Powertap intervals in CyclingPeaks software

midastouch said:

I'm a power newbie and am just learning to use my powertap and CyclingPeaks software. Can anyone tell me how the software handles the intervals recorded on the powertap. I can't find any pre-defined function in the software. I assume that you can manually highlight the intervals in the software, but was wondering if it can be automated. I haven't done any intervals (recovering from ITB syndrome) so I haven't had the chance to experiment. Any help appreciated.

Mike

OK Piece of cake. It can handle the intervals you ientified during the ride or you can highlight a section of the ride hit ALT-R and you have a new interval.

Personally, I like to mark an interval (by hitting both PT buttons together) at both the start and end of work period. By keeping the PT display in "Interval Mode" (hold down mode button for ~2 sec) that resets the clock every time a new interval is marked, and that way I can easily see how many minutes into my work/rest I am. That also lets me monitor the AP of just the current interval. When the data is imported into Cycling Peaks you'll have twice as many intervals (of course) so you then rename the first work portion as an interval (for example, 2x20), link every other work interval to that first one, and delete the intervals for the rest portions in between. That way the intervals show up in the journal page ride summary, with rest periods shown in between.

Phew... kinda wordy. If anyone knows an easier way to do this, let me know.

Thanks to the posters. I knew there must be a way. I'll check it out on my next ride. The rains are supposed to finally stop today and we'll be back to sunny florida "winter" rides.

Intervals that you set by pushing the buttons on your PowerTap will automatically be recognized by the CyclingPeaks software. By that I mean that: 1) they will be highlighted as Ranges in the Graph, and 2) the summary statistics (e.g., average power) from each will be displayed at the top of the list in the Ranges window beside the Graph (and in the Summary on the Journal page). You can even link the different Ranges together to automatically calculate the duration of the rest period between them!

acoggan said:

You can even link the different Ranges together to automatically calculate the duration of the rest period between them!

I don't understand this function of the software. I always mark the interval at the start and end of each interval, so I already know what my rest interval is. Is there another use of the linking function?

I'd prefer if it actually "linked" the full interval session so I could review overall data (e.g. NP, TSS, etc.) for the entire interval period (i.e. start of first interval to end of last).

Iktome said:

I don't understand this function of the software. I always mark the interval at the start and end of each interval, so I already know what my rest interval is.

Meaning that you separately mark the rest intervals as well as the work intervals? That would accomplish the same thing, but at least on the original PowerTap would 1) require multiple button pushes during the transitions, and 2) quickly use up the maximum of nine intervals that were allowed.

Iktome said:

Is there another use of the linking function?

I haven't used a Pro-model PowerTap, but the utility of the "linking" feature may have been diminished by the improvements it includes. However, you can still use it for other purposes, e.g., to see how far apart two "matches" that you found using the FastFind feature occurred.

Iktome said:

I'd prefer if it actually "linked" the full interval session so I could review overall data (e.g. NP, TSS, etc.) for the entire interval period (i.e. start of first interval to end of last).

Perhaps better still would be if it calculated averages of the averages, so that you'd quickly get an overall picture of how a particular structured workout went. However, I'm not sure how easy that would be, or whether you'd want it to do that in all situations (or even if it could, i.e., could you come up with a software algorithm that couldn't be "tricked"?).

acoggan said:

Meaning that you separately mark the rest intervals as well as the work intervals?

Yes, and I believe that's necessary in the PT Pro and SL models. Marking tells the unit to *begin* recording an interval. There is no way to *end* recording an interval (other than to begin recording the *next* interval). If you only marked an interval at the beginning of each work period, then there would be no gap between defined ranges, and the ranges would average statistics across both the work and rest periods. Fortunately, I believe the unit can now record up to 99 intervals.

frenchyge said:

Yes, and I believe that's necessary in the PT Pro and SL models. Marking tells the unit to *begin* recording an interval. There is no way to *end* recording an interval (other than to begin recording the *next* interval). If you only marked an interval at the beginning of each work period, then there would be no gap between defined ranges, and the ranges would average statistics across both the work and rest periods. Fortunately, I believe the unit can now record up to 99 intervals.

I do not mark the end of the intervals, but edit the range in Cyclingpeaks to the end of the work time. It is pretty easy, and you could just fastFind them.

I'm still stumped on linking. Best use I've found is that you can link your work intervals together and then scroll through their data (left hand side, using up/down arrows) and quickly find your best interval, compare, etc..

Spunout said:

I do not mark the end of the intervals, but edit the range in Cyclingpeaks to the end of the work time. It is pretty easy, and you could just fastFind them.

I can see that working, as well, but do you time your rest periods? Marking beginning and end resets the timer for the rest period.

Spunout said:

I'm still stumped on linking. Best use I've found is that you can link your work intervals together and then scroll through their data (left hand side, using up/down arrows) and quickly find your best interval, compare, etc..

I queried that on the CyclingPeaks forum a few weeks back, but didn't get a response. Andy's comments above are the best insight I've seen on that.