What am I losing if I stop tracking HR?

Training
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Ha, that made things make more sense. AIFTP had been somewhat wonky for me this season - was not adding HRM data to TR. Telling me my FTP was 300 just coming back to training when it was probably closer to 280, and then consistently staying at ~300 despite sitting in the 8+ range for SS to VO2 and “12” for endurance and tempo lol. Actual FTP was 320 at that point.

After reading your comment I started adding the HRM data to the TR rides again, and then the last AIFTP was much more appropriate.

Take away point here being that for me at least omitting HRM data makes AIFTP very inaccurate.

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It takes me less time in a year to put on my heart rate strap than it would to write that post. Provided I can find it, that why I bought a fluorescent orange polar strap, which I can see easily

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I do want to mention that you don’t necessarily need heart rate data to get an accurate FTP detection. Particularly if you use a power source to record all of your ride data, but we do encourage everyone to record HR if they can because AI FTP detection uses it when applicable.

In your case, removing the HR data from the equation shouldn’t make a massive difference since you have so much good power data available for reference. I’m not sure where the discrepancy was with your data.

You mentioned that your FTP was set at 300 for a long time, but was probably actually 280 at first and was actually 320 by the end. How did you determine this? It looks like there is a 5-month gap between your last two FTP updates and an 8-month gap between the two before that. There are also a lot of manual changes to your FTP that seem to go back and forth, up and down, regularly. :chart_with_upwards_trend: :chart_with_downwards_trend: :chart_with_upwards_trend:

It sounds like things are working well now which is great! If you have any issues or questions down the road make sure to let me know and I’ll take a closer look. :male_detective:

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I used HR data this morning. I looked back at an event I’m doing again this year. It has a hideous amount of climbing. Because my FTP has gone up since last year, I’m looking forward to hopefully setting a personal best.

I looked at my power on the opening climb, and yikes! I was surprised how much power I did for those 7 minutes. Ok, but how hard was I working to make that power? Looked at HR and it was only 89% of max. Oh shucks. I was in better shape last year than I remember. Point is, without HR data, I would not be able to put my power data into a level-of-effort context.

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Heh, same. If the HR strap is missing on a ride I feel naked. :laughing:

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but was probably actually 280 at first and was actually 320 by the end. How did you determine this?

FTP tests (I round to the nearest 5w).

Since you seem to be looking at my TR data in detail without knowing full context… this year I only really did TR consistently between maybe the end of Jan and March. Outside of that I had been doing other things and not syncing them into TR - I don’t have any events this year and am not really pushing the structured training for the sake of mental recovery after probably overdoing what was sustainable for me mentally for the past 1-2y. There is a whole bunch of data outside of those dates that isn’t uploaded to TR… because I didn’t really care that much lol.

It looks like there is a 5-month gap between your last two FTP updates and an 8-month gap between the two before that.

The 8month gap is because I wasn’t using TR at all. I was working with a coach then and using TP, but some things were still syncing into TR. There were many FTP tests and changes in FTP in that time window that are just not recorded in TR. I think my FTP in Oct 2022 was around 260 (coming off a break after riding across the Pyrenees), and it was 330-340 in July 2023.

The 5month gap is when I was doing kind of whatever I felt like that given week, and trying to figure out if I was ready to do structured training again, getting over illnesses, etc. again, not really using TR religiously or using it to track everything. Basically just futzing about and trying to keep busy until I figured out which direction to go.

There are also a lot of manual changes to your FTP that seem to go back and forth, up and down, regularly.

Not sure what timeline you’re looking at as I think I’ve only made two changes in my FTP setting in TR within the last 12 months. If you’re looking at data from ~2022-2023, then that’s all when I was using TP and working with a coach. Anything prior to 2022 I don’t remember in detail lol. But yes, in that era (2018-2022?) there was a lot of up and down and that was actually one of the reasons why I’d stopped using TR and moved to using a coach - didn’t seem to be making any meaningful progress.

removing the HR data from the equation shouldn’t make a massive difference since you have so much good power data available for reference

Maybe it was just a coincidence then. But I thought it was interesting that AIFTP kept on giving me 300w +/- 5w for the few months I hadn’t been syncing HR data into TR anymore… regardless of what my actual FTP had been recently… when in the past I’d found it pretty accurate… and it then ended up being more accurate again once I added HR data back in. :man_shrugging:

And I don’t think Id describe the difference as “massive.” We’re talking about AIFTP going from like 305 to 315 after adding in a few days of HR data when FTP was tested at 320, which is only a 3% change.

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Ahh, nice. Yes, this is all useful info. :sweat_smile:

It sounds like there has been a fair bit of change going on with your training and fitness and my guess is since some of that data is missing from TR, AI FTP Detection didn’t know the whole story, hence the slightly off FTP detections.

You’re right. It could be a coincidence that your adding in HR data coincided with a longer string of consistent ride data that brought AI FTP Detection back up to speed. :man_shrugging:

I’m glad to hear that you’re taking the time to reset and ride your bike without the worry of pushing into structured training too hard. We all need those breaks from time to time. :person_in_lotus_position:

I’d say that if you’re using other sources for your training for the time being, it would still be worth updating your FTP in TR whenever you find a change just for record-keeping and updating the software if anything else. The same goes for syncing your activities.

Either way, it sounds like things are working pretty well as of now, but feel free to reach out if you have any other questions or concerns along the way.

Take care, & happy riding!

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I can’t even keep up with important emails these days, let alone updating training info between multiple platforms :sweat_smile:

But again too, it wasn’t like the change when I added HR data back in was particularly large. It was maybe a 3% difference in predicted FTP.

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I went through a few years without heart rate and had some races and other stuff of interest to me. Every time I review a file from that time of my riding I think your dope you should have worn your strap. It’s interesting to look back on things from 15 years ago with the full parameter snapshot

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