not on her High Intensity Energy?  What would it have taken to achieve the same result?  To find out, we use the Advanced capabilities of Xert to examine how another athlete’s signature fits the same power data:

Here we have an athlete with a High Intensity Energy of 15kJ.  In order to perform the same effort Loes performed that day, this athlete would need to have a Threshold Power of 327W! (5.7W/kg!)  For female cyclists, this would be reserved for a very, very few at the top of their game.  Had Loes been focused on her Threshold Power, reaching 327W would have been highly improbable, perhaps even impossible.

Others may have examined race details and thought that focusing on sprint power would be a good way to prepare. The final effort is only 20s so could be for sprinters?  What if her Peak Power had risen to 1000W?

Doesn’t seem like it would have helped much at all.  Threshold Power would still need to be in rarified territory (324W).  That final 20s effort isn’t performed in a relatively rested state hence Peak Power doesn’t have a lot of influence on the athlete’s ability to push this power under this much fatigue.  Pure sprinters really don’t have a chance here.

Focus Focus Focus

Loes had intentionally chosen Puncheur (4 minute W/kg Focus Athlete Type) in Xert to help guide her toward the right training in preparation for the event.  She had done the NYC KOM climb many times before and knew that it was a 4 minute effort.  She also knew that it wasn’t a paced as a 4 minute constant power effort.  There was a short flat in the middle where there was some recovery.  Her 1 minute power was also important.  Indeed, the final sprint saw her reach a breakthrough at 500W, far above her 4 minute power.  If we examine the power curve for the race, we get some indication of this.  Rarely do power curves reveal this unfortunately, since efforts paced from fresh to failure do not occur often in racing power data.  However in this case, there are some interesting things to observe:

Preparing to Win

Loes had been using Xert for just over 6 months and decided to use the platform in preparation for the world championships.  Having examined the route, she recognized from the beginning that this was going to be a puncheur’s race.  She set her Athlete Type to Puncheur and Target Event Date to Feb 26th and monitored her training.  Most of her training would be by choosing both indoor Zwift rides and outdoor riding that are in-line with the advice being offered by Xert’s Adaptive Training Advisor.  She also knew that she’s need to be creative. Having been selected in December, it’d didn’t give her much time to perform a thorough Base-Build-Peak Training Program.  She had less than 80 days to prepare and also had to fit in a Training Camp with her team in early February:

She had been doing a lot of Zwift training and racing prior to the start her program and had a well developed High Intensity Energy but had to switch to building some base.  But she also had to be mindful of the intensities needed to win and practicing her race winning efforts throughout her training.  In the 10 weeks of her focused training, starting in mid December and ending on race day, she had 18 breakthroughs – nearly 2 a week – many of them similar in intensity and duration like she’d have to perform on race day.  Even with all those breakthroughs, she held steady on building her Low Intensity Training Load over that period, increasing it from 55 to 76:

This phase saw her doing more lower intensity training than before, including more outdoor longer rides:

In that process she had to let her High Intensity Training Load slide in order to keep the right focus on your Low Intensity Training Load / Threshold Power to get it as high as possible.  She also knew she was going to get a huge dose of High Intensity training during her Training Camp and was going to use that as her Peak phase to get her back on Focus and top up her High Intensity Energy to where it started:

The training camp ended up being a great opportunity to overreach.  She loaded up on both Low Intensity Training Load with some very long rides:

.. but also worked hard to get her High Intensity system ready by practicing race winning efforts for breakthroughs during training camp:

Following the training camp, all that remained was to trust the taper to allow her systems to rebound from the time in deep yellow and red form (this is Xert’s Training Status) and bring it back to blue for the race.  To ensure everything was ready, she tossed a few breakthrough efforts during taper week, mimicking the race event:

Even just a few days before the race to confirm she was ready, she pushed for a breakthrough, seeing her signature reach a level it had never reached before:

Then on race day, she went in with the confidence that she had fully prepared herself, she had practiced the race winning move over and over for breakthroughs and that she knew she had an opportunity to win the race.  And she did.

Xerters are intimately familiar with near breakthroughs or what we often call fakethroughs. In this blog post we’re going to step through the principles of how this aspect of Xert works in helping you discover how your fitness is changing – ride to ride – something that’s never been done before.  Let’s see how Xert does it.

Fitness Breakthroughs – A Review

If this is the first blog post you’re reading from Xert, you’re likely wondering what fitness breakthrough or just breakthrough refers to.  Simply put, a fitness breakthrough is when Xert discovers that your fitness has changed relative to what it is predicting it to be, adjusted by the Signature Decay Method (more on this below):

In the above, elements of the fitness signature have increased and/or decreased.  In determining your fitness at the time of the activity, Xert first predicts what your signature was at the start of the activity.  This is based on the Training Loads for each of your three systems.  Then it will decay each signature variables based on the decay method you have chosen and use these to compare with what was expressed during your ride.

The process of discovering your fitness at the time of the activity is called signature extraction.  It is an algorithm that attempts to fit the signature parameters using the previous signature as starting values and uses a type of gradient descent to establish the new signature variables.  In principle, how your power declines during those moments of maximal effort informs the system on how your signature variables need to be adjusted.

