Slowman's Aerobic Points in GoldenCheetah

Triathlon Forum
1

For the users of GoldenCheetah willing to track Slowman’s Aerobic Points the latest version (3.4) allows to define Custom Metrics which can be used for that purpose:

To define the new metric go to Tools>Options>Metrics>Custom on Windows/Linux or Preferrences>Metrics>Custom on Mac and press (+):

Enter the metric definition, to avoid typing you can copy&paste the following formula to the program box:

{

calculate metric value

value { if (isSwim) Distance*10; # 1 point per 100m swimming
            else if (isRun) Distance/(1.609/4); # 1 point per 1/4 mile running
            else Distance/1.609; # 1 point per mile cycling
}

}

Also be sure to select Total as Type and clear the Time checkbox, the button Test can be used to compute the metric on the selected activity, Ok to confirm.

Now you have the metric defined, press Save to confirm, this will compute the new metric on all your existing activities, is a one time process which may take a while depending on your history and computer power.

Now you can add the new metric to your Summary Metrics:

After save it will be shown on Summary for the selected activity on Activities view:

to be continued…

AerobicPointsMetric0.png
AerobicPointsMetric1.png
AerobicPointsMetric2.png
AerobicPointsMetric3.png
AerobicPointsMetricActivity.png

2

And accumulated on Summary for the selected Date Range / Season:

The custom metric behaves exactly the same as a builtin metric, so it can be used in Metric Trends charts to see weekly/monthly Aerobic Points, segmented or filtered by sport, for any date range or use the compare mode to compare several season, or used as input for a PMC chart.

I will add some of this charts as examples in other posts.

AerobicPointsMetricDateRange.png

3

Once you have the Aerobic Points metric defined it is easy to use it in chart, for example to track training volume over a season grouped by weeks and segmented by sport:

Selecting All Dates and grouping for years allow to see training load volume pogression:

To create this chart and play with your data you can simply drag&drop the attached chart definition on GoldenCheetah v3.4
.
Aerobic Points by Sport.png
Aerobic Points by Sport - Yearly.png
Aerobic Points by Sport .gchart

4

Thanks for this walk through!

5

Other new feature that can be used in this case is the R integration, for example to see distribution by sport for the selected Date Range/Season as a pie chart:

The script can be hidden and there is no need to type it, drag&drop of the attached .gchart file creates this chart on GC.

Aerobic Points Distribution.png
Aerobic Points Distribution.gchart

6

Other new feature that can be used in this case is the R integration, for example to see distribution by sport for the selected Date Range/Season as a pie chart:
The script can be hidden and there is no need to type it, drag&drop of the attached .gchart file creates this chart on GC.

Are those points based on what reasearch? One single individual physiology or average of many people? This is similar to calculating max HR based on 220-Age, and probably max HR is more precise and closer to reality.

why 1 point for 100m swimming, not 1.05 for 100m or 1 point for 50m swimming??

Imagine this: I’m beginner athlete and you are great athlete.

I have never run in my life and never swam, only biked. You are excellent swimmer and very good runner. How can we say the points we collect during run and swim are the same, totally makes no sense.

This hocus pocus could not even work semi precisely for one individual, since it doesn’t take any correction for physiological adaptations gained in each discipline.

How this could help in training? 50 points in January would be totally different from 50 points in June…

7

Other new feature that can be used in this case is the R integration, for example to see distribution by sport for the selected Date Range/Season as a pie chart:
The script can be hidden and there is no need to type it, drag&drop of the attached .gchart file creates this chart on GC.

Are those points based on what reasearch? One single individual physiology or average of many people? This is similar to calculating max HR based on 220-Age, and probably max HR is more precise and closer to reality.

why 1 point for 100m swimming, not 1.05 for 100m or 1 point for 50m swimming??

Imagine this: I’m beginner athlete and you are great athlete.

I have never run in my life and never swam, only biked. You are excellent swimmer and very good runner. How can we say the points we collect during run and swim are the same, totally makes no sense.

This hocus pocus could not even work semi precisely for one individual, since it doesn’t take any correction for physiological adaptations gained in each discipline.

How this could help in training? 50 points in January would be totally different from 50 points in June…

Are you saying that you don’t believe these statements?

"Science in Golden Cheetah

Wherever possible we choose to use published science. Science that has been developed with the academic rigour demanded by the scientific method; evidence based, peer-reviewed and original. This means we are able to provide the best analysis available"

http://www.goldencheetah.org/#section-science

(BTW, note that there is just as little/much basis for Daniel’s points system, which has been in GoldenCheetah for almost 10 y. At least in that case, though, Jack Daniels has a doctorate in exercise physiology as well as a long-standing reputation as a coach.)

