Training Peaks WKO+ 3.0 Review Part 4 - Final

This post is the final post of a series and continues from Part Three, Part Two and Part One.

The next new feature I am examining is Quadrant Analysis. By extracting pedal force and pedal speed data from the power meter file, a graphical representation is now available which displays data points in four quadrants. Quadrant 1 represents high pedal force with high pedal speed. Quadrant 2 represents high pedal force with low pedal speed. Quadrant 3 represents low pedal force with low pedal speed. Quadrant 4 represents low pedal force with high pedal speed.

You are able to fine tune the view to include the entire workout or only peaks with ranges from 5 seconds to 60 minutes.

What does this all mean? The advantage of using Quadrant Analysis is that you are immediately able to see whether a workout is developing the target pedal force and pedal speed. For example, if you were working on the ability to sprint, you would want to see several data points in Quadrant 1. Conversely, if you are a triathlete doing a long steady ride, you would not want to see data points in Quadrant 1, but rather Quadrant 3 (and some Q4, but not at a cadence more than 10 rpm above or below self-selected average cadence. -edit Feb. 3/2010), with some Quadrant 2 on uphills.

For an athlete or a coach, this gives an objective view of whether the workout hit the targets. It also keeps the athlete honest. Imagine that you head out on your recovery ride and later analyze your data to find that you spent two percent of your time in Quadrant 1. Clearly, you need to hold back on your sprinting during that ride. There are many different permutations based on the workout goal. You will find a good technical overview of Quadrant Analysis here.

Related to Quadrant Analysis is the Scatter Graph. What this allows you to do is look at other "channels" (speed, heart rate and cadence) in the same manner as power. For a given power output you would be able to see a correlation in the other channels. Bear in mind that there is a lag in heart rate response to changes in pedal force and pedal cadence. An introduction to Scatter Graphs is found here.

The final new feature I looked at is Multi-file/Range Analysis. In a nutshell, this allows you to take several workouts and overlay them for comparison. This feature is great for tracking progress between similar target workouts. You can also take several segments of one workout (such as hill repeats) and compare them. More info on how to do this here and here.

The additional ability to analyze workouts is great to see in WKO+ 3.0. I have really only scratched the surface of how you can use these new features. For me as a coach, being able to "see" what an athlete did during a workout in addition to what they tell me about that workout is very beneficial.

Nice work from the folks at TrainingPeaks. WKO+ 3.0 is worth the price of admission.