Power and duration for the next interval

Hi,
Would it be possible to have information near to the current target power about the next interval to come ? Just to be mentally prepared :sweat_smile:
It would be nice to know what’s coming after the current interval (X watts / Y min.).

Yeah I think other people asked for that. Not sure if there is post already with that. I have not figured out how to add it to the UI without making things more ugly or more complex but I will think on it again.

My advice would be to keep things simple and user friendly. Just take a look at how MaximumTrainer did this…
A scrolling text over or close to the power curve displaying the interval comment. An interval comment that is more flexible then it is now, allowing for a negative time offset and a display duration time. Imagine how nice it would be to have a message cheering you on to get through that hard interval :crazy_face:
I told you before that I was a fan of a Maximum trainer :joy:. Since you have the source code of it, I suggest you really try it out because that still remains the best experience I ever had on my trainer. I like TrainerDay but it can’t beat MaximumTrainer from a user POV.

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I used maximum trainer but never fell in love with it. But you are more serious than me and I am sure used it a lot more. After writing above I was thinking the same thing about using the interval comments to tell about up coming changes. Good idea. We probably need to polish ours a little more. One thing about MT is it was a desktop app so they had a lot more room although I know it was mostly filled with room for a video. Yeah the source code is out there but it is using technologies we don’t use so it would take us forever to try to get it working. A guy that was trying to resurect it also gave up. He is the same guy trying to help us with Ant+.

I did discuss with Kevin Poluton the guy that wrote most of the original Zwift workouts (ex-world tour coach) if he knew any good interval comment writers… He and I are kind of “friends” but I know he is too busy himself. I would like to add these to Coach Jack, I think it would be a really nice feature. I have a few other people too. I would love to find that perfect writer/coach.

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I started a SFR plan and I see that you added the cadence min-max range near to the current cadence; I was thinking about a potential similar info on the power field. KISS :wink:

I assume you are talking about this showing next interval? I probably needs to be in the format of “10’ @ 140w” which is too big to fit like that. Or are you refering to something else? If it just showed the watts then I agree it’s a reasonable approach.

Yes, for the cadence you have, for ex., 35 on the left and 45 on the right of the field.
Could be the same for the power field: 140 on the left and 10’ (or 10’’).

Ooh, don’t misunderstand me. I don’t want you to create a MT clone. It’s just that it had a couple of very nice features and the way interval comments were treated was one of those features I really loved!
As a start, you could simply use the Text description from the workout to populate interval comments. It doesn’t have to be a coach’s advice.
But comments should be easier to use. A comment for a hard interval needs to be displayed 10-15 sec BEFORE the interval starts. Right now, an interval comment is displayed while the interval has already started. And if you put the comment at the end of the former interval, you have to be very carefull when copying and changing the workout to make sure the comments remain at the correct timeline.
I would also like them to display a little longer and more intrusive. Right now they are rather discrete and may go unnoticed.
In MT you could define a comment to appear at almost all moments, referenced by the start of the interval:
Example: -00:10;00:05 would display that comment from 10 sec before the start of that interval untill 5 sec in.
If you put all the timing parameters and comments in a separate “box”, it’s like playing subtitles on a movie.

Oh yes, I definitly have this negative offset on our backlog. I just moved it so it is 3rd on the list currently :slight_smile:

Yes I like this idea of automated interval comments but maybe it needs its own setting. I would say it should only show when the intervals are > 80% or something and increase by more than 10% of current interval… Not sure.

I don’t see our interval comments much but I was just saying integrating into the UI better and improving the experience of a snoose feature or something might help.

Yes this is the feedback I need. Because I am not training right now and don’t test this very much this is what I need to do. It was just a quick V1 version but needs much better experience. I will add this to the list. I will add a mockup here.

Yeah I tried that it looks a little strange. It fits but I think Claude’s idea of using our interval comments makes more sense to me. But we need to improve our comments. But please keep giving your ideas. I really appreciate this and I would love it if I felt better about your idea. As I generally like something more integrated like that.

Even on steady-state endurance workouts, the comments can be of good use. On these rather boring sessions, a comment that reminds you of paying attention to your “form” is valuable. Pay attention to your pedal stroke, relax your shoulders, don’t pinch the handlebars, relax your toes…
It’s easy to have your mind wander off and loose good form on your trainer. And then you loose some efficiency in that session.

Oh no for sure I want to do that too but that is something different than just next interval is X watts for Y minutes. I am trying to find good coach with similar philosophy to training as Coach Jack and that is a good/motivational writer to help with these interval comments but that will only be a feature of Coach Jack based workouts.

I have about 600 zwift created workouts with all the comments that I can review and see what their style is but really I want it based on coach jack’s belief system of what is important. So this is not an easy task to accomplish unless I try to write it myself but that is pretty time consuming I think.

2 posts were split to a new topic: I like auto-pause (but we are going to change it)

I’m wrong or not, but Maximum Trainer hadn’t closed?

Yes it is closed but the code is still available for someone that wanted to try to get it working again.

Maybe you can add a timer and power number beneath the existing interval timer and power number in the UI, so one can take a look at it but it doesn’t take too much space on the screen

I would also like to see a figure of what power is required for the next interval. Why not put a small number with a little arrow below the current power output with the upcoming figure.
Maybe do the same with the timer?

The problem is on small phones there is no room for anything more. Even on large ones these small numbers are very hard to read for most people. I am seeing even in email and reviews people keep asking for this so I know it is a hot request. Another option is to do what Xert does and build a web page that shows you more information that is synced in real-time to the app. I know this is probably not ideal.

Not ideal, but along with the beep sound, you could have a config option that does TTS for the power and/or duration

This is obviously going to be atrocious on some workouts, decent on others, but overall pretty obtrusive. Some people might like it though. It completely bypasses the problem of putting it on the screen for now, even though I strongly vote in favor of putting it on the screen somewhere.

Finally you could put it on the screen and have a very minimal UI configuration section that lets you turn elements on and off. Default you can still target a decent layout for all, but this could give you some leeway with tablet vs big phone vs small phone because at least you have an option for people in the meantime.

Just some ideas, mostly mediocre engineery ideas but :man_shrugging: