Intervals.icu is a relatively new endurance sports performance data analysis tool that USA Cycling Level 1-Certified Coach Ryan Kohler says effectively bridges the features gap between TrainingPeaks and WKO—and it’s free to use. Kohler likes Intervals.icu for planning workouts, keeping detailed notes and metrics, and analyzing files. In this 6-minute video, he explores Intervals.icu Charts, one of his favorite advanced features. Kohler share pre-built Intervals.icu charts and some unique charts he has custom built.
Coach Kohler’s Go-To Intervals.icu Charts
Power vs. Heart Rate Season comparison
This pre-built chart allows you to look at the relationship between heart rate and power. As you get fitter, the power you can produce at a given heart rate will increase.
According to David, the developer of intervals.icu, each moving minute of power and HR data gets binned into 5-Watt buckets and generates a curve that helps to smooth out anomalies, so we’re left with an easy way to look at how your power changes relative to HR over time.
Heart Rate Recovery (Monthly Average) Season Comparison
As we improve fitness, we generally see an improved heart rate recovery reflected by a greater amount of beats recovered, so as this number goes up, that’s a good thing.
Resting Heart Rate (Monthly Average) and Heart-Rate Variability (Weekly Average)
Similar to the HR recovery chart, Kohler watches resting HR and morning HRV to get a sense of readiness. If resting HR is too high or he sees HRV decline to the lower end of the normal range, that’s a great indicator of some needed rest. Over the long term, this becomes a great way to go back and look at how your training may have affected recovery or readiness.
Zone Distribution by Month
Kohler uses this to lump his training efforts into three buckets, following a three-zone model, while still using the five zones within intervals.icu. Comparing by month allows you to 1) know if you’re achieving the intended distribution, and 2) compare to previous seasons to understand if you’re creating a different distribution in order to create a different/stronger adaptation in certain areas.
kJ above FTP (Weekly Total)
Compare periods of high intensity and relate to sensations of fatigue, essentially trying to prevent overtraining. I love using this to assess past training blocks with athletes so we can talk about important things like too much high intensity in the off-season and then when going through our current base phase we can compare to previous seasons to look for change.
