Tracking

Tracking has been extremely important to my progress.  My weight loss journey started with me tracking my steps on my Apple watch.  

My training relies on Strava. It's a great platform that integrates lots of phones, watches, and other apps (for, e.g., MyFitnessPal).  There's a free version, so no excuse for you to not use it.

The information from Strava is fed into two apps that give insights on my recent performance.  You can also see a lot of information about my training at this website.

Training Peaks 

This app analyzes information to give you feedback on your workouts.  Mentioned many times in The Triathlete's Training Bible (below).  Click here to see my results. 

Here is an overview of each metric:

• Fitness (CTL) is a rolling 42 day average of your daily TSS.
• Fatigue (ATL) is a 7 day average of your TSS that accounts for the workouts you have done recently.
• Form (TSB) is the balance of TSS equal to yesterday's fitness minus yesterday's fatigue.
• TrainingPeaks determines these values by assigning a Training Stress Score (TSS) to every workout based on duration and intensity.  Long discussion of these stats here.

RiderLevel 

This app claims to give you your 'rider level' (which is a standardized numerical score) based on your Strava info.  Click here to see my results.

According to the FAQ, here's rough guide to the male ratings:

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Novice 2	20.3	& above
Novice 1	29.8	& above
Untrained	39.3	& above
Cat 5	48.8	& above
Cat 4	58.2	& above
Cat 3	67.7	& above
Cat 2	77.0	& above
Cat 1 or Better	86.6	& above

From the FAQ: 

The baseline RiderLevel is 100.  This represents the RiderLevel of an elite amateur athlete (male or female).  The baseline of 100 has been calculated using a theoretical “Category I” level amateur riding on a Road Bike in a solo cycling effort (no drafting!). Therefore, a RiderLevel of 100 is extremely good.  

A regular amateur racer in higher grades should expect a RiderLevel of between 70 and 90. A weekend warrior may expect a RiderLevel of anything between 30 and 70, depending on their level of fitness, the quality of their equipment, the terrain they ride on, and their riding style (if they ride and chat with friends, it’s likely their RiderLevel will be at the lower end. If they ride ‘hard’ regularly and are in good shape, their RiderLevel will more likely be higher).

See more about the resources I use here.