Fitness Signature Decay

A common question we get about Xert is “I’ve been doing all this training and following the Adaptive Training Advisor, why is my Threshold Power declining?”.  In reality, fitness isn’t declining per se.  Xert is applying a decay forcing your signature to be a bit lower than it is predicting it to be.  To understand this concept, we look to what Signature Decay Method means.  Signature decay is applied on each signature value based on the method you choose.  Optimal Decay is the default but other good choices are No Decay or Small Decay.  The amount of decay determines how much your signature variables will be reduced relative to what Xert is predicting them to be.  To give an example (and something you could do with your own Xert account), we can update the Signature Decay Method and see what happens. Under Account Settings / Profile, you can see your Fitness Signature and the Signature Decay Method:

This athlete has Optimal Decay set as their Signature Decay Method.  He/she recently had a breakthrough just a week or so ago.  If we change the Signature Decay Method to No Decay and click the Save Settings button (N.B: DO NOT use the Recalculate Progression button. Simply use the Save Settings button when changing decay method) , we get the following new signature:

If we change to Small Decay, we get the following:

Notice how there isn’t a lot of difference between them.  This is because, the last breakthrough was recent.  However, if we now look at another athlete’s profile where the last breakthrough was 2 months ago, you can see that the choice of Signature Decay Method can have a larger effect on their current fitness signature. Here’s what it looks like with Optimal Decay:

No Decay:

Small Decay:

As you can see, the choice of decay method is very important if you are avoiding breakthroughs and doing lots of training without them. Threshold Power for this athlete ranges from 243W to 255W depending on the choice of methods.

Here’s a summary guide on how the Signature Decay Method will impact your signature relative to your Training Loads:

Why isn’t No Decay the default?

This is a key Xert concept to understand that often gets missed. Decay is needed for two very important reasons:

1. Athletes prefer to prove they have the fitness rather than have the system predict it.  When we asked athletes if they would want the system to predict their fitness without needing breakthroughs, the majority of users did not want to use predictions but would have the system use breakthroughs.
2. Data is error-prone.  If a fitness signature variable is over-estimated due to a data anomaly, without a decay, it may never return to the correct value.  This is important for users to understand because Xert needs to work for everyone’s data and many users do not have clean, error-free data.

Optimal Decay resolves both of these.  The decay in fitness relative to the predicted values allows you to obtain a breakthrough, providing you with the feedback you need to see how your fitness is changing over time based on your efforts.  In addition, it helps you avoid extended periods where a data error may have gone undetected.  However, if you’re data is of good quality and you are wanting to track day-to-day fitness signature changes based on your training, choosing No Decay is preferred.  Small Decay offers a good balance between the two.

The Dreaded Near Breakthrough

We’ve all had them:

• the open circles on our XPMC
• the red numbers on our Breakthrough report
• the black breakthrough tag on the app

Sometimes we get a real breakthrough, for example, with a jump in High Intensity Energy but a big drop in Threshold Power.  Sometimes the opposite.  These are classified as bronze breakthroughs because a signature variable increased but the increase isn’t what we wanted.  These too might be questionable.

Near Breakthroughs are Important

Many users complain about fakethroughs.  They believe that Xert should not reduce signature variables.  The reason why Xert does this is due to the fact that there are many factors that affect your fitness and ability to perform.  If Xert were to ignore fakethroughs but there is a legitmate reason why your fitness has declined, you wouldn’t know if the system ignored them. Most fakethroughs are not material to your training. You may get a small decline in threshold power for example, by a watt or two.  These are just minor adjustments often gaining more precision on your fitness.  Sometimes though, you may get one after another.  When you see this, it may be an indicator of over-training or just a period of over-reaching where your fitness is about to bounce back.  Either way, seeing these near breakthroughs in your data helps you see what’s happening with your fitness.

When is the fakethrough truly “fake” and should be flagged?

Sometimes you might see an adjustment and scratch you head wondering why it happened.  If you’re using the MPA Garmin datafield or the Xert EBC app during a ride and notice MPA dropping very low but you have more left to go and you leave something in the tank (often you might crest a hill or back off after closing a gap), this can be an indicator that the fakethough isn’t a true representation and should be flagged.  Sometimes you come back from your ride where there was a finishing sprint where you let off the gas at the very end and Xert awards you with an increase in threshold power and a big decrease in high intensity energy, again this may not make sense. To determine whether a fakethrough should be flagged, you have to assess how you felt and what you did during the maximal effort period (usually a few seconds or longer where MPA and power align).  If those few seconds had you interrupt the natural process of fatigue by not doing your absolute max effort, the resultant signature might be incorrect and should be flagged.

Many times you’ll see the fakethrough and know you had more to give.  You can flag them if the adjustment is more than just a minor one.  Sometimes, threshold power doesn’t change but you get a big drop in high intensity energy. Don’t let these go unflagged if they too might have been due to some strange behaviour at the time of the max effort.  This can affect future signature changes. Xert has the flagging feature for a reason – flag activities with signatures that may introduce errors.  Doing this helps you get a better signature and track of your progress.

Double-dipping

A double-dip as we call it, is when the system adjusts your fitness from a breakthrough and adjusts it from the training improvement from having done it.  That’s a bit confusing because Xert is applying both adjustments simulataneously. Another way of explaining it is the breakthrough causes an adjustment in your fitness signature but the activity you performed in producing the breakthrough was hard and introduced a lot of strain.  This, on its own even without the breakthrough would have given you an improvement in your signature.  That is, your signature Training Loads would have increased from having done the ride and the new signature calculation shows an increase in values.

Xert tracks both your fitness changes from training and your fitness changes from breakthroughs.  It’s this combination that helps you see your day-to-day changes and improvements you are making.

