BreakAway: Indoor Training App Now with Intervals.icu Calendar integration (Workout Of The Day)

Very confusing to see there are two cycling apps called Breakaway…

Yes it is… I can only say that “i was there first” (at least I think I am)

BreakAway: Indoor Training - First Release: Nov 20, 2020 (from my records, but App Store Version history shows earliest is Jun 2021) << The Correct One

The BreakAway Cycling Training - App Store Version History shows earliest release May 2 2022, Twitter page shows joined Dec 2020

The ‘other’ breakaway was on Faster Cycling Podcast a while ago

‘Breakaway, Data Analysis, Motivation, & Workout Recommendations For Cyclists’

I was only half listening as I was out on my bike and can’t actually hear podcasts well but for a while I was super confused as I was like ‘blimey, that app gained traction fast’

I’m an android user so not tried the ‘true’ app but looks very cool

+1 for android :slight_smile:

4 Likes

+1 for android

3 Likes

App updated w/ even heavier integration w/ Intervals.icu (BETA)

1 Like

Sounds very interesting regarding this BreakAway App and Stryd for indoor treadmill workouts.

I have downloaded the app via the app store, and it is great to view the Intervals.icu weekly history and graphs/charts :+1: I haven’t yet tried to do any workouts.

The one thing I would like to find out is, does your app adjust the power reading based on incline configured in a indoor run workout? I usually like to do intervals with incline to make the effort harder, and very rarely run with the treadmill on 0% incline.

i.e. Garmin Stryd Workout App in Open Run mode allows you to set the Incline, which in turn adjusts the power reading. image

So if I load a Run power workout from Intervals.icu using breakaway app and it includes incline. Will the power data reflect the harder effort? I think this would be really great if it does.

Without a Stryd Subscription they do not allow you to create your own Run workouts, however I have found that I can move an old workout in Stryd PowerCenter to todays date and sync it to the watch. Regarding the Stryd Iphone app it does have a very small library for indoor workouts, however they are not customizable and get a bit boring if doing the same ones over. Also the Stryd app does not save heart rate data and only Power which is a shame.

Happy to do a bit of testing @app4g where I can use the gym for treadmill.

Cheers

Thanks for the awesome feedback and trying out the app.
While I do have a stryd, I do not have a treadmill so I can’t do any testing w/ this combo. Also, I actually want to do / support Smart Treadmills, so that I can also control / get the data from the treadmill much like a smart trainer.

DO you have access to a Smart Treadmill?

W/ regard to incline, currently everything Is at 0% I would think. I just report whatever the Stryd Pod is sending out as Power. I actually do not know / understand how the Stryd Mobile App works w/ regards to incline. Does the Stryd actually report (broadcast) a different power or is the Stryd Mobile app just doing some fancy calculation to include the Slope Incline % and displays (and writes that power to the FIT file)

Do you know?
Are you able to test?

top of my head thinking…
Test1:

  1. Garmin w/ 367RunFields (Connect IQ Store | Free Watch Faces and Apps | Garmin) - also my app. I report actual power send out by
    the Stryd Pod (Stryd is connected as Power and FootPod in Garmin Sensors) - connect as ANT+

  2. Stryd Mobile app - connect as Bluetooth to Styrd

  3. do a indoor treadmill workout. Note the difference in Power between the Garmin vs the Stryd Mobile app w/ say 5% incline (just pick something that you know will make a bigger difference in the power numbers - easy to see difference)

If the above test shows that eg:
Garmin Stryd Power = 100w
Stryd Mobile App Power = 150w

then we know that Stryd Mobile app is basically using the Slope to report a new Power number. (but… and here’s the big BUT, how is this value calculated? is it as simple as https://support.stryd.com/hc/en-us/articles/4428757884055-Understanding-Percent-Incline-in-the-Stryd-Treadmill-Experience)

edit: looks like, i got my answer… https://support.stryd.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001658293-Why-does-my-power-not-go-up-if-I-increase-the-treadmill-incline-

1 Like

Unfortunately I don’t have access to a smart treadmill though either.

Hi @app4g
I cannot get a power reading on my Elite qubo fluid / misuro B+ trainer. I’m only getting speed and cadence and I’m almost sure that I was getting proper power values last time I used the app which was more than year ago.
I have the correct trainer model selected under “speed to power translation“ if that makes any difference? Just for reference Zwift and RGT seems to be working without any issues.

The MisuroB+ is supposed to be sending out the Power Data hence there should’t be any need to do Speed to Power. At least that’s my understanding.

On the SETTINGS Page, does the B+ Show up? or rather, what is shown as connected?

if you would indulge me, can you send me some logs?

