Basecamp
Basecamp is the training app. It reads your Strava activities, classifies them against a 4-zone heart-rate model, and reports training load, race readiness, and long-term progress. This page covers what it produces and what it needs from you to produce it.
Two things shape how it behaves. It reads your whole activity history rather than a recent window, so trends are measured across everything you have logged. And it works from whatever data you have given it, getting more precise as you add more — estimated zones become measured ones when you add a lactate threshold test, and a test added part-way through a plan recalibrates every session still ahead of you.
What Basecamp produces
- Activity analysis — every synced activity with distance, duration, elevation, heart rate, splits, and Training Effect scores
- Heart rate zones — the Johnston 4-zone model, applied to every activity carrying heart-rate data
- Training load — weekly bTSS, fitness and fatigue trends, and intensity distribution
- Running Tolerance — the weekly impact load your recent training has adapted you to carry
- Training plans — periodized week-by-week plans built around one event and adapted to the weeks you complete
- Race goals and projections — target times, projected times, best efforts, and personal records
- Route heatmaps — every GPS activity on one map
What Basecamp needs
Three steps are enough to start:
- Connect your Strava account under Basecamp Settings.
- Enter your five-zone watch boundaries under Basecamp Settings → HR Zones.
- Open the Basecamp dashboard. Your activities sync on the way in.
From there you can generate a training plan and read your zone distribution. Two optional additions make the analysis more precise:
- A lactate threshold test (Basecamp Settings → Lactate Threshold) replaces estimated zone boundaries with your measured LT1 and LT2. It adds pace targets per zone, race time projections, the aerobic deficiency check, and lactate profile interpretation.
- Body composition (Basecamp Settings → Body Composition) calibrates the training volume ceilings a generated plan will use.
Nothing is blocked without them. Basecamp falls back to the best data it has and labels what it estimated.
What each input changes
| Input | What it sharpens |
|---|---|
| Strava connection | Everything. Without it Basecamp has no activities to read |
| Five-zone watch boundaries | Approximate Johnston zones, enough for zone analysis and plan generation |
| Lactate threshold test | Measured zone boundaries, pace targets per zone, race projections, the aerobic deficiency check, and lactate profile interpretation |
| Body composition | The training volume ceilings a generated plan will work within |
A lactate threshold test added while a plan is active triggers a recalibration of every future session in it. See Training Plan — Weekly Refresh.
In this section
- Strava Sync — how activities are imported and categorized
- Basecamp Settings — connections, zones, tests, planning defaults, and data controls
- Heart Rate Zones — the Johnston 4-zone model and device-zone mapping
- Dashboard & Performance — Training Load, Fitness Trend, Running Tolerance, and the other widgets
- Activities & Maps — activity details, splits, zone analysis, and route heatmaps
- Training Effect — classification, scoring, and aerobic deficiency
- Training Plan — event setup, preferences, plan overview, and how the phases are laid out
- Readiness Check — the verdict, race-day scenarios, and event-specific checks
- Week Detail — week columns, drag scheduling, and session and week types
- Pace Plan — road splits, trail sections, and cutoff assessment
- Race Goals — goals, projections, best times, and personal records
- Running Tolerance — impact load model, adapted capacity, and load ratio