Was very open to giving athletica a shot, but two things just stopped me in my tracks. #1. I don’t use garmin or strava, I use Hamerhead and Coros (I looked past this opened a strava hated that too and not deleted it) #2. How do I mark sessions completed when I don’t have a data file?
It is simply ridiculous to think people will wear devices for everything.
Very flawed app so far, hope things improve, but my two week trial was essentially a waste
Hi @STeaveA . Thanks for your willingness to try Athletica and for your feedback. As @Lagoon mentions, Athletica ideally serves the user that is passionate about sport science and enjoys learning about the interactions between sensor measured physiology and performance. In fact, Athletica users are now served by three experienced PhD level sport scientists (example review and analysis here). As you note, it works best on the Garmin system, but also works with nearly all other systems via Strava. We are working on further integrations with other systems and these are coming soon.
For your swim session, simply click on your ‘Details and Analysis’ tab (big green button), fill in your time and distance, your RPE and feel and any comments you might have, press save, and your load will be captured. I’ve provided an example here for you on my account.
Latest release: Athletica is now using Critical Pace/Power (CP) instead of the FTP method to calculate thresholds and training zones. Each zone individually is updated based on power/duration curves. Full details here.
One key aspect of Athletica is its seamless integration with your natural workout routine. It assesses your training progress without interrupting your activities, capturing your efforts without formal testing.
By analyzing your honest efforts during regular training sessions, Athletica accurately measures your power/pace profile, using this data to customize your training zones.
Does “honest efforts” mean “all out efforts”? Curious if Athletica requires maximum efforts at different durations to draw the power curve, or if it can estimate one from submaximal efforts (like Trainerroad or Intervals icu estimate FTP, for better or worse).
The latter would create big value IMO as my natural training routine doesn’t really include too many time trials, or indeed sessions with 10/10 RPE. (Maybe it would contain just enough of these under Athletica’s program?)
Generally speaking, maximum efforts at different durations are needed to reliably approximate thresholds and construct a valid profile. To our knowledge, there is no proven reliability for single or multiple sub-maximal efforts.
However, the efforts Athletica needs to construct a profile can be quite variable in power output, as Athletica adopts the method of the maximal mean power. As a consequence, these efforts do not need to be time-trials at constant power output for a given duration, but they can be casual rides punctuated by maximum efforts with different duration (a bit random as you see fit). This methodology is widely adopted in endurance sports monitoring, as it is perceived as less invasive by the athletes (i.e. invisible monitoring).
Here’s my profile today including Athletica generated insights. I did three random max efforts across 2 hours (30", 40", 20’) because the AI told me those were missing. I like how the AI is telling me what my deficiencies are from a profiling standpoint so I know in my mind what I want to work on in my training (read Insights above the profile). Each athlete’s insight is unique.
We do have that option available for our beta group, a feature we call user-time constraints. Declare your constraints for each exercise, each day, etc. and the loading remains optimized. The logic for this is heavy and still in development and so not yet for full general release. Probably within 2 months. Example here:
Select your rowing event, set your training volume, and create a personalized adaptive plan. For coaches and athletes wanting to self coach. Feature includes direct integration with Concept 2. Sessions can be done indoor or on-water. Usual Athletica features apply.
Seconded @Mmcewen. Mobile app would be nice, but the webpage works pretty well on the phone. On the laptop I just drag and drop once a week those workouts that don’t quite line up with my schedule or move them on-demand when life changes, and can easily substitute workouts with the workout wizard.
@STeaveA: After having used self-built plans, 8020 plans in TrainingPeaks, and TriDot premium, I found Athletica more user friendly and adaptable by far (much better than TriDot and about equal to TP), while also getting the algorithmic benefit of future training adjusting based on current work. I don’t have a coach to do that for me so it works well and doesn’t feel ham fisted at all.
Oh, and they take user feedback and feature requests seriously which is really promising.
