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

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