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Map My Tracks blog

Unveiling the Map My Tracks cycling metrics toolbox

Training tools

Map My Tracks is thrilled to introduce our latest suite of tools tailored to elevate the performance and experience of cyclists worldwide. Our newly launched set of tools is meticulously designed to provide cyclists with invaluable insights into their training efforts, enabling them to optimize their performance, set ambitious goals, and conquer new horizons. Let’s delve into the remarkable benefits of each tool:

Power Zones Calculator
Achieve precision in your training by harnessing the power of our Power Zones Calculator. This tool categorizes your power output into specific intensity zones, allowing you to tailor your workouts to target different physiological adaptations. Whether you’re focusing on endurance, strength, or speed, our Power Zones Calculator ensures that every pedal stroke counts towards your progress.

Functional Threshold Power (FTP) Calculator
Unlock your true potential with our FTP Calculator, which accurately determines your Functional Threshold Power. By establishing this crucial benchmark, cyclists can gauge their fitness levels, track improvements over time, and set appropriate training intensities to maximize their performance gains. Our FTP Calculator gives you the insights needed to push your limits and achieve peak performance.

Training Stress Score (TSS) Calculator
Take the guesswork out of training intensity management with our TSS Calculator. This tool quantifies the cumulative stress of your workouts, providing a comprehensive overview of your training load. By monitoring your TSS, cyclists can strike the perfect balance between training volume and recovery, minimizing the risk of overtraining while optimizing performance gains for sustained success.

Intensity Factor (IF) Calculator
Fine-tune your training intensity with our IF Calculator, which calculates the intensity factor of your workouts relative to your FTP. By understanding the relative intensity of efforts, cyclists can tailor their training to elicit specific physiological adaptations, improving aerobic capacity, lactate threshold, or endurance. With our IF Calculator, you’ll have the insights to train smarter and achieve your goals faster.

Variability Index (VI) Calculator
Optimize your training consistency and efficiency with our VI Calculator, which evaluates the variability of your power output during workouts. By analyzing the ratio of normalized power to average power, cyclists can assess their pacing strategy, identify areas for improvement, and refine their race-day tactics. With our VI Calculator, you’ll enhance your performance by maintaining steady power output and minimizing fluctuations during rides.

Power-to-Weight (W/KG) Calculator
Gain a competitive edge by optimizing your power-to-weight ratio with our W/KG Calculator. This tool calculates the ratio of your power output to body weight, providing insights into your climbing prowess, sprinting ability, and overall performance potential. By optimizing your W/KG ratio, cyclists can tailor their training and nutrition strategies to achieve an ideal balance between power production and body mass, maximizing their efficiency on the bike.

Critical Power & Work Prime (CP & W’) Calculator
Harness the science of performance modelling with our CP & W’ Calculator. This tool quantifies your critical power and work capacity, providing essential insights into your anaerobic capabilities and endurance limits. By understanding their CP and W’, cyclists can strategically manage their efforts during races, time trials, and interval workouts, pacing themselves for sustained performance and strategic attacks.

Heart Rate Zones Calculator
Optimize your cardiovascular training with our Heart Rate Zones Calculator, which defines specific training zones based on your heart rate. By monitoring their heart rate zones, cyclists can tailor their workouts to target different energy systems, improve aerobic capacity, and enhance cardiovascular fitness. With our Heart Rate Zones Calculator, you’ll have the tools to train smarter, improve efficiency, and achieve peak performance.

Whether you’re a competitive athlete or a recreational rider, our suite of tools empowers cyclists of all levels to unlock their full potential, surpass their goals, and enjoy every moment on the bike.

Unlocking your cycling potential: Understanding performance management charts

As a cyclist, you're constantly seeking ways to improve your performance on the bike. Whether you aim to conquer a challenging climb, set a personal best on your favourite route, or enjoy the ride with increased endurance, having insight into your training progress is invaluable. The performance management chart can help with this.

performance management charts

Performance management charts visually represent your fitness, fatigue, and form over time. Understanding these metrics can empower you to optimize your training, prevent burnout, and peak for critical events. Let’s delve into each component:

Fitness (Chronic Training Load - CTL)

The Fitness component, often represented by Chronic Training Load (CTL), reflects your long-term training load and overall fitness level. CTL is calculated based on the cumulative effect of your training stress over several weeks or months. It provides insight into your aerobic endurance and ability to sustain efforts over extended periods.

How to interpret CTL:
Increasing CTL: Consistently challenging yourself with structured training will lead to a gradual increase in CTL. This indicates improved fitness and endurance.

Plateau or Decline in CTL: Stagnation or a decrease in CTL may indicate a need to reassess your training plan. It could signal overtraining, insufficient recovery, or a lack of progressive overload.

Fatigue (Acute Training Load - ATL)

Fatigue, represented by Acute Training Load (ATL), reflects your short-term training stress and immediate fatigue level. ATL provides insight into your recent training intensity and the resulting fatigue accumulation.

