Driven athletes and progressive coaches are always seeking the cutting edge of new technology and the introductions of new tools to help them progress. The latest to hit the market is WKO5 - advanced software to analyze training a wide array of data points and endless customization possibilities. With the roll back of WKO4 and the lack of results sheets to guide athletes this year, the use of metric goals has become even more important.
If you’re curious about WKO5 and what charts might be helpful, take a look at my top three charts below. I use these charts with each of my athletes. Once set up, they help you to quickly obtain deeper insights from your workouts, and, by doing so, push your training to the next level.
Chart #1 : DFRC (Dynamic Functional Reserve Capacity)
How do you know how deep you went on your intervals? As an athlete it’s sometimes difficult to know in your 4 x :15 second sprint intervals if you went hard enough on the first one but still held onto enough for the last. DFRC is something I use to help analyze the amount of anaerobic energy an athlete uses (depletes) during an effort. Dynamic Functional Reserve Capacity (DFRC) is shown in KJ’s and can best be explained by draining and then charging a battery. In the chart above, the athlete executed the sprints correctly (power, shown in yellow), but you can tell by the DFRC (purple line) only falling to 6.518 in the first set, that they held back initially and could go a little harder the next time round.
Chart #2 : Elevation Correction
Power decreases as altitude increases. Consequently our zones change, and our long range metrics do as well (fatigue and training stress, for example), but to track this can be tough. While every athlete is different at altitude, the Elevation Correction Power chart gives us a good estimation of corrected power and power variation as you go up or down in altitude. This can be especially helpful if you have athletes doing efforts at high altitude, like going for a strava segment, doing a TT, or even Everesting at 1500+meters. By using Elevation Correction and past data you can advise an athlete how to pace an effort, when fatigue will likely set in, and even fueling as they might be working different systems then they expect.
Chart #3 : Postseason Athlete Reviews (PMC, Peaks, and Fatigue Resistance)
At the end of each athlete’s season it’s critical to take a look back at what they have achieved by doing a post season review. By compiling a list of stats you can see some pretty telling trends and WKO5 makes this simple.
By using the Performance Management Chart, Peak Metric Chart, and Fatigue Resistance Chart customized to be peaks after 2000KJ’s I am able to review how an athlete has progressed from year to year as well as within the current year. I cater which metrics to assess by who the athlete is and what goals they have. For this stage racer (see chart), efforts after an accumulated KJ was important to see as this allows them to make sure they are able to achieve race winning numbers after a long stage. This number for a professional road rider will look very different from a Master’s criterium racer’s review.
I also use these reviews as a way to plan on what can be improved the following season. Can the average training volume be changed? Can more focus be put on peak metrics that are trending flat? Do we actually need to drop CTL when training for a particular style of effort because the athlete performs better with a little more freshness? These are all great questions to ask your coach and will be helpful within planning for years to come.
With the right approach, data can be a tool that can aid both athletes and coaches, alike. These are just a few of the charts that I find useful on a daily basis and I encourage you to give them a try. Let us know if you have any questions or what your favorite charts are!
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