Jan 07 2021

Xert Time-To-Exhaustion Field – PART 1.

The Xert Time-To-Exhaustion, Time-To-Recovery Field is one of the most powerful, yet least-understood or used Fields in the Xert Ecosystem. But when you use it correctly, it can be one of the most powerful tools on your Garmin head unit.

What Is the "Time-To-Exhaustion" Xert Field?

The Xert "Time-To-Exhaustion" Field (TTE) is a little-understood field that performs a couple of functions. It can be found in the Garmin Connect App Store. Primarily, enter a known wattage in the "TTE" setup, and another known wattage in the "Time-To-Recovery" Field (TTR). Then install the Field on your Garmin Profile. When the phone syncs with the head unit, the field will populate two times. The "TTE" time will show how many minutes a seconds a cyclist has until their MPA (and High Intensity Energy - HIE) is exhausted, and the "TTR" will show how many minutes at a certain wattage are required for the athlete to recover. Alternatively, there's another setting. You can enter a known MPA as a "Floor", and another known MPA as a "Ceiling", Then, when you ride at ANY intensity, it will count down the time to reach that MPA, and then count down the time required to hit that MPA Ceiling for recovery. This is a GREAT TOOL for a lot of reasons!

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Oct 19 2020

An Epic Day

An Epic Day - 70 miles of Spectacular Cycling

Epic Day XSS Fitness Breakthrough — Great sky, smooth roads, quiet bike, fit/fast wife, and fantastic scenery.

My wife and I had an absolutely EPIC day of cycling on Saturday. It was a day where the temperature was perfect. The scenery was spectacular. The route was familiar. Traffic was low, except for the myriad other cyclists with whom we shared the day. The Xert Adaptive Training Advisor suggested 170 XSS for the day, with an.......

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Oct 07 2020

XSS and FOCUS per the ATA

The beauty of this XSS goal comes when you're fit and you know you don't need too much, to stay on target. Xert FOCUS goal was set to 13:36, which is also fairly aerobic. But I do love my mountain biking, especially climbing.

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Oct 04 2020

Xert Training Pacer – 10/4/2020

Xert Training Pacer is right at 12 O'clock.

The needle on my Xert Training Pacer is right at 12 O'Clock, but if I don't ride today, the 24-hour triangle shows that I'll slip back towards 11 O'Clock. The Xert Adaptive Training Advisor is recommending a 109 XSS ride, with an Xert FOCUS on "Endurance", or "--:--".

Xert Training Pacer Rainbow Dial — *The Xert Training Pacer is at 12 O'Clock, so I'm right on target. The Xert Adaptive Training Advisor is recommending a LIGHT ride at low intensity.*

I'm going to head out now with my wife, and will report back soon.

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Oct 03 2020

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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