Xert Helps You Track Every Change In Fitness

Keep in mind one thing: no system has ever attempted to pick up day-to-day changes in your fitness like Xert is doing.  The mere fact that is works at all for anyone is quite an accomplishment.  Sometimes however it might need a nudge here and there from a thoughtful user.  Tracking your fitness with precision isn’t just about Xert’s algorithms.  It’s about you and helping you see what’s happening as you train.  Getting this level of understanding is what makes Xert an essential part of your training.

The “Xert Breakthrough Lab” podcast is available on:

• SoundCloud
• iTunes Podcasts
• Google Podcasts
• Spotify

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Episode 1 – Breaking Through with Xert

Our first podcast, complete with newbie podcast recording errors.  It’s raw, but totally worth a listen to.  In this podcast, we talk all about fitness breakthroughs and this unique aspect of Xert.

Key discussion points in the podcast:

1. What is a Fitness Breakthrough (2:00)
2. Comparing a Fitness Breakthrough with a Personal Best (4:42)
3. How breakthroughs account rests, traffic or starting fatigue during efforts (6:43)
4. The benefits of measuring fitness using breakthroughs (9:08)
5. FTP Testing and different ways to test with Xert (13:05)
6. Maximal efforts, points-of-failure and extended efforts at MPA (16:00)
7. Dr. Cheung talks about recovering from injury (21:56)
8. How to get a breakthrough (27:28)
9. Near Breakthroughs / “Fakethroughs” (30:09)
10. Signature Decay Method (37:15)
11. Using the No Decay Method (38:50)
12. Types of Breakthroughs (40:06)
13. The alignment of breakthroughs and your training (42:10)
14. Breakthrough Errors (43:48)
15. Using breakthroughs to compare one mode of riding to another (48:00)

Episode 2 – Your Fitness Signature – 3 Numbers that Predict Performance

You are more than your FTP.  In this episode, Scott, Stephen and Armando talk about Fitness Signatures and what they mean.

Key discussion points in the podcast:

1. What is a Fitness Signature (0:42)
2. How does a Fitness Breakthrough relate to your Fitness Signature (3:42)
3. How does your signature relate to your Power Curve (6:28)
4. Fitness Signatures from your FTP test (8:48)
5. Differences between athletes (11:15, 23:10)
6. What is the difference between HIE and W’ (13:37)
7. Is HIE like a battery? (15:23)
8. Modeling maximal power and fatigue with MPA (15:40)
9. Workout models and design with MPA (19:30)
10. How your signature help you understand how you recover from a high-intensity interval (21:42)
11. How does your fitness signature relate to an Athlete Type (24:24)
12. How athletes with different fitness signatures compete differently (27:20)
13. Fitness signature strengths and weaknesses (29:09)
14. What is Lower Threshold Power – LTP (32:15)
15. Training with LTP (37:11)
16. Using LTP in an event (39:27)
17. How to assess the validity of your signature (40:48)
18. Using the Fitness Signature calculator with a comparison to a CP/W’ calculation (42:45)
19. Understanding the importance of having a good Peak Power value (44:58)
20. Overestimates of Threshold Power (47:30)
21. Why your Peak Power can be higher than your highest power effort (49:35)
22. Analyzing the fitness signature and how it changed in a breakthrough activity (51:41)
23. Gold, Silver and Bronze breakthrough medals (54:04)
24. Introduction to how your signature parameters change with training (54:17)
25. A Fitness Signature is both how to measure your fitness but also what you’re able to influence with training (56:30)

Episode 3 – From Time-Trialist to Sprinter – Athlete Types in Xert

How should you choose your Athlete Type?  Learn about what it should be and what does means to your training and improvements.

Key discussion points in the podcast:

1. Why were Athletes Types introduced (0:28)
2. Athlete Types on the Power Curve (2:17)
3. Conceptualizing Athlete Types by comparing them to running events (3:07)
4. Interpreting stochastic/variable power data as an Athlete Type (8:10)
5. How each fitness signature system contributes to the power needed be an Athlete Type (9:00)
6. Training a single Fitness Signature parameter (21:18)
7. Conceptualizing HIE and why it is a fitness signature parameter (12:38)
8. Why are some Athlete Types measured in W and others in W/kg (14:34)
9. Using your Ranking and the Spider/Radar Chart to help choose your Athlete Type (18:55)
10. Using race and/or previous activities to help choose your Athlete Type (20:10)
11. Choosing an Athlete Type based on a weakness (21:28)
12. Why FTP isn’t the only measure of fitness (22:42)
13. When to focus on long duration rides and volume (24:58)
14. Knowing how to race with your strengths (26:39)
15. Why looking at normalized or average power doesn’t help understand your Athlete Type (27:26)
16. How the Athlete Type associates with the variability of efforts (30:40)
17. Dr. Cheung talks about the Ronnestad workout .. again.. (31:08)
18. How your chosen Athlete Type guides your training (33:03)
19. Events and activities usually have mid-range Athlete Types (35:05)
20. Periodization of your Training Program based on your Athlete Type (35:43)
21. Changing your Athlete Type seasonally (37:59)
22. When to choose an Athlete Type that might have a different duration than your event (39:30)
23. Why you don’t always get a recommended workout that is based your chosen Athlete Type (41:10)
24. Where are Athlete Types used on the system and your Focus hatched line (44:45)
25. Why Breakaway Specialist Athlete Type is a great choice as an Athlete Type (48:38)

Episode 4 – Being SMART About Your Workouts

What makes a great workout? In this episode, Scott, Stephen and Armando share their experiences doing workouts and discuss how to compare one workout to another, when one is better than another and the unique aspects of Xert’s workouts that aren’t available in other other training systems.

