Polar data to Cyclingpeaks

vio765 said:

i use a powertap for its accuracy in terms of power. i use polar for its qualities in terms of heart rate data. is their a way to import polar data into a single day within cycling peaks? i can import polar data into cyclingpeaks, but it creates two days in cyclingpeaks. one day has the polar data and no power data. the other day has power data and no polar data. is there a way i can integrate the two into a single day?

Not easily, and here's why: synchronizing the data from two independent devices is a programming nightmare, esp. when you consider that some of them out there (e.g., the original PowerTap) don't even time-stamp the records. Add in the fact that you often have different time bases to deal with (e.g., 0.1 s or some multiple thereof for SRM vs. 1.26 s or some multiple thereof for PowerTap) and, well, you get the idea. That said, however, it can be done:

1) after downloading your PowerTap into CyclingPeaks, export the .wko file as a SRM .txt file.
2) open the .txt file in Excel and reformat into the SRM's tab-delimited format
3) open your Polar file using Excel or some other program (after importing and exporting via CyclingPeaks if necessary)
4) grab the heart rate data and paste into the .txt file above, overwriting the PowerTaps data
5) reimport the .txt file into CyclingPeaks, and save the .wko file that is created over the original

Whew! :eek:

Of course, this approach only solves the different time base problem, and not the time synchronization issue...so make sure that your PowerTap and Polar clocks agree down to the second, then hope that they don't become desynchronized during your ride (e.g., due the PowerTap shutting off at a traffic light).

vio765 said:

i use a powertap for its accuracy in terms of power. i use polar for its qualities in terms of heart rate data. is their a way to import polar data into a single day within cycling peaks? i can import polar data into cyclingpeaks, but it creates two days in cyclingpeaks. one day has the polar data and no power data. the other day has power data and no polar data. is there a way i can integrate the two into a single day?

I don't know of a way to, in effect, substitute the Polar HR data for the PT data in a CP PT workout file, but you could do it outside of CP. Basically, you want to create two CSV files, one for each workout file. Better examine the Polar file because CSV is not its native format and I don't know how it behaves when you export it in another format. Then, assuming you have a common starting point, you do a replacement of the PT CSV HR column with the data from the Polar file. Note that the PT timeline is at 1.26 second intervals and the Polar is 5 seconds. So, you need an algorithm for the replacement since you can't do a 1:1 replacement. This should be pretty easy to do in Excel. But, I've never felt the PT HR data are inaccurate.

sounds likes its better to print the HR curve in Polar software, then compare the printout to what cyclingpeaks is showing at the same time. fortunetly, i realy more on the power data than the HR data.

vio765 said:

sounds likes its better to print the HR curve in Polar software, then compare the printout to what cyclingpeaks is showing at the same time. fortunetly, i realy more on the power data than the HR data.

Why do you distrust the HR data in PT?

vio765 said:

i use a powertap for its accuracy in terms of power. i use polar for its qualities in terms of heart rate data. is their a way to import polar data into a single day within cycling peaks? i can import polar data into cyclingpeaks, but it creates two days in cyclingpeaks. one day has the polar data and no power data. the other day has power data and no polar data. is there a way i can integrate the two into a single day?

HR data from the PT is OK enough for me (and I often forget to put the strap on anyway) but acknowledge others find it less reliable.

What I think would be really useful from combining Polar and PT/SRM data is the Polar's altitude data. (Ergomo has this already IIRC and of course Polar too if you use it to measure power).

Noted the process to mash it together has its challenges but is doable as Andy has demonstrated. If it's only for key rides/races then the work to get the result would be worth it.

Perhaps if you are really keen to do it and know in advance then you could, where the opportunity arose during the race/ride, hit the interval marker on both devices in rapid succession, thereby placing markers that you can check are aligned later on in the data sets when doing the mashing.

Recommend keeping original files just in case.

I'm almost annoyed now I sold the Polar after getting the PT 'cause I can't have a go at it! Now someone will send me some files to try it out....:p