How to interpret ATL:
High ATL: Intense training sessions or a sudden increase in training volume can lead to a spike in ATL. While short-term increases are ordinary and necessary for adaptation, prolonged high ATL without adequate recovery can lead to burnout or injury.

Balancing ATL and Recovery: Managing ATL alongside recovery periods is crucial for optimizing performance. Strategic tapering before important events allows ATL to decrease, enabling you to enter races or critical rides with reduced fatigue and heightened readiness.

Form (Training Stress Balance - TSB)

Form, calculated as Training Stress Balance (TSB), represents the balance between your Fitness (CTL) and Fatigue (ATL). TSB indicates your readiness to perform at your best, with positive values suggesting fresher legs and enhanced performance potential, while negative values indicate accumulated fatigue.

How to interpret TSB:
Positive TSB: A positive TSB indicates a state of freshness and readiness to perform. This is often desirable leading up to critical events, as it signifies a tapering phase where fatigue decreases while fitness remains high.

Negative TSB: A negative TSB suggests accumulated fatigue, which may impair performance. However, strategically inducing a negative TSB through periods of hard training followed by adequate recovery can lead to super-compensation, where performance peaks following a rest period.

How to utilize Performance Management Charts

Set Goals: Define your cycling objectives, whether completing a century ride, improving your climbing prowess, or competing in races.

Plan Your Training: Structure your training plan to gradually increase your Fitness (CTL) while managing your Fatigue (ATL) to prevent burnout and optimize performance.

Monitor Progress: Regularly review your performance management chart to track CTL, ATL, and TSB changes. Look for trends and patterns to assess the effectiveness of your training regimen.

Adjust Accordingly: Modify your training plan based on your observations. Increase training volume or intensity to boost CTL, incorporate rest or recovery rides to manage ATL, and strategically taper before essential events to maximize TSB.

By harnessing the power of performance management charts and understanding the nuances of Fitness (CTL), Fatigue (ATL), and Form (TSB), you can unlock your cycling potential and achieve your goals with confidence. Remember, consistency, balance, and intelligent training practices are essential to sustained improvement and enjoyment on the bike.

Ready to dive into the performance management chart? Sign up to Map My Tracks.

A guide to exporting .FIT Files from Zwift to upload to Map My Tracks

image In the world of indoor cycling, Zwift has become synonymous with immersive training experiences and virtual rides.

As you pedal through virtual landscapes, track your progress, and compete with others, you might find yourself wanting to analyze your performance in more detail on Map My Tracks. One way to do this is by exporting your Zwift workout data in .FIT file format then upload it to Map My Tracks.

As Zwift does not support direct uploading to Map My Tracks we’ll walk you through the process of exporting .FIT files from Zwift to seamlessly upload and analyze your data on Map My Tracks.

When using Zwift app on PC or Mac

Step 1: Open the file upload page on Map My Tracks. Click on Choose file and in the file browser go to Documents > Zwift > Activities and attach the .fit file for the ride.

When using Zwift app on smartphones or tablets

Step 1 . Start Zwift and on the title screen, tap the Zwift logo three times to bring up the file browser.

Step 2. Select the .fit file(s) you would like to upload to Map My Tracks and select OK.

Step 3. Email the .fit files to your personalised Map My Tracks dropbox email address.  Files emailed into your MMT mailbox will be automatically imported to your profile for detailed analysis.

From the Zwift website

Alternatively, a .fit file can be downloaded from the activity feed on the Zwift website. Open the activity then click on the cog icon. From there you can download .fit file to upload on Map My Tracks.

Peak performance, VO2max, MAP stats

For those of you that like to do some number crunching on your power stats then the recent update to the Map My Tracks app might interest you. We’ve introduced a summary of your peak power over different time intervals giving you an at-a-glance view of your stats.

In amongst the stats are a few things that get automatically detected from your ride date. FTP, FTHR, VO2max and MAP are all estimated when certain criteria are met. As these are normally best tested in a lab the values are only relevant when the app detects that you have performed at a steady and high state.

This is only useful if you ride with a power meter. If that’s you then check out the latest version of the app in the App Store and Google Play.

Coping with nausea during ultra-distance events and races

Participating in ultra-distance events, such as ultramarathons, triathlons, or long-distance cycling races, can be a challenging and rewarding experience.

However, the physical demands of these events can also lead to nausea, which can be a frustrating and uncomfortable symptom to deal with. We’ll explore some strategies for coping with nausea during ultra-distance events.

Hydration
Dehydration is a common cause of nausea, so it is essential to drink enough fluids during the event. Aim to drink water or a sports drink every 15-20 minutes to maintain hydration levels. Avoid sugary or caffeinated drinks, as they can exacerbate nausea.

Food
Consuming food during an ultra-distance event is crucial to maintain energy levels, but it can also cause nausea. Avoid consuming high-fat or high-fiber foods before or during the event, as they can be hard to digest. Instead, opt for easily digestible carbohydrates such as gels, chews, or sports drinks.

Pace
Overexerting oneself during an ultra-distance event can cause nausea, especially when the body is not used to the intensity of the activity. Try to maintain a steady pace throughout the event, and avoid sudden bursts of activity that can lead to nausea.