Key discussion points in the podcast:

1. What are workouts intended to do and why do workouts have a structure (1:14)
2. Research on which workout works best (2:30)
3. Modeling the 4×4, 4×8 and 4×16 workouts in Xert (4:14)
4. How fatigue during a workout increases the benefits of training (6:30)
5. Why different intervals impact different aspects of fitness (7:40)
6. How MPA is used conceptually in Xert workouts (10:00)
7. The development of a new interval definition using MPA (11:05)
8. Why recovery intervals are so important (11:40)
9. How the exact intensity, the exact recovery intensity and the exact durations are at the very core of what’s most important in your training(12:30)
10. The importance of training efficiently (13:32)
11. What are SMART intervals and workouts (14:50)
12. Why using %FTP for workout interval targets can be problematic (16:40)
13. What are Xert’s alternatives to using %FTP (18:14)
14. Personalized Zones (19:07)
15. Why we don’t to have so many workouts in Xert and why it’s not necessary (20:40)
16. XSSR Intervals (22:30)
17. Dr. Cheung’s explains one of his favourite workouts – Let the Sparks Fly (23:55)
18. XSSR Intervals – Deeper Explanation (26:40)
19. Difficulty Scores and Rating (28:40)
20. How workouts are recommended based on your Training Load (30:40)
21. Making sure workouts can be completed (32:14)
22. Should you train to failure (34:07)
23. Dr. Cheung talks about the Ronnestad workout .. again.. (36:30)
24. Understanding Target MPA (38:40)
25. Dynamic duration intervals (40:10)
26. Dr. Cheung’s favourite workouts (43:55)
27. Scott’s favourite workouts (46:07)
28. The Closer workouts (47:46)
29. Armando’s favourite workouts (49:30)
30. Coach and community shared workouts (52:13)
31. Lower intensity workouts in Xert (53:35)
32. Workout intervals that are based on LTP (54:40)

Episode 5 – Tracking Your Training Load with XSS

How do you know how much training you’ve been doing? Is training just about high and low intensity workouts or are there other factors? How can you avoid or deal with plateaus? Learn about how Xert measures training intensity and volume, creating a new level of precision in understanding your specific training and progression.

Key discussion points in the podcast:

1. Traditional methods to measure training volume (00:50)
2. Using heart rate and zones (3:06)
3. Using a power meter (4:00)
4. Using normalized and average power (4:40)
5. From time, distance, heart rate zones, power zones to Xert’s 3-dimensional XSS (5:16)
6. Xert jumps two of the major hurdles encountered with traditional zone methods (7:00)
7. Never waste a good effort (8:15)
8. XSS can be greater than 100 per hour (9:47)
9. Order matters (10:13)
10. XSS doesn’t exhibit the issues that exist with older methods (11:25)
11. XSS Rate (XSSR) data is now on the charts in varying colour (13:30)
12. How XSS is used to measure overall training – volume and intensity (15:10)
13. Carving XSS into 3 and Training Loads (16:28)
14. How volume and intensity affects Training Loads (17:25)
15. Polarity Ratio (17:50)
16. Why multiple dimensions to Training Load are needed (19:00)
17. Time constants and Program Phases (20:55)
18. Trade offs (21:18)
19. Why you can lose fitness by doing high intensity (21:45)
20. What’s better, high or low intensity (24:00)
21. Why can XSS be greater than 100 per hour and what is Difficulty Score (25:10)
22. First rule of doing time-trials: “Don’t go out too hard.” (27:15)
23. How Difficulty Score came about. (28:20)
24. Getting high Difficulty Scores (29:44)
25. Why handling higher Difficulty Scores is so important (31:35)
26. Managing Difficulty Score and intensity (33:10)
27. Why Difficulty Score is low for very long “difficult” rides and pacing (33:56)
28. Hardness Tests (36:28)
29. Training loads can’t go up forever (38:38)
30. Plateaus (40:20)
31. When it is ok to let Training Load detrain and go down (41:10)
32. How to “game” the system (42:09)
33. What your target Training Load should be for an event (43:57)
34. Why building base fitness is important over the off season (45:10)

Episode 6 – What to look for in a Training Program

Learn about what makes a great training program and how to train towards a goal. How does Polarized Training work in Xert? The Xert Team talk about training plans and programs, discussing the basic principles of training and what you need to do to ensure you improve.

Key discussion points in the podcast:

1. Training Program vs. Training Plan (02:40)
2. Elements of a good training plan (03:57)
3. Matching a Training Plan to the Individual (04:32)
4. Can you lose fitness with a training plan? (05:15)
5. Should people with the same Fitness Signature and same goals have the same plan? (06:00)
6. How hours per week and overall strain affect the program. (08:00)
7. What a good coach will help you with. (08:42)
8. How can you self-coach with Xert? (09:13)
9. How is the Adaptive Training Advisor different? (10:45)
10. What does “adaptive” mean? (11:15)
11. Working with a coach. (12:27)
12. Limits of an inexpensive training plan. (013:20)
13. What can power data say about how you are feeling? (15:00)
14. Freshness Feedback (16:20)
15. Recovery Weeks (17:40)
16. Sustainable Improvement Rates (19:08)
17. Signs of Overtraining (20:20)
18. Making time for recovery during the season (21:12)
19. When rest periods make the most sense (23:00)
20. When training is too easy (24:55)
21. Dr. Cheung’s recovery from injury (25:50)
22. Polarized vs. Sweetspot Training (28:25)
23. Training Xert’s 3 systems and Training Status colours(30:18)
24. Front-loaded Periodization (32:15)
25. Testing out different training strategies with Xert’s Fitness Planner (34:30)
26. Overreaching (35:33)
27. When is sweetspot effective or ineffective? (37:15)
28. Why do Base training? (38:45)
29. Mentally draining workouts (40:30)
30. How does Xert accelerates benefits using fatigue (41:42)
31. Leveraging fatigue to increase training efficiency (42:10)
32. Planning for target events using Xert’s Training Program (44:48)
33. When is structure needed in your training? (45:40)
34. Xert’s Training Program phases and focus (47:20)
35. A, B and C events planning (48:30)
36. Adjusting your Athlete Type and Improvement Rate (50:00)
37. Training without a target event. (52:00)
38. How do you prepare and taper for an event. (54:00)
39. How to know if you have enough training load for an event (56:00)

