Coming Soon: Threshold Improvement Notifications and More
Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 11:00PM Our next release is going to be a big one, as we’re incorporating threshold improvement notifications onto TrainingPeaks. In another upcoming release, we’ll also be improving our Print View feature for nutrition tracking and planning. We’re really excited about these features, so let’s jump right into how they work and why they matter!
Threshold Improvement Notifications
How It Helps You
Your threshold can change several times in the course of a season as you build your fitness, and if you aren’t aware of these changes, you could be working off of inaccurately set training or power zones. Without an accurate threshold setting you could also be looking at inaccurate analyses within TrainingPeaks, as your threshold is used to calculate things like TSS, Intensity Factor and ultimately your Performance Management Chart. The threshold improvement notification feature can analyze your uploaded data, and notify you when we detect a potential improvement to your threshold.
Not 100% schooled on what your threshold is and why it matters? Read all about thresholds and how they’re used in TrainingPeaks first.
Did you know all this stuff already? Let’s move on to how this feature will work.
How It Works
When an athlete uploads a workout from a device with pace, power or heart rate data:
- Pace Data (Run Only): We’ll compare the new data with your currently set pace threshold. If the Peak 45 Minute Average Pace is faster than the currently set threshold, we’ll suggest a threshold improvement.
- Heart Rate Data: We’ll compare the new heart rate data with your currently set HR threshold. If the Peak 60 Minute Heart Rate OR 95% of the Peak 20 Minute HR (whichever is higher) is greater than the currently set threshold, we’ll suggest a threshold improvement to the greater value.
- Power Data: We’ll compare the new power data with your currently set power threshold. If Peak 60 Minute Normalized Power OR 95% of the Peak 20 Min Average Power (whichever is higher) is greater than the currently set threshold, we’ll suggest a threshold improvement to the greater value.
The most effective way to use this feature is to perform periodic field tests (see Joe Friel’s Quick Guide to Setting Zones as an example of a field testing protocol), and then upload that data into TrainingPeaks. TrainingPeaks can then automatically compare the results of your field test against your currently set thresholds, and let you know if we detect an improvement. Of course, even if you do not perform a formal field test you may still set a new threshold during a tough workout or race of at least 20 minutes in duration - that’s the beauty of the feature. Whereas you may not have noticed it in the past, TrainingPeaks will be able to tell you if you set a new threshold based on our protocol above.
Here's what your email notification will look like, if you opt for Notify Only.How You Can Be Notified of Threshold Improvements
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You can choose to have threshold notifications turned on or off in your TrainingPeaks account. Here are your options for threshold improvement notifications:
- Off: TrainingPeaks will not suggest threshold improvements
- On, Notify Only: TrainingPeaks will notify by email when threshold improvements are suggested, and user may manually update their threshold and zones within their account if they choose. How to update threshold and zones.
- On, Notify and Auto-Apply (Premium only): TrainingPeaks will notify user by email and also automatically apply a new threshold, based on recent data, to the account. User will need to update their respective training zones, if desired.
- On, Auto-Apply Only (Premium only): We will automatically apply improved thresholds without email notification.
Are You a Non-Coached Athlete? Your settings within TrainingPeaks default to “On, Notify Only”. Here’s how to change your threshold notification settings.
Are You a Coach? You can control notifications and auto-apply options for both your account as it relates to notifications about your athletes’ accounts, as well as email notifications to your athletes. Both your account and your coached athletes’ accounts are currently set to “Off” for threshold notifications. Here’s how to manage and change your clients’ threshold notification settings.
Are You a Coached Athlete? Your threshold notification settings are defaulted to “Off”. Your coach will manage your notification settings.
Nutrition Planning Print View
Coming in a separate future release, we’ll also be improving our nutrition planning capabilities as they pertain to your ability to print your meals and/or workouts for the day. We will be adding additional filters within the Print View on the Calendar, so that you can choose to print meals only, workouts only, or even print only certain meals (for example, if you only want to print your dinners because someone else prepares them). This improvement will help our users who use printed weekly calendars to stay on track with their training and nutrition.
Reader Comments (9)
In my opinion, Threshold Improvement Notification should take into consideration the AC of the rider in calculation of their FTP. To look simply for the best 20 min or 60 min effort is something that the riders are able to do it by themselves. But it'd be really handful to apply a lower percentage of 95%, of their best 20 min effort, for someone with relatively higher performance on zones 5 and 6.
When does this release go live?
Will the Threshold Improvement Notifications be an update for the WKO+?
Great news!
This Threshold improvement notification is great news and it leaves me wondering WHEN?
I will also be looking forward to be freed from Adobe Flash player, but I guess that is also a large task.
Great job & looking forward to put it to the test!
Cheers,
Thomas
Very interesting stuff!
Is there any plan to incorporate this for threshold pace for running?
This new feature will be available VERY soon.
Edwin, This wont be a feature for WKO+.
Mike, Pace Data (Run Only): We’ll compare the new data with your currently set pace threshold. If the Peak 45 Minute Average Pace is faster than the currently set threshold, we’ll suggest a threshold improvement.
Will this feature also be available for swimming. I currently load TSS to my workouts based on the calculation suggested in Training Peaks
Fantastic. Now that it's available, and I've turned it on, can I take a peek somehow and see what TrainingPeaks thinks my threshold should be based on my historic workouts, or does it only work going forward?