Firstbeat Athlete

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oversight
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Firstbeat Athlete

Post by oversight »

Oh boy, I have a stair-climbing race in 7 weeks time. It's about a 7-8min event if you were to think about this in terms of distance you might row in that time.... I would love some advice on how I can use the Firstbeat software to help with my training.

To help me train I just purchased a second hand Suunto T6c, and got the Firstbeat Athlete software. I am a little dismayed with the Coach function, which I was hoping would guide my training leading up to the event :( After cruising the internet looking for advice most of my searches led me here and I have read the rather exhaustive topic on the software in this forum. After only a day or two of use, I too have concluded that I will pretty much have to give up on the use of the coach function.

I seem to have a Activity Class of about 7.5 - 8.0. Most of my training for the stair-run event consists of high intensity intervals with TE's coming in around the 3.2 - 4.2 region. (I have used at Suunto T3c for the last year as well).

Now I am in a bit of a flap, I seem to have masses of information at my fingertips with little idea how best to use it. Are there any simple instructions anywhere on how best to use EPOC (and I am assuming that's the best measure) to monitor the progress of my training. EPOC and the night measurements to avoid overtraining seem like the best features, in this regard?

Cheers in advance for any advice or pointers in the right direction you can throw my way.
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Huw Thomas
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Re: Firstbeat Athlete

Post by Huw Thomas »

Look in this thread

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1669

I basically just watch if I do a couple of high te's 4+ then I will do a rest day or low te recovery row.
FBA coach function I don't use to pick sessions - there are better plans IMHO eg the Wolverine an, Pete plan or c2 interactive plan

I do like to compare the same sessions looking at the graphs that FBA does so well
Best wishes

Huw
Ps post in FBA thread
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Huw Thomas
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Re: Firstbeat Athlete

Post by Huw Thomas »

See reply in FBA thread


answer posted in FBA thread

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1669
Aged 61, 182 cm 80 kg.
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Ut2 130-137 (1:59+) ut1 138-151 (1:53+) AT 152-161 (1:48+) TR 162-171 (1:38+) AN 172+ (<1:38)
oversight
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Re: Firstbeat Athlete

Post by oversight »

Many thanks Huw :fsbgrin: , I have been meandering my way thought that thread, but it has grown quite long, perhaps I could have named this one better. I guess I am after some pointers to resources that will help me use the info from the FBA software, for shorter duration interval training and competition, as I get the impression that the FBA software seems geared towards longer duration steady state cardio. #-o

I will have a look at the training plans you mention above and see if I can adapt them to my stair climbing needs.

Similar to you I will use the HR monitor to see what the training effect of my sessions is like. With the graphs in FBA I can get a little more info about my interval training than just the Training Effect displayed on the watch alone. I will have a look around to see if there are any other resources that can help me make better use of the EPOC, VO2 Max and all the other stuff that I now seem to have.

So far in summary from the other thread you mention above.
Ignore suggestions from FBA about changing Activity Class once you have reached a level you are comfortable with.
Ignore (in general) the advice of the Coach feature, but follow a similar pattern of hard, easy, rest days.
Use FBA to compare you performance between identical workouts on different dates.
Be aware that FBA will not deal well with interval workouts.
Recovery..? I don't see much mention of the use of the night-time measurements. I tried it last night, but the belt must have slipped off after 17 min of sleep #-o so that's all the recording time I got.

(...and also, seeing as I am here on this forum, I thought I better go row, so I made it to the gym this Easter Monday morning and did a little 2k warm up set on the rower. Shoulders and wrists seem to be OK, it must be a sign to rise again to the challenge of rowing.)
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Huw Thomas
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Re: Firstbeat Athlete

Post by Huw Thomas »

Yep = I train about 5-6x per week and use a activity of 8 - sometimes 8.5 as my physiology seems ok with several hard sessions.

I know there is some work on TE and resting heartbeat - iathlete uses it to diagnose over training - but FBA is not set up to use resting heart rate in this way.
The FBA software is only as good as the Resting and max heart rate results you enter so try and ensure these are as accurate as you can.

FBA have a new version in Beta test at the moment so well see what that does
Aged 61, 182 cm 80 kg.
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Ut2 130-137 (1:59+) ut1 138-151 (1:53+) AT 152-161 (1:48+) TR 162-171 (1:38+) AN 172+ (<1:38)
oversight
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Re: Firstbeat Athlete

Post by oversight »

Ah, I think the sports version of the software that I have might have this nighttime measurement feature, with recovery index report, that maybe the athlete version does not have?
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Huw Thomas
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Re: Firstbeat Athlete

Post by Huw Thomas »

oversight wrote:Ah, I think the sports version of the software that I have might have this nighttime measurement feature, with recovery index report, that maybe the athlete version does not have?
quite possibly
Aged 61, 182 cm 80 kg.
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Ut2 130-137 (1:59+) ut1 138-151 (1:53+) AT 152-161 (1:48+) TR 162-171 (1:38+) AN 172+ (<1:38)
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stumpy
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Re: Firstbeat Athlete

Post by stumpy »

There is a new system update for first Beat Athlete, the main differance seems to be they have added a fitness factor, thereby showing when it is a good time to perform or race. However all this is for "running" only so no use for erging or any other sport :( Also the update has messed up all my data rendering it all out of date. Any comments anyone?
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Re: Firstbeat Athlete

Post by zootMutant »

Yeah, it messed up mine too. :evil: Then it crashed my computer and I had to un-install the FBA software and re-install from an old backup and then try the update again. Annoying.

I know this is too late to help you, but the best way to save your data before updating is to go to File => Export on the menu bar of the FBA software. After the update you can then import your old data into the new software: File => Import => From File. Just be sure to remember where you saved your data. :P

When you say "messed up" do you mean that the raw data is in FBA, but the analysis is not? Meaning date, time, and heartrate are there? But weight, activity class and training effect are not? Those later variable are calculated based on raw data and your profile information. The update probably destroyed your profile. :twisted: First create a new profile. Click the Edit Profile icon (second from the left). This profile will be used to analyse all new workouts that you upload.

Now you need to re-analyze your old workouts. If you have had your current profile for a long time, then no problem. Just select all the workouts you want to analyze (either ctrl-click for individual workouts or shift-click for a range of workouts) and then press the Analyze button (located between your list of workouts and the graph below them). All the selected workouts will be analyzed using your current profile.

However, if your profile has changed often (your resting heartrate or activity class has changed) then you need to re-create the Measurement info separately for each workout (I know, what a pain!). Select a workout (or a range of workouts?) and then select the Measurement info button (located between your list of workouts and the graph below them), enter your profile info for that workout and then Analyze.
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stumpy
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Re: Firstbeat Athlete

Post by stumpy »

Thanks Zoot, no alls OK just had to flap around to get it all sorted like you say a bit of a pain. This program is not really doing it for me at the moment what with all my cycling for which I am using a Garmin 500 and having to use Ant + guess I need to splash the cash again and go down the full Garmin route to match the erg & the bike training loads.
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