The official TrainerRoad thread

matt-h

This is very reason i got rid of my Elite and bought a Kurt Kinetic RoadMachine.
Much better road feel and excellent for Virtual power on Trainer Road

Matt

johnnybike

135 FTP was obviously ridiculously low if you can sustain 21mph for 2 hours. However 354 is a massive jump. I think you need to decide what setting you will use and see if ~354 is repeatable.
Then maybe try a sufferfest or something like that which shoudl take you to your limit. If you manage that OK then 354 is probably correct

Dodger747

Doesn't really matter what the number is - it's virtual power - so if you keep usng the same power curve setting it will be relative to that.

robklancs

johnnybike wrote:

135 FTP was obviously ridiculously low if you can sustain 21mph for 2 hours. However 354 is a massive jump. I think you need to decide what setting you will use and see if ~354 is repeatable.
Then maybe try a sufferfest or something like that which shoudl take you to your limit. If you manage that OK then 354 is probably correct

I think that 354 is too high for me, I'm no where near that good. From reading on here and a bit of research I'm guessing maybe low to mid 200's. Like you as I need to decide which setting to use, though I would like it to be at least mildly accurate as both settings I have tried seem to be out.

Can anyone "manage" a sufferfest with TrainerRoad? Ha, sounds like hell!

johnnybike

By common agreement, well my mates and I, if you can compete a sufferfest keeping on top of all the VP targets you need to do a new FTP test as SF does take you close to your limit if done all out

PhilC36

johnnybike wrote:

By common agreement, well my mates and I, if you can compete a sufferfest keeping on top of all the VP targets you need to do a new FTP test as SF does take you close to your limit if done all out

I'd agree with that. I've just managed to complete Angels at 100% for the first time ever. Other workouts have started to feel quite a bit easier than a few weeks ago, so it must be time for an ftp test again.

markp80

Guys, I'm after a bit of help regarding my Ant+ conncetions.

I'm having trouble with my devices losing the connection, both speed/cadence via my GSC10 and heartrate. This all seems to be intermittent and I'm struggling to find the cause. This is really frustrating when I get the "Workout Paused" message in the middle of a tough interval!

When I look on the devices tab on the software, it invariably says Signal - Bad. I've changed batteries and this hasn't made any diiference. I've also tried a second Ant+ stick (both Garmin) and this hasn't helped either. and nor has using different USB ports on my laptop.

I've turned off wifi on the laptop and that makes no difference.

I can't see any other devices I have that would interfere.

Does anyone have any other ideas, or has anyone experienced similar? This is really getting frustrating.

Cheers,
MarkP

jgsi

MarkP80 wrote:

Guys, I'm after a bit of help regarding my Ant+ conncetions.

I'm having trouble with my devices losing the connection, both speed/cadence via my GSC10 and heartrate. This all seems to be intermittent and I'm struggling to find the cause. This is really frustrating when I get the "Workout Paused" message in the middle of a tough interval!

When I look on the devices tab on the software, it invariably says Signal - Bad. I've changed batteries and this hasn't made any diiference. I've also tried a second Ant+ stick (both Garmin) and this hasn't helped either. and nor has using different USB ports on my laptop.

I've turned off wifi on the laptop and that makes no difference.

I can't see any other devices I have that would interfere.

Does anyone have any other ideas, or has anyone experienced similar? This is really getting frustrating.

Cheers,
MarkP

Just seen this... log a call with TR anyways
You dont have eg Garmin app running silently in the background ??
That might grab the ANT+ usb stick when you dont want it to.
If you are using the GSC10, then it actually might that giving up the ghost.
Long while back when used speed and cadence I had to swap to a Bontrager unit that just worked 100%.
Possible if you take the battery out of the gsc10 for 24 hours and then replace and reconnect , it might help.

defender90

Who's planning on doing 8DC?

fukawitribe

defender90 wrote:

Who's planning on doing 8DC?

Be rude not to.. i'm as prepared as i'm normally not.

johnnybike

defender90 wrote:

Who's planning on doing 8DC?

I'm in - not that many others though -~270 at the moment

norvernrob

NorvernRob wrote:

MarkP80 wrote:

NorvernRob wrote:

I'm going to start the 8 week low volume 'sustained power build' course next week. I've been on the turbo and getting out over the winter so should have a reasonable base to start. With the hilly rides I do it seems the ideal plan for me building up through the spring.

I'd be interested to know what you think of this. I completed the old Intermediate Base 1 recently and moved on to this same plan (Sustained Power Build - Low vol).
I've found the workouts quite a step up from the Base workouts. There's lots of over-unders and VO2 max work, and the workouts generally seem to have an IF in the 0.85-0.95 region, so I find it hard work (Avalanche Spire, Fang Mountain etc). But then I'm building towards the evening time trial league, so I suppose it should be!