Episode 7 – Getting Advice On What You Need To Do To Improve

In this week’s episode, Scott, Stephen and Armando discuss the Xert Adaptive Training Advisor and how to incorporate the advice it provides into your training. Listen in to find out how the advisor examines your data to present you with recommendations and advice that will help you understand what you’ll need to do to improve.

Key discussion points in the podcast:

1. Overview of the Xert Player for iOS app (02:02)
2. The Training Pacer – XSS deficit and surplus (03:45)
3. Progressive Overload in a Training Plan (05:20)
4. Ramp Rates (06:10)
5. Rolling 7 day Improvement Rate (07:00)
6. Basic principles of training deficits / improvement (08:44)
7. Understanding what it takes to keep improving (11:28)
8. Using the Training Pacer as a motivator (14:30)
9. Higher training loads requires more training time to improve (16:00)
10. Adjusting your Improvement Rate during the training year (16:35)
11. Ensuring you recover even when you have a deficit (17:30)
12. Is the adaptive training advisor a replacement for a coach? (19:00)
13. Understanding the recommended training (20:30)
14. How recommended workouts are determined (23:00)
15. Choosing other recommended workouts (24:37)
16. Using Freshness Feedback to influence the recommended training (25:30)
17. How Xert helps both the athlete and the coach (27:12)
18. Going “off plan” with other rides and races during your program (28:40)
19. Warnings you might see from the advisor. (30:48)
20. Can you improve forever? (32:20)
21. What is Today’s Advice and what you need to do at any given point in your training (34:20)
22. Planning workouts into the future (36:40)
23. Learning to trust the immediate advice (38:55)
24. How often should I do a test? (41:00)
25. Optimal Decay Method and breakthroughs (42:10)
26. Setting the No Decay Signature Decay Method (43:24)
27. Ronnestad Workout for breakthroughs (47:17)
28. What to do when you have large jumps/drops in training (47:50)
29. Following the program without doing structured workouts (50:40)
30. Understanding Focus Duration in the recommendations (51:40)
31. Using the Xert Player for iOS app (02:02)
32. Substituting workouts with races or group rides in your training (53:40)

Episode 8 – Preparing for your Best Season

1. Xert’s new feature – HR Derived Metrics (1:50)
2. Strava Integrations (4:40)
3. What to examine with Xert at the end of the season? (7:00)
4. Take time off or pick up another activity (7:40)
5. Letting your training load & fitness come back down (8:45)
6. Getting away from structured training (9:50)
7. Not necessary to manage XSS deficits (12:00)
8. You can aim for breakthroughs, but you don’t need to (13:30)
9. Consider an annual physical & check in on overall health (14:50)
10. Consider weight training (16:30)
11. Consider a bike fit (17:00)
12. Reflecting back on your season (18:00)
13. Reviewing your year in Xert, XPMC, Fitness Signatures (18:30)
14. Using the XPMC & Table in Xert (19:20)
15. Review qualitative notes from your activities (22:30)
16. Looking at fakethroughs for insight (25:15)
17. Ease back into training (26:30)
18. How to prepare for next season? (27:40)
19. Why Xert’s training program is only 120 days (30:00)
20. Structured training is mentally taxing (34:00)
21. Explaining Xert’s time constants (36:25)
22. Scott, Stephen, and Armando talk about their plans for 2020 (37:50)
23. Switching from a bike power meter to a smart trainer with power matching (41:30)
24. Can’t hit the same numbers indoors, what do I do? (44:25)
25. Consider checking/replacing handlebar tape (50:45)
26. Customer Questions (52:00)

Episode 9 – Work out the SMART Way

1. The different ways to work out with Xert (2:50)
2. Review Episode 4 – Being SMART About Your Workouts (3:50)
3. Using the Remote Player (6:00)
4. Guide to Training with Zwift and Xert (9:45, link here)
5. Limitations to exported Xert workouts (11:00)
6. Android App can be used as a headunit (15:15)
7. Freestyling a workout (18:50)
8. Why was my workout longer than expected? (19:50)
9. Using different trainer modes to perform workouts (24:00)
10. Breakthrough workouts in Xert (28:50)
11. Stephen talks about using Xert workouts with rollers (32:00)
12. High power intervals are quite common in Xert, why? (35:40)
13. What makes a workout difficult? (43:00)
14. Mental aspects that make a workout difficult (47:30)
15. The way you train is aligned with what you’re aiming to do (51:40)
16. Incorporating unstructured winter racing with structured workouts (52:45)
17. Shared workouts community (55:45)

Episode 10 – Christmas 2019 Q & A in the XBL with Friends

Recorded with our Xert friends at the Xert Breakthrough Lab offices, Scott, Stephen and Armando answer questions about Xert. Listen in to hear about what users are wanting to know more about.