Breathing Techniques
Nausea can also be a symptom of anxiety or stress. Practicing breathing techniques, such as deep breathing or meditation, can help reduce stress levels and alleviate nausea.

Medication
For extreme cases of nausea, over-the-counter medications such as antacids or anti-nausea medications may be necessary. However, it is essential to consult with a medical professional before taking any medication during an ultra-distance event.

Mental Techniques
Focusing on positive thoughts and visualization can also help reduce nausea. Remind yourself of why you are participating in the event and focus on the positive aspects of the experience.

Nausea can be a common symptom during ultra-distance events, but there are various ways to cope with it. By maintaining hydration levels, consuming easily digestible carbohydrates, pacing oneself, practicing breathing techniques, and utilizing mental techniques, participants can reduce the impact of nausea on their performance and enjoy the experience and have fun.

Welcome to Collections

We're thrilled to be able to roll out a new feature that has long been asked for. PLUS members can now create Collections of activities.

You might want to create a collection from a recent hike over a few days or from rides completed over several days. In fact, collections are so versatile that they can be any group of activities with each collection topped and tailed with cover images and descriptions.

Collections can remain private or if you prefer to share your collection with other Map My Tracks users then you can make it public for everyone to see. Either way, you are in control.

Collections are made by first tagging your activities. Use the same tag across all the activities you wish to include in the collection, then from your tag list page you can convert the tag into a collection.

Tags can be added to activities either on the website or through the app. For now, collections are only available on the website but they will be soon be also in the app.

As ever, let us know what you think. If you need any guidance on using Collections then get in touch with us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

We can’t wait to see how you start using Collections. Get started here →

West Highland Way Collection

We’ve kicked things off with a few Collections to browse:

Introducing: Social sharing cards

In the upcoming release of the Map My Tracks app we've made is super simple to start sharing social cards of your activities to your favourite socials media networks.

Social cards feature your photo of choice, or your activity map, together with a summary of the distance, time and elevation. The social cards are a handy way to show off you latest hike or bike ride with friends.

Map My Tracks social card

Social cards are just the latest way to share your activities. Activity Moment videos also let you showcase your activities and result in an animated video ready to share on social networks. Text links can also be shared that includes a summary of all the activity details.

We can’t wait to see how everyone uses this on social networks. Tag posts using #mapmytracks so we can follow your progress.

Schedule maintenance - Wednesday April 7, 2021

Map My Tracks will be temporarily unavailable from 08:30 (BST) on April 7 while we undertake some essential maintenance. The service will return within a few hours.

Live tracking will not be available while the service is offline. If you have any questions please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Inappropriate comments on activities

Over the Easter weekend Map My Tracks was under attack from spammers who were posting inappropriate comments on user activities. Our monitoring systems alerted us to this activity but not before many comments had been posted on activities.

For this I am sorry. I appreciate that some of the users that the spammers have targeted have received many, many emails as a result of the comments being posted. I know how annoying this is but rest assured that no account credentials were compromised and no accounts were breached. The exploit that the spammers took advantage of chose random user IDs to spoof comments on behalf of other users.

We have already taken steps to halt this action and are in the process of adapting how comments are posted in future to combat this issue. One side effect of how the emails were sent means that some users will still be receiving emails over the coming days. These emails were actually sent several days ago but due to how mail servers work they were held back and only now being delivered. Unfortunately, we have no way of recalling these emails as they have already left our system. It goes without saying but please ignore these emails and do not click on any links within them.

Should you wish to manage what emails you receive from Map My Tracks in future then please update your preferences.

We will update this post with further details over the coming 24 hours. Should anyone be concerned, or have questions, please contact us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) where we can assist you further.

Again, I apologize for the hassle, and concern, this has no doubt caused.

Regards
Nick Tatt
Founder of Map My Tracks

Embark on a virtual event with your friends and family or just go solo

Always wanted to hike the length of the Camino de Santiago or ride across America or the length of Britain? Now with Map My Tracks virtual events you can remotely complete routes by using your everyday workouts.

MMT virtual events

Virtual events on Map My Tracks make every mile count and are a great way to embark on long distance challenges remotely. A virtual event takes your activities and uses each mile covered to propel you along a virtual route. Along the way you can pass point of interests, explore the terrain and compete against others to get to the finish line first.

Why not challenge your friends and family to walk the West Highland Way over the next two weeks or ride the Scottish North Coast 500 over the weekend. Want a solo adventure? Create your own virtual event to keep yourself motivated.

As with all events it’s simple to get started. Create your event then upload, or draw, your route. After that, invite the participants to join the event. Once your event has started all activities uploaded by participants will contribute to their distance along the virtual route.

Participants can use the Map My Tracks app to track live and have their progress updated in real-time or record their activity with compatible devices and upload their activities after they have finished each workout. Either way, the distance covered goes towards completing the virtual event.

Map My Tracks virtual events can be set up using the Event Planner and be viewed on the Map My Tracks app for iOS and Android as well as within Map My Tracks Events on the website.

Get started and set up your first virtual event. It’s free.

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