Your session score, explained

What it measures

The session score answers one question: how closely did you do the session that was planned? It runs from 1 to 10 and appears on the activity page, in the post-workout email and in the apps, next to a short verdict such as On plan, Harder than planned or Key work partly done.

It compares your time in each zone with the time the plan asked for, in the metric the session was written in. A power-based ride is scored on power, a pace-based run on pace, and a heart rate session on heart rate. The activity page says which one was used.

The score says nothing about how fit you are or how good the day felt. A strong ride can score 6 when it was meant to be easy, and that is the score working as intended: it tells you the session drifted from the plan.

The parts behind it

Under the number you see each part with its own colour, so you can see what moved the score.

Key work (sessions with intervals only): the minutes you spent in the target zone or above, against the minutes asked. Time one zone below the target counts for half, so a rep that just missed threshold still earns some credit. This part weighs the most.

Intensity: time spent harder than the plan allowed. On an easy day, short efforts above Z2 on a climb or at a traffic light cost little when the session as a whole stayed easy. A recovery session that settles in Z2 costs a little too.

Duration: how long you went, against the planned duration.

A steady session without intervals is scored on intensity and duration alone.

Limits on the score

A few things cap the score however well the rest went:

• Missing most of the key work keeps the score at 5 or lower.

• Going much harder than planned keeps it at 6 or lower.

• Going much longer than planned, about one and a half times or more, keeps it at 6 or lower.

The lowest score is 3. Any completed session gives your body something, so a planned session never scores 1 or 2.

When there is no score

• Unplanned sessions. With nothing planned there is nothing to compare against. You still get the full analysis, without a number.

• Races and fitness tests. These are judged on their own terms. A ramp test is meant to take you to failure, and scoring that against a plan would make no sense.

• Sports other than cycling and running. Walks, strength sessions and swims get an analysis, without a score.

If you did a session a day later than planned, it is matched with yesterday's plan and scored against it.

Colours

8 to 10 is green, 5 to 7 amber, 3 and 4 red. The verdict next to the number tells you which part to look at first.

Asking about a score

Tap Why … of 10? under the score to ask Coach+ about it. It sees the same parts you do and can explain what happened in the session.