This isn’t exactly a training question, but it’s training adjacent. I’m wondering about how I can customize my data tracking on Intervals.icu to account for my age.
I understand that my fitness will inevitably drop as I continue to age—that this is the nature of aging! And I’ve always liked taking a scientific approach to training, so I love that Intervals lets me explore my data and measure what’s working, what’s not. But, if I’m working steadily and hard, as I usually am, it’s uninspiring to come here and see such little “progress” reflected in my charts.
(For context: I’m 53 years old, so young enough to still make progress and gain fitness, but old enough that it’s getting harder. I used to race at an amateur level, and I still have that mindset, but these days I train only for non-competitive events.)
So my question: Has anyone found a way to customize their charts to reflect progress toward age-informed goals? I’m looking for an approach that doesn’t emphasize the inevitable slow decline of age, but rather focuses its analytic lens on the daily effort to increase one’s fitness regardless of age.
edit: I assumed cycling as the sport, so “power” could be “speed”
We’re the same age, and sometimes not losing points/values/scores on performance-based metrics, despite ageing, is as good as gaining.
Strava segments are a good way to measure performance, outdoors. Pick the ones that matter, make notes after each effort, and then only benchmark yourself under similar conditions for each segment.
Power duration curve - how do I compare YoY for specific durations, eg. 1-2m, 4-6m, 10-20m, 40-60m.
Durability also works, but the amount of work (kJ) before the fatigued max-effort would then be tracked rather than the % drop between fresh and fatigued. Race efforts matter, and not what the science necessarily dictates for testing. My races are somewhere between 2000 and 2800kJ, with key moments happening mostly around 1500kJ. Why would I test durability after 3000kJ like the science says? It’s not specific to my situation, so I test for 750kJ and 1500kJ.
Recovery after hard efforts, how quickly does HR drop after a max effort.
Measure relative to all-time best, as a %, to see how certain performance metrics drop off.
Ignore the wearable and population average metrics; chances are you’re not average.
Subjective wellness metrics matter, but not as a single-day value. The trend over time matters more. Get enough sleep, and make sure it felt >average more often. The rem/deep sleep scroes that wearable devices provide are not worth worrying about, and can often have the reverse effect… you start worrying/obsessing over the low numbers.
From your post, I have the impression that you are too heavily focused on the ‘Fitness’ number.
On the other hand, as an amateur (ex-)racer, I would expect that you are familiar with the terms ATL/CTL/TSB (in Intervals Fitness/Fatigue/Form).
So I could be wrong in this, but still think it’s important to make sure that you understand what the Fitness number represents.
If in doubt, first read the first posts in this thread: FITNESS PAGE - a guide to getting started - #2 by MedTechCD
TL:DR: The Fitness number is not representative of performance level, it simply shows how hard you worked over the last weeks. Someone with a Fitness number double of someone else, isn’t necessarily going to outperform him.
I focus on the process. I know that if I’m putting in the best effort I can, both in regards to time and intensity, I’ll get the best outcome that is possible considering whatever constraints reality puts my way (i.e. age and still working full time). And it is very much something I can control and influence, which cannot be said about my body aging. So in short, in descending priority, my metrics are:
As many sessions per week as possible (in my case, running, yoga and heavy lifting, with some rock climbing).
As long as the number of sessions doesn’t suffer, as much volume as possible
As long as the previous two don’t suffer, 1 or 2 quality sessions (I consider my long run one).
That’s it. And then do as much as you can recover from. Very simple, the challenge becomes time management, sleeping, eating, …
I found it immensely satisfying to look back and seeing how successfully I managed to bend everything around the sports I like. I still (roughly your age) see benefits, and if it’s only that pain is low, effort for the same volume&intensity decreases slowly and there are no injuries. In fact my body is better than my whole life before.
Compare that to almost all people around me who are very good at lamenting how it is just not possible for them to do more sports (with “more” meaning “any at all”).
There will always be millions of athletes of my age who are faster, but I am also faster than millions of them. So comparing myself or my pace to them makes zero sense.
Sorry for little useful input, but I think a mindset shift is very useful - at least it was for me.