Episode 11 – Measuring Training – From Hours to Xert’s Focus

How much training do you do? How much should you do? How much is too much? How much is too little? What are the best intervals to do? To answer these questions, we first have to ask ourselves: How do we measure training?

Episode 12 – Should I be doing structured workouts? Which ones?

What happens if I ignore my training program? What happens if I never miss a workout? When can I just pick my own workout? What about tapering? The Xert gang examines the numbers to help answer these questions. Tune in to understand when you should be paying attention to your training and what you need to do to become your best.

Episode 13 – An Introduction to Real-time Xert

The gang gets into real-time data using your Garmin Connect IQ data fields. Listen to all the various ways to use these unique data fields and how they are set up. Those that don’t have a compatible Garmin will also get an appreciation for what’s possible.

Episode 14- How Xert Came to Be

The gang got together to talk about the origins of Xert and what led to its development. Take a trip down memory lane with Armando, Scott and Stephen to find out about the historical events and discoveries that eventually became the foundation of Xert and all its unique features and capabilities.

Episode 15 – Question and Answer Session #2

The gang answers questions from Xerters in the second q&a podcast, like:
1. Where can I get help with Xert?
2. What is XSSR, how do I use it and how is related to Difficulty Score and Maximal Effort Time?
3. Why do longer intervals feel harder than shorter intervals but I get more XSS for the shorter ones?
4. Why is it hard to see MPA come down at the end of a long ride?
5. Why can’t I reach MPA?
6. Where can I find about the XSS that applies to my low, high and peak systems?
7. Why does Xert count all my stops in the calculation of averages?
8. How do I best use the Fitness Planner?

Episode 16 – Training and Detraining During A Pandemic

Many Xerters from around the world are being affected by the growing COVID-19 pandemic. In this podcast, the crew talk about how this may be affecting your training and fitness and things that you may want to do during these difficult times.

Episode 26 – The Advantages of Doing Workouts and Sessions in Xert

Structured training is essential to reaching your goals but doing workouts that are based on %FTP has its pitfalls. Listen to the gang discuss the limitations of using %FTP and how Xert has addressed these limitations, allowing you to do workouts that are better individualized, more efficient and even do them synchronized with other athletes, a.k.a Xert Group Sessions.

Episode 27 – Using Xert to Coach Your Athletes

Steve Neal joins the gang to talk about how he uses the capabilities of Xert with his athletes. Learn about some of the unique aspects of Xert from his perspective. Get new insights that will help you with your training or, if you’re a coach, help better prepare your athletes for success in competition.

Xert helped me use my ride to work to win gold at the Track Cycling World Championships!

I use Xert like many others do; to help me better understand my fitness, and to help me reach my goals. Where I may differ from many of my fellow Xerters is that although I do some road and criterium races during the summer, my big goal each year is on the track.

For the past two years I’ve raced in the Masters category at the Track Cycling World Championships with some great success. Last year (2018) my primary goal was to defend the gold medal I won in the Scratch Race the prior year, as well as my silver medal in the individual pursuit. The event was to be held in mid-October in Los Angeles, USA (I’m from Denmark).

My biggest challenge is that I don’t have a lot of time to train. I have to balance the demands of my career with family and other life priorities while trying to train for important events. As a result, most of my training is done as I commute to and from work, which is about 14km (9 miles) each way, with some longer rides on the weekends. The key to my training is to ensure that I can be as productive as possible during my commutes, and use that precious time to help me be as prepared as I can be. Training has to be specific and efficient.

My commuter and perfect training bike (with power meter upgrade…of course), handmade by Denmark’s most iconic bike shop (Banani) 27 years ago!

Deciding To Use Xert

Before Xert I had a regimented and structured training schedule – I literally knew what workouts I would be doing 8 weeks in advance! This worked pretty well and I achieved many of my goals. But I felt that my training wasn’t as good as it could be because this plan didn’t account for how I was feeling (my freshness), or how my fitness was progressing. I decided to commit to Xert to guide my training so that I had a system that would adapt to my training environment (my route to work), my fitness & freshness, and to help me get the most out of my limited training time.

What I’ve discovered about myself

Based on my race results and my power files, I knew that I could produce a lot of power. But one of my biggest discoveries using Xert is that I have a pretty big High Intensity Energy (HIE), which I can train into the mid-to-high 30’s (kJ’s) at my peak. This confirmed my potential in the Individual Pursuit and Scratch Race events on the track, which not only need a high Threshold to win, but also need a big HIE to surge and sprint.

And what I continue to discover by using Xert is to know when I’m ready – or not ready – for more training. This gives me the confidence to get outside and train hard when I need to, or know that I need to take it easy to get extra recovery.

How I use Xert

Know The Demands Of My Races

My target events on the track are the Scratch Race and the Individual Pursuit. When I examined last year’s power data from the race using Xert, it revealed that the Focus Duration power I needed to develop was between Road Sprinter (2 minute power) and Pursuiter (3 minute power). Focus Duration is something that helps me target the training I need to do – this particular Focus emphasized high sprinting power, and my Threshold Power, so that I could have a lot ‘left in the tank’ when the time comes to push hard for the finish, which is usually with 2-3 laps to go.

From commuter bike to riding the Individual Pursuit. Photo: Mike Gladu

Track My Training

I keep track of my Focus power and my Threshold Power to see how they are improving using the Progression Chart, and I also keep an eye on my Weekly Stats to ensure that I’m ‘investing’ my training time properly. For example, on my Fitness Planner / Weekly Stats I track how my Polarity Ratio changes as I add more intensity leading up to the event; you can see this in the chart below, pulled from my Fitness Planner / Weekly stats a few weeks before the event.