Please input “loglevel10” (w/o qoutes) into the DEVELOPER box
It would be best to ensure that you turn OFF your B+ first and only turn it on when you’ve entered the “loglevel10” to give the app a chance to log the connection.

After that, just let the app connect to the sensors/ trainer etc and then do a few spins on it. something like 10-20s would suffice just to collect some trainer data packets.

Then email me the 'Debuglog" file from the HISTORY page.

Tx

@app4g Thanks for the reply, I just sent the log files on your support mail via the app. Please LMK if you need anything else.

Hey, first of all thank you for the great app. I’ve tried it on a couple of runs with ERG and slope mode and it works great. Setup was easy and I’ll definitely be using this from here on out.

I have had one problem - every time I have the chance to earn medals from watching ads, I get ‘No Ads Available’. Is this a known issue? Any solution? I’ll probably just buy some here and there but would appreciate any insight on earning medals. Thanks.

Hi There… Thanx for your support.

To confirm, you’re doing cycling and not running right? I’m still looking for some users w/ access to a treadmill (preferably that can connect via bluetooth) to improve it’s support.

Have you tried the combo ERG + SLope mode? Would love to get feedback.

Yes… it’s a known issue which I’m seeing more and more and which is really impacting whatever little revenue I’m getting (each ad is like 0.001 - 0.1 cents, but more on the lower end). It’s really a black box w/ Google Ads and there’s no support (esp if you’re not a paying customer w/ an Google Ads account manager and buying ads for display). But from what i read on forums and such, google ads is already the best in terms of ability to provide ads.

My guess is that it has to do w/ Geographical region of where you are. I think their major market is USA but I’m just guessing.

in-App-Purchase was added due to some requests and after finding out these “no ads available” situation.

Hmm, interesting. To offer myself as a datapoint, I am in a major metropolitan area of the US (I guess second largest market if that gives you a clue) and have consistently been getting the ‘No Ads Available’ message, so I wonder if there is something funky going on with Google’s end.

Yes, I am talking about cycling, just to be clear.

Hmm, how do I use the ERG + slope mode? I think I read about that on your blog… It requires a specific format of intervals.icu workout file, right? Just confirming since I do not see it explicitly as an option under ‘Settings’.

From what I can see from Google’s dashboard that it provides, Approx 50% of the time, there are no ads (of which, only 20% of ads are actually shown - which means, ads are loaded, but users are not viewing them to gain medals)

This post should help. Short version is, any watt that is <10 would be regarded as slope for that “interval”

Like all coders/ Engineers, they are not v adept at writing out these blog / informational pieces :frowning:

Maybe I could ask chatGPT to do it instead… lolz

Ah I see! Okay if I try out ERG + slope mode sometime soon I will let you know. For what it’s worth I have been using the slope mode on random courses to break up the monotony of my long indoor rides and it has been pretty nice. I will say the ‘downhill’ portions feel a lot harder than outdoors but I use smart rollers, so don’t really have a proper flywheel. I am sure it feels better on a regular trainer.

Also, for what it’s worth I have had ads pop up a couple times in the last week so I know it works now at least. Still surprised how rare they are though.

Thanks for the help.

Good to hear that.

Both Uphills and Downhills are much harder than outdoors. In fact, any indoor ride (for me) are much harder than outdoors. There may be other factors, but to me, one big one is that you don’t really get much of a chance to coast.

Fun Fact, did you know that Zwift, even Downhill slopes are halved eg: -8% = -4% by default. something like that. I beleive it’s called “Trainer difficulty”. I’m gonna be replicating this as some of my indoor slope rides of my outdoor rides just seems so much harder vs outdoor.

re: ads - can’t do much about it. In fact, the more this app progresses, the more it seems that developers are at the mercy of Google Ads. One wrong more and Account Banned. :frowning:

I use Trainerroad to control my smart trainer and always use “resistance” mode to set the power. Is there a way to use BreakAway in the same way? (resistance goes from 0 - 100, so a lot of options are possible.

I didn’t know TR offers “resistance” mode. I googled it a bit and read some, but still unsure how one does a Structured training using resistance mode.

Do you change the resistance level at every interval or just use 1 resistance level for the entire workout?

say in ERG
10m 50% FTP
10m 80% FTP
10m 50% FTP

how does this work for resistance mode?

The app currently offers Slope Mode, as i understand it, slope mode essentially is just resistance mode since it also needs users to manually change gears to reach the target resistance.

Is the Structured workout basically just gonna be like a Suggested Target, a Graphic (of the workout0 and then 1 set resistance for the entire workout (unless you change it).

is this how it works?

While I sounds interesting, this could possibly be a huge undertaking as the architecture of the app would needs changing.

Have you tried out Structured Slope Mode workouts?