8

Are you saying that you don’t believe these statements?

This thread doesn’t need you, go away.

9

Are you saying that you don’t believe these statements?

This thread doesn’t need you, go away.

Uh-huh. Just like Trump doesn’t need the media calling *him *on *his *hypocrisy…

10

Other new feature that can be used in this case is the R integration, for example to see distribution by sport for the selected Date Range/Season as a pie chart:
The script can be hidden and there is no need to type it, drag&drop of the attached .gchart file creates this chart on GC.

**Are those points based on what reasearch? **One single individual physiology or average of many people? This is similar to calculating max HR based on 220-Age, and probably max HR is more precise and closer to reality.

why 1 point for 100m swimming, not 1.05 for 100m or 1 point for 50m swimming??

Imagine this: I’m beginner athlete and you are great athlete.

I have never run in my life and never swam, only biked. You are excellent swimmer and very good runner. How can we say the points we collect during run and swim are the same, totally makes no sense.

This hocus pocus could not even work semi precisely for one individual, since it doesn’t take any correction for physiological adaptations gained in each discipline.

How this could help in training? 50 points in January would be totally different from 50 points in June…

Wow, that article is almost 10 years old. I vaguely remember reading it when Dan posted it.

My take is Dan is trying to help determine if your workouts over a period of time (week, month) are “balanced” by trying to normalize the effort associated with various workouts. I highly doubt there is any peer-reviewed research to back up his numbers. Maybe Dan will chime in on his original intents.

11

Perhaps I can help.

This point system is more than 25 years old. I developed it mostly for those new to triathlon. It’s designed to give those naive to the sport some sense of scale and equivalency.

While not particularly scientific I think it’s still not bad (with numerous caveats). It assumes you’re balanced in your abilities. If you find it much harder to perform X points in one sport versus another I suggest then you have a deficiency in that sport.

12

Are those points based on what reasearch? How this could help in training?

The real value of Ale’s post isn’t in the specific metric used – he could’ve chosen anything – its value is showing how one can construct and integrate user-defined metrics into GC.

13

Perhaps I can help.

This point system is more than 25 years old. I developed it mostly for those new to triathlon. It’s designed to give those naive to the sport some sense of scale and equivalency.

While not particularly scientific I think it’s still not bad (with numerous caveats). It assumes you’re balanced in your abilities. If you find it much harder to perform X points in one sport versus another I suggest then you have a deficiency in that sport.

Thanks Dan for publishing your point system. I never assumed it had a scientific basis. I had been doing tri long enough before reading the article to determine that the estimates were accurate enough to be a simple measure of training load. I still use it and have no doubt it has helped me stay healthy and happy.

14

Are you saying that you don’t believe these statements?

This thread doesn’t need you, go away.

That made me laugh, unless it was supposed to be in pink.

Making that statement to Andrew Coggan in reference to Golden Cheetah reminds me of when Doug Stern got called out about what makes him qualified to give swimming advice.

15

Are you saying that you don’t believe these statements?

This thread doesn’t need you, go away.

That made me laugh, unless it was supposed to be in pink.

Making that statement to Andrew Coggan in reference to Golden Cheetah reminds me of when Doug Stern got called out about what makes him qualified to give swimming advice.

With all due respect, I think that you are confused.

Mark is the programmer primarily responsible for GoldenCheetah; I’m the scientist behind all the ideas listed in my .sig.

16

I read Automaticjack’s comment to imply that you had as much to contribute to this discussion as Doug Stern had to contribute to any having to do with swimming
.

17

reminds me of when Doug Stern got called out about what makes him qualified to give swimming advice

I don’t remember Doug Stern. I do remember Gary Hall, Sr. though. That was classic.

18

I read Automaticjack’s comment to imply that you had as much to contribute to this discussion as Doug Stern had to contribute to any having to do with swimming

So, you’re saying that Automaticjack was saying Mark was having a Hansen brother moment?

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.bicycles.racing/--imFME2osI/zkHtUzOCzb8J

19

Are those points based on what reasearch? How this could help in training?

The real value of Ale’s post isn’t in the specific metric used – he could’ve chosen anything – its value is showing how one can construct and integrate user-defined metrics into GC.

Exactly!

20

I don’t wish to speak for him, but I believe so :slight_smile:
.