Performance Progression & Pathway Analysis

9 min read·Applies to: Montis AppOpen in the Montis App

Performance Progression helps Montis track how you actually handle workouts, races, and group events over time.

It is designed to capture changes in your ability to execute a training stimulus even when headline fitness markers such as FTP, threshold pace, or VO₂max have not changed.

For example, progression may appear when you can:

Complete more repetitions or run a longer distance at the same target intensity.
Sustain the same pace or power for a longer duration.
Recover for less time between efforts (shorter rest interval).
Maintain power or pace with less fade across consecutive intervals.
Complete the same session with better control and lower cardiac drift (improved aerobic coupling).
Complete the same workload at a lower perceived effort (RPE).

Progression Evidence creates a chronological history of those changes so future workout planning can use what you have demonstrated in real training.

Who can use it

Performance Progression is in beta. It is part of the Montis App and does not run in ChatGPT or Claude.

Montis Supporters and Subscribers can save activities to pathways and open the Performance Progression view.
Free users see the sidebar entry with a ☕ BMC badge, and the save buttons in the Session Intensity Lab are greyed out.
The Performance Progression AI Coach analysis is currently for Subscribers only.

Multi-Discipline: Ride & Run

Montis supports distinct progression pathways for both Cycling (Ride) and Running (Run).

Cycling (Ride) Pathways

Primary Metrics: Power (Watts), Target FTP%, Heart Rate, Repetitions, and Work Duration.
Diagnostics: Realised average/normalized power, power consistency, power fade across repetitions, and aerobic decoupling (Pw:HR).

Running (Run) Pathways

Primary Metrics: Pace (min/km or min/mile), Distance (km or miles), Heart Rate, Repetitions, and Work Duration.
Diagnostics: Realised average pace, pace consistency, cardiovascular drift, time in target zones, and RPE.

Save an activity to a pathway

Montis never adds activities on its own. You choose which sessions count as evidence.

Before you start: check the intervals in Intervals.icu

Montis matches sessions by their intervals, so they need to be right first.

Open the activity in Intervals.icu.
Check that the work and recovery intervals match what you actually did. If they don't, edit the intervals in Intervals.icu and save.
Then open the activity in Montis.

Save it

Open a completed ride or run in the Session Intensity Lab (SIL).
Press one of the two save buttons. Both open the same window:
- Performance Progression in the activity header. On a phone only the trend icon shows.
- Save Performance Progression Entry on the Intervals tab, next to the ALL / WORK / RECOVERY filter.
Montis fills in the targets from the activity title, its intervals and the paired Intervals.icu workout: reps, work time, recovery and target intensity, pace or distance.
Choose the pathway model: Intervals (reps, duration, intensity) or Distance (distance, pace, elapsed time).
Pick + New Pathway to start one, or Existing to add to one you already have (Select Existing Pathway).
Check the figures and correct anything wrong. Choose the Progression Family and add notes if you want. Each pathway has a family (VO2, Threshold, Sweet Spot, Anaerobic, Endurance, Marathon…), which colours and groups it. Montis suggests one from the session title.
Press Save Performance Progression Entry.

If the activity is already in a pathway, the window tells you. Saving again updates it or adds evidence.

Best on a desktop. It works on a phone, but the save window has a lot of fields. Creating and naming pathways is easier on a larger screen.

Pathway Models: Interval vs Distance

When saving evidence, you classify the pathway by its primary progression model:

Interval Pathways

Best for: Structured workouts, repeat intervals, sweet spot efforts, and VO₂ max sessions.
Tracks: Planned repetitions, work duration, rest intervals, and target intensity.
Diagnostics: Power fade across repetitions, pacing consistency, and compliance to structure.

Distance / Benchmark Pathways

Best for: Time trials, marathon builds, parkruns, and steady endurance blocks.
Tracks: Planned distance (e.g., 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, 10 Mile TT) versus realised distance.
Diagnostics: Realised average pace, speed, cardiac drift over the distance, and elapsed time progression.
Presets: Montis provides standard benchmark presets for both Ride (10 Mile TT, 25km TT, 50km TT) and Run (5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Marathon, Ultra).

What Is a Progression Pathway?

A Progression Pathway groups comparable training exposures together over time. The pathway represents the training objective or stimulus rather than requiring every workout to be identical.

Examples include:

VO₂ — 4 Minute Pathway (Ride)

Repeated high-aerobic sessions based around approximately four-minute efforts.

4 × 4 min @ 120% FTP
→ 5 × 4 min @ 120% FTP
→ 5 × 4 min @ 120% FTP with shorter recovery

10km Tempo — Pace Pathway (Run)

Sustained running sessions focusing on threshold pacing over distance.

6km @ 4:15/km
→ 8km @ 4:15/km
→ 10km @ 4:10/km

Endurance — Long Duration Pathway (Continuous)

Continuous aerobic sessions where progression may primarily be duration or distance:

60 min Zone 2 (or 10km)
→ 90 min Zone 2 (or 15km)
→ 120 min Zone 2 (or 20km)

Prescribed vs. Realised (Including Unprescribed/Unstructured Sessions)

A central principle of Progression Evidence is the strict separation between what you were prescribed and what you realised.

1. Prescribed (What the workout asked you to do)

The prescribed side describes the original structured target. It includes planned repetitions, planned work duration, planned recovery, target intensity (FTP%, power, pace, or heart rate), or target distance.

2. Realised (What you actually did)

The realised side describes what occurred during execution. It includes completed reps, realized work/recovery duration, realized intensity (average power, pace), consistency score, power/pace fade, RPE, and heart rate decoupling (aerobic drift).