Guide My Training

The majority of my training is done during my commutes to and from work, so I have to be very specific about what training I do. I don’t have any ‘extra’ hours. I use the recommendations of Xert to know when I’m ready for a hard workout, and to recommend workouts that target the right Focus for me.

Out on the road, the SMART (adaptive) intervals work well because they change their intensity and duration based on how I’m doing. With traffic, stoplights, and everything else the open road throws at me, I like knowing that if I have to push a little harder, or slow down for a few seconds, I’m not ruining my workout!  

To help guide these training sessions on the road I use my Garmin Edge 820 with Xert’s ‘Time To Exhaustion’ datafield. As my TTE approaches zero, and I’m getting really exhausted, I know I still have more to give! It encourages me to keep pushing – I love knowing that it is possible to push a little harder, for a little longer. The proof of my improving fitness and power lies in whether or not I can achieve a breakthrough!

A ‘gold’ breakthrough during one of my training rides to work, with increases in my Threshold and Peak Power, and High Intensity Energy.

Confidence

One of the most important ways I use Xert is for extra confidence. Looking at either the XPMC or Fitness Signature view in the Progression Chart, I like that I can compare my fitness signature and progression with last year’s to see if my fitness and power is about the same, or (hopefully) better. This is an invaluable tool for me to fight away any doubts I have that I’m not as strong as I used to be, or that I’m not training hard enough. The training is usually physically and mentally exhausting – especially because it’s late in the year and it requires a lot of hard intervals – so I find this information to be good motivation to keep pushing.

As I was approaching the goal date last year I could see that my Threshold Power had improved by 25 watts versus the prior year, and my 4 minute power had improved by 60 watts, without a significant change in my Training Load. That’s because I invested my training time towards harder & shorter efforts to build both my Threshold  and Pursuiter power (I ‘pulled’ my threshold up from above using greater high intensity strain, rather than ‘pushing’ it up from below with high volume/low intensity work; with the limited time I had available, this approach worked best for me).

With this information I knew that I was ready to compete at my highest level again in 2018, and hopefully to use my improved power to do even better

The Finish Line

Since switching to Xert I can say that it has worked even better than I had hoped it would. My interval targets are always exactly where they needed to be, I was able to witness the changes in my abilities with my Fitness Signature, and I saw improvements in my performance in both road races and on the track. I can also say that the training has even felt easier – it is more focused, more specific, and adapts really well to my needs every day.

Best of all, I can say that this story has a happy ending. I won the gold medal in the Scratch Race and I also won silver medals in both the Individual Pursuit and Points Race last year!

The podium from the Scratch Race at the 2018 Masters Track Cycling World Championships.

If you’d like to see the final kilometre of the scratch race I won, you can see it here!

Jesper Offersgaard has been an Xerter since 2016. In 2017 and 2018 he won gold in the Scratch Race at the Masters Track Cycling World Championship in his age group, and silver in the Individual Pursuit. He also won the silver medal in the points race in 2018. Even with his success on the track, his heart is in road racing and he continues to reach the podium in local road races.

Xploits is a collection of stories by Xerters from around the world, about their goals, achievements, and how Xert helped them get there. If you have a story you’d like to share, please email support@xertonline.com

After seeing Xert grow over the past 2.5 years from a few keen and forward-thinking users to now thousands of athletes from all across the globe, I’ve started to learn what they all share in common: they are simply looking to understand how to reach new levels they’ve never been able to reach before.  You notice this in the Facebook Xert Users Group where athletes post charts of their rides and races, showing how hard they worked for breakthroughs and how they’ve improved from using Xert. Some post their wins too, providing details on how they trained and what they did better than before. This is really the essence of what it means to be an Xerter.  You’re in it for you and what you can become.

Athletes are shy about their own fitness numbers.  “I could never win a race.  My threshold power is only 190W.” But this is not how Xerters think about themselves. Every endurance athlete feels that way when they compare themselves with someone better than them.  I’m sure professional racers in the peloton say the same about Peter Sagan or Mathieu van der Poel. It is true that all great racers had to work very hard to reach the pinnacle of the sport and should be praised for it. The training and commitment to win a professional cycling event cannot be underestimated.  But there are many that have trained with the same if not greater commitment to their own improvement who have never won a professional event, or any event for that matter.  What should their sense of achievement be?

Winning isn’t everything. It’s how you play the game.  It’s a cliche we’ve heard over and over.  In cycling, the “game” is more than what you do during the race.  It is about how you prepare by setting goals, execute your own training and how manage your own strengths and weaknesses.  Winning is about realizing your own personal potential. This is the game and how achievement is fulfilled.  For some, this achievement unlocks the ability to win at the highest levels.  For others, it may mean they’ve achieved a new personal best.

The Essence of Xert

For Xerters, they want to know who they are as athletes, what they can do to improve and understand how to become the best they can be.  Xert shines a light inside every athlete to show them how they are uniquely different than everyone else and what it will take for them to improve.  This level of transparency is unique to Xert and is what draws them to use it.  There is sense of discovery when you first start using it as it processes your historical data, highlighting those times in the past where it was able to pinpoint when you were at your limit.  “Yup.  That’s where I was dropped. Wow.”  It shows you what your fitness numbers were at that time – unique to you and the moment in history.  It also shows you how these fitness numbers (i.e. Fitness Signature) have changed over time as your training and riding changed.  “That was my best result and I can now see why.”

