Docs · glossary

Glossary.

The sport terms you'll meet in Kimbia, defined simply - no unnecessary jargon.

VDOT: A running fitness index computed from your race times (Jack Daniels' method). The higher, the faster. Kimbia uses it to derive all your training paces. It's the scientific cousin of MAS.
MAS (VMA): Maximal Aerobic Speed - the speed at which your oxygen uptake plateaus. It's the everyday term in French running clubs. Kimbia shows the VDOT ↔ MAS equivalence so everyone finds their bearings.
Split (segment): A portion of an activity - a kilometre, a track lap, an interval rep. Kimbia keeps every split exactly as your watch recorded it.
Power (watts): Effort measured in watts by a power meter (crank, pedals, or watch/pod for running). Unlike speed or HR it reacts instantly and doesn't depend on wind, gradient, or cardiac fatigue: it is the most objective measure of intensity. Kimbia draws the power curve whenever the activity carries one (estimates without a sensor are ignored).
FTP: Functional Threshold Power - the highest average power you can hold for about an hour. It's the reference that turns raw watts into personal training zones (like max HR for heart-rate zones). Estimate it with a 20-min test (≈ 95% of the average) or a ramp test.
W/kg (watts per kilo): Power relative to your body weight: your watts divided by your kilos. It's what matters on climbs and for comparing athletes of different sizes (400 W weighs more on 60 kg than on 90 kg). Kimbia computes it as soon as you enter a weight and an FTP.
Smoothing (τ): The chart's “Smooth” slider removes GPS and sensor noise so the trend stands out. τ is the filter's half-window: each point is combined with its τ neighbours on each side (median then a light mean, to keep transitions sharp). The equivalent in seconds shows next to the slider - it depends on the activity's duration. τ=0 shows the raw data.
Drift (HR): The rise in your heart rate at constant effort over the activity: the average HR of the last 20 % compared with the first 20 %. It climbs with heat, dehydration and fatigue. Below 5 % your aerobic execution is steady; above 10 % the session was very hard, very hot, or mislabelled. In the per-lap breakdown, the “Drift” column applies the same idea to each lap.
Fade (pace): The slowdown within a lap: your finishing pace compared with your starting pace, as a percentage (positive = you slowed down). It shows whether you held on or blew up on a rep, where the lap average hides the damage. A well-executed session aims for a fade near 0 %: steady pace from start to finish.
Lap role: The label Kimbia assigns to each lap from its intensity and place in the session: warm-up, ramp-up, work, recovery, cool-down. It lets Kimbia isolate the work block (warm-up and cool-down excluded) for fairer analysis. You can correct it by hand.