3. Unprescribed / Unstructured Sessions (The "No Prescription" Approach)

In real-world training, many valuable progression exposures come from unstructured group rides, races, or open-ended runs that have no prescribed targets.

Montis handles these unstructured exposures gracefully:

Clean Interface: The empty "Prescribed Demand" card is hidden entirely. The progression view dynamically transitions into a single-column Realised Execution History Matrix.
No Dummy Data: Trajectory charts hide arbitrary prescription lines, mapping progression strictly to your realised power, pace, or volume metrics.
Adaptive Coaching: The AI Coach shifts its language. Instead of evaluating "prescription compliance" or "adherence", it evaluates realised performance progression, baseline repeatability, cardiovascular stability, and pacing control.

Extended Workout Families

Progression Pathways are organised into broad, specialized training families (spanning Energy Systems, Run Disciplines, and Cycling Disciplines) to support nuanced coaching advice:

Energy Systems

VO2: High aerobic capacity interval sessions (typically 106-120% FTP or 3-5min high intensity efforts)
Threshold: Sustained lactate threshold and functional power intervals (91-105% FTP)
FTP: Sustained lactate threshold and functional power interval tests (100%+ FTP)
Sweet Spot: High-density sub-threshold training (84-97% FTP)
Anaerobic: High-intensity neuromuscular and anaerobic capacity efforts (>120% FTP)
Endurance: Aerobic base building and volume sessions (Zone 2, 55-75% FTP)
Race: Race simulation, competition events, and mixed intensity race paces

Run Disciplines

Run: General running sessions, tempo, and baseline run execution
Parkrun: 5km community timed runs and weekly fast 5k efforts
Marathon: Half marathon and full marathon distance progressions and pacing blocks
Ultra: Ultra-marathon distance (50k / 31 miles and above) and ultra endurance pacing

Cycling Disciplines

Ride: General cycling sessions, outdoor rides, and foundational bike pacing
Chaingang: High-speed group paceline and paceline rotation riding
Hill Climb: Sustained ascent and hill interval progressions
Time Trial: Aerodynamic sustained solo pacing and testing efforts
Criterium: High-cadence surge-and-recover circuit racing

Other

Other: Custom or unclassified physiological progression pathways

Pathway Trajectory & Charts

The interactive Pathway Adaptation Trajectory chart lets you visualize progression over time.

Primary Metric Toggle: You can switch the chart's focus dynamically between Target Work Volume, Target Intensity, Realised Power/Pace, Heart Rate, or Execution Compliance.
Unified Left-Y Axis: The trajectory trendline and bar columns are strictly aligned on the same left-Y axis to ensure visual consistency without vertical clipping or floating nodes.
Contextual Formats: Axis ticks automatically format with appropriate units (e.g., 345W for cycling power, 4:30/km for running pace, 12m for work duration, or 98% for compliance). Faster running pace trends upward dynamically using reversed-axis scaling.

Performance Progression AI Coach

The Performance Progression analysis combines deterministic pathway metrics with Gemini AI interpretation.

Core Analyses

Prescription vs. Execution: Compares what was planned with what was actually achieved when a prescription exists.
Subjective RPE: Evaluates how perceived effort changes across comparable or progressively harder exposures.
Power / Pace Consistency: Measures execution quality, pacing control, and fade where relevant.
Aerobic Decoupling (Pw:HR or Pa:HR): Uses cardiovascular drift as supporting evidence where suitable and available.
Volume, Duration, Distance & Intensity Changes: Measures progression across the dimensions relevant to the selected pathway.
Benchmark Performance: For races, distance pathways, group events, or unstructured activities, evaluates realised performance without inventing a missing prescription.

Progression Interpretation

Montis evaluates the sequence as a whole and may classify it as:

Progression Supported
Strong Progression Evidence
Maintain Current Demand
Repeat for Confirmation
Hold / Reassess
Regression Signal
Insufficient Evidence

The interpretation considers the amount and consistency of evidence. A positive change in a single activity does not automatically mean the next activity should be harder.

Where progression is supported, Gemini identifies the most relevant candidate progression dimension, such as:

repetitions;
work duration;
total work;
recovery density;
power or pace;
benchmark distance;
execution consistency;
fatigue resistance.

The final training decision can still be influenced by the athlete's current training context, recovery, phase, and other Montis coaching information.

Use your pathways in AI Builder v2

AI Builder v2 can use your pathways when it plans a block.

In AI Builder v2, open Priority 4: Progression Evidence.
Under Performance Progression Pathways (SIL), tick the pathways you want this block to build on. Use Select All or Clear All if you want them all or none.
Build the plan as usual.

Only the pathways you tick are sent to the AI, with their latest progression summary and suggested next step.
If the plan is set to your primary sport only, pathways from other sports are left out.
Progression never overrides recovery. If your current phase calls for recovery or a taper, the AI is told not to add overload because of good progression evidence.
If the list is empty, save some sessions from the SIL first.

Not available yet

Prescribed ranges. A range such as 110–115% FTP is saved as its midpoint (112.5%). Ranges are on the roadmap.

A Simple Way to Think About It

Your activity history tells Montis: "What did I do?"
Session Intensity Lab tells Montis: "How did I execute this activity?"
Performance Progression tells Montis: "Which activities or performance exposures belong together as a progression pathway, and how has my performance changed across them?"
Gemini AI Coach tells Montis: "What does that progression mean, and what progression dimension may be appropriate next?"