Cheers,
MarkP

I only started it this week, I had a rest last week as I wasn't feeling right.

I did Matanuska yesterday, a 2hr workout which I found quite mentally tough even though I was watching a film on Netflix (there's no way I could do that time without something to look at). I was pretty tired by the end too, and whilst I didn't find the intervals that hard the relentlessness took its toll.

It's Avalanche Spire tomorrow, I don't want to do the 2hr sessions on Fridays and not be recovered for a Sunday ride.

Well I still haven't quite finished this yet, work on the house has gotten in the way! However it's certainly made a difference to my riding, my riding buddy can't stay with me on the flat when I'm pushing and I recently smashed a KOM that had stood for 3 years, a 3 1/2 minute drag uphill that would have had my lungs falling out before but I surprised myself how I managed to keep going.

Definitely the best money I've spent on cycling, thousands of £ on kit that makes no difference and £21 so far on TR that definitely has!

I've found the workouts really hard but doable, just once I had to turn it to 95% intensity for the second half of a workout as I just couldn't sustain the long intervals above FTP. Maybe just an off day as I've managed all the others including the 2hr+ ones ok.

cerv50

defender90 wrote:

Who's planning on doing 8DC?

Not this year, just finished a build program and have started a pretty intense specialty one to be ready for an event in June. I fear doing 8DC will mess it up and possibly put me in an over trained position.

markp80

JGSI wrote:

MarkP80 wrote:

Guys, I'm after a bit of help regarding my Ant+ conncetions.

Does anyone have any other ideas, or has anyone experienced similar? This is really getting frustrating.

Cheers,
MarkP

Just seen this... log a call with TR anyways
You dont have eg Garmin app running silently in the background ??
That might grab the ANT+ usb stick when you dont want it to.
If you are using the GSC10, then it actually might that giving up the ghost.
Long while back when used speed and cadence I had to swap to a Bontrager unit that just worked 100%.
Possible if you take the battery out of the gsc10 for 24 hours and then replace and reconnect , it might help.

Thanks for the suggestions JGSI, I'll give those a try. I haven't been on the trainer for a couple of weeks, I've actually been outside. It feels weird!

Cheers,
markP

markp80

NorvernRob wrote:

NorvernRob wrote:

MarkP80 wrote:

NorvernRob wrote:

I'm going to start the 8 week low volume 'sustained power build' course next week..

I'd be interested to know what you think of this. I completed the old Intermediate Base 1 recently and moved on to this same plan (Sustained Power Build - Low vol).
Cheers,
MarkP

I only started it this week, I had a rest last week as I wasn't feeling right.
.

Well I still haven't quite finished this yet, work on the house has gotten in the way! However it's certainly made a difference to my riding, my riding buddy can't stay with me on the flat when I'm pushing and I recently smashed a KOM that had stood for 3 years, a 3 1/2 minute drag uphill that would have had my lungs falling out before but I surprised myself how I managed to keep going.

Definitely the best money I've spent on cycling, thousands of £ on kit that makes no difference and £21 so far on TR that definitely has!

I've found the workouts really hard but doable, just once I had to turn it to 95% intensity for the second half of a workout as I just couldn't sustain the long intervals above FTP. Maybe just an off day as I've managed all the others including the 2hr+ ones ok.

"Really hard but do-able" - yes, that's what I was finding, which I suppose is just what they're supposed to be. Good to hear you've personally seen some benefit. It's definitely worked for me over this last couple of years.
As you say, when you compare the cost to what you can spend on kit, then it definitely works out as great VFM. You've still got to put the work in of course - that's the hard bit!
Cheers,
markP

matt-h

MarkP80 wrote:

NorvernRob wrote:

NorvernRob wrote:

MarkP80 wrote:

NorvernRob wrote:

I'm going to start the 8 week low volume 'sustained power build' course next week..

I'd be interested to know what you think of this. I completed the old Intermediate Base 1 recently and moved on to this same plan (Sustained Power Build - Low vol).
Cheers,
MarkP

I only started it this week, I had a rest last week as I wasn't feeling right.
.

Well I still haven't quite finished this yet, work on the house has gotten in the way! However it's certainly made a difference to my riding, my riding buddy can't stay with me on the flat when I'm pushing and I recently smashed a KOM that had stood for 3 years, a 3 1/2 minute drag uphill that would have had my lungs falling out before but I surprised myself how I managed to keep going.