Our Motto: Discover. Improve. Perform.

The first step in using Xert is one of discovery.  This is the same for everyone, including myself when I first discovered the principles behind Xert and what I found most fascinating. You begin to understand your own abilities and how and why you performed the way you did in the past.  You also come to understand how the algorithms can explain this using the concept of MPA.  Rather than simply training or riding and expecting to in general improve, you get to see with precision how you changed in the past. It may take you having to learn some new concepts to appreciate this too but those that get into using Xert have a deeper appreciation and understanding of themselves as athletes than ever before.

As you learn about the new concepts and examine your own data, you begin to understand what it takes to improve.  It actually becomes very clear where your strengths and weaknesses are and what training you’ll need to do to improve your fitness.  For Xerters, it’s not just about improving their FTP but about improving many aspects of their ability to perform – from increasing Peak Power or High Intensity Energy or focusing on your performance as a Breakaway Specialist.  Sometimes it’s about being able to handle events of greater length by improving Lower Threshold Power. For others its about dealing with repeated hard efforts such as in a criterium by improving their ability to handle greater Difficulty Scores.  As it was for me, seeing the relationship between my own training and the changes in fitness is a huge confidence boost and motivator for training.  You know what’s going to happen. Xerters know that if they train in a certain way, their ability to perform will improve and they can track it.

Using these new concepts to help you perform in real-time is the remaining piece of the puzzle. In many ways, this is the fun part of Xert, I believe. You get to witness first hand your own body attempting to perform and watch things play out in front of you, either in a workout player or on your Garmin computer.  You get positive reinforcement by using information like Focus and XSS that demonstrate how you well you are executing your training towards your goals.  There is a sense of accomplishment when you managed to go beyond MPA and get a breakthrough during your ride (and sometimes the disappointment of seeing fakethrough after it’s analyzed – yeah I hate that too! ..but it’s all part of the discovery process). Performing smart workouts with Xert is different too. They are both harder and easier at the same time. You get a sense that you couldn’t have done any more but you managed to complete it. Training with the Xert means that you have greater awareness of the precise intervals you can perform and the degree to which you can withstand repeated efforts.  This allows you to find or even create your own workouts that are ideal for your training and that you can complete  – without the need for trial-and-error or complex/expensive testing protocols as was common in the past.

Thanks to all of you that are using Xert and I hope that it helps you shoot for the stars.

Armando Mastracci
Founder, Xert

Colour-coded MPA charts

Your MPA charts can now be colour-coded to help you better understand your effort. With transitions from grey-to-blue-to-green for all efforts below Threshold Power (TP), and yellow-to-orange-to-red for efforts above TP, and an MPA line that darkens as it comes closer to your current power, you get new insight into your power and fatigue for every second of your activity. This new data will slow the loading of the charts slightly, so we’ve made them an option; without any change in your settings the old/simplified charts will continue to appear in your profile, activities and workouts.

If you’d like to enable this feature, navigate to your Account Settings > Profile and select ‘Enable Advanced Charts’ and SAVE. 

If enabled, the new MPA charts will appear in the Activity Details view of an activity, and once it is viewed this way it will also appear in your activity dashboard online and mobile app. Activities that have not been synced since the update will continue to use the default one-colour-power MPA charts.

Workouts will appear in their dynamic colours when opened and viewed in the Workout Designer.

Defining The Colours

To fully understand what you’re looking at with the new colour-coded MPA charts there are two things you should know.

1. The new MPA charts use dynamic definitions for the colours above Threshold Power (TP), which means that the specific power they at which they change, will depend on your level of fatigue. However, the definitions of the colours below TP are static and don’t reflect fatigue.
2. The colours transition from one defined ‘zone’ to another using gradients, with the pure colour aligning to the definition in the table below, and blends of the colours in between. Where this is most noticeable is with the Red areas…the colour will be red when reaching MPA but it may appear red beforehand; it is in fact simply a dark orange.

Rolling over the charts with your mouse will reveal existing information as well as some new data. Besides the existing Power, MPA and Difficulty detail (in a workout), and speed, elevation and more in an activity file, the new MPA charts will now show XSSR. This is the rate of XSS (Strain) per hour being applied at any given moment, and – unique to Xert – increases as power approaches MPA.

Below is an example of a 20-minute FTP Test created in the Xert Workout Designer – a 20 minute interval at 20 minute Mean Maximal Power (MMP).  You can see how XSSR and Difficult changes throughout this interval, even though power output remains constant.

Tips

Interpreting an activity has been made easier with this new visual representation of your activity. Here are some things to look for, and what they mean.

• A typical ‘polarized’ endurance activity, or mostly easy effort with a few accelerations, will appear mostly grey & blue with little-to-no movement of the MPA line. If there are surges or sharp sprints, some orange & red ‘spikes’ will appear.
  

  Xert Surplus Seeker ride on Zwift. Mostly grey & blue (recovery & easy) for this rider.

• A steady & constant effort above Threshold Power, like a steady state 20 minute max effort, will show the colours changing from yellow-to-orange-to-red as the athlete draws down their MPA and becomes more fatigued. See 20 minute MMP effort example above.
• A typical group ride with some sprints may have a lot of grey, blue and turquoise (transition from blue to green)  when recovering and/or drafting, green & yellow areas as during surges with power just below and above Threshold Power, and spikes of orange and red with a sharp drop in a darkening MPA line during sprints.
  

  A ‘spirited’ group ride on a hilly circuit. Red & orange as this rider takes a pull or climbs the hill, grey & blue as he recovers in the pack.