Definitely the best money I've spent on cycling, thousands of £ on kit that makes no difference and £21 so far on TR that definitely has!

I've found the workouts really hard but doable, just once I had to turn it to 95% intensity for the second half of a workout as I just couldn't sustain the long intervals above FTP. Maybe just an off day as I've managed all the others including the 2hr+ ones ok.

"Really hard but do-able" - yes, that's what I was finding, which I suppose is just what they're supposed to be. Good to hear you've personally seen some benefit. It's definitely worked for me over this last couple of years.
As you say, when you compare the cost to what you can spend on kit, then it definitely works out as great VFM. You've still got to put the work in of course - that's the hard bit!
Cheers,
markP

Sustained build is hands the best improvement i have ever seen on a bike.
Mine stretched to nearly 10 weeks but i was doing the Tuesday Night Chaingang with the club.

I'm not currently following a plan as i'm now racing - i would never have been able to go racing without the time spent on TR

Matt

cougie

Just logged onto see when it opened. But I think in the time it's taken me to get here - it has.

fukawitribe

cougie wrote:

Just logged onto see when it opened. But I think in the time it's taken me to get here - it has.

Yep - started 11am UK time. Just got mine out of the way rather than wait until tomorrow..

markp80

MarkP80 wrote:

JGSI wrote:

MarkP80 wrote:

Guys, I'm after a bit of help regarding my Ant+ conncetions.

Does anyone have any other ideas, or has anyone experienced similar? This is really getting frustrating.

Cheers,
MarkP

You dont have eg Garmin app running silently in the background ??
That might grab the ANT+ usb stick when you dont want it to.

Thanks for the suggestions JGSI, I'll give those a try.
Cheers,
markP

I had a look and I did find Garmin Ant+ Agent installed on my pc. I don't actually know if it was running in the background, but uninstalled it, then started a workout and guess what? - not a single dropout, none whatsoever.
I did install Garmin Connect quite recently on this machine, to download from my Edge, I wonder if it installed Ant+ Agent during that process? Anyway, fingers crossed, but it seems as if that may well have cured the problem, so thanks for the suggestion JGSI !

Cheers,
MarkP

ajw1955

Managed to sort out account at last.
Thoughts on trainerroad so far. Completed 50 + rides, finished 8DC, last two days were tough, back on sustained powe build and looking forward to trying a few more.
Equipment, old Marin hybrid with cycleops fluid 2, garmin sensors, my road bikes are Giant TCR on a 105 set up and a Defy 0 with 11 speed ultegra.
Trainerroad has been everthing I could haved asked for, good set up with lots of plans and rides, and intergrating with Netflix has made the 2 hour + rides bearable.
Congrats to trainerroad team for producing a good training set up. If the virtual power is not perfect, who cares, its a guide to gauge improvement. Thats what is important, it works for me. Well done to the team.

jgsi

ajw1955 wrote:

Congrats to trainerroad team for producing a good training set up. If the virtual power is not perfect, who cares, its a guide to gauge improvement. Thats what is important, it works for me. Well done to the team.

I used the virtual power for a fairly long time before going over to the Garmin system. For me, the virtual power was close enough and stable enough to use as a training metric. The only reason I went over to using an actual power meter was its use on road rides/races.
I am still keeping my subscription going as I know I can rely on Trainer Road to work time and time again.
The incorporated training plans have massively improved in choice and the Sufferfests really become a proper challenge.

LeighM

I'm currently doing the Sustained Power Build workouts, but I'm finding it very difficult to operate at FTP and above for the full sessions.

My most recent 20min test put my FTP at 226, but I'm bailing early when riding Jobs, Stevens and similar workouts +FTP workouts.

Its probably due to fitness and fatigue, but I did also wonder whether it was partly due to my trainer setup, although my Cyclops Fluid 2 has a clutch nob, which I'd assumed meant that for a given tire pressure, the resistance would be fairly constant.

Anyone else had a similar experience? Did you just grow a pair, dial down the intensity or even drop back to one of the base plans?

jgsi

Just had a quick look at the plan for sustained power.
I'd suggest that you may indeed be fatigued as the workouts should be doable, the general IFs are demanding but not overly. Those longer workouts over the hour mark can be hard going if you are not fully on it.
Maybe drop to the low volume if you still want to persist.

LeighM

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19621330#p19621330]JGSI[/url] wrote:

Just had a quick look at the plan for sustained power.
I'd suggest that you may indeed be fatigued as the workouts should be doable, the general IFs are demanding but not overly. Those longer workouts over the hour mark can be hard going if you are not fully on it.
Maybe drop to the low volume if you still want to persist.

Thanks for the input. I've been replacing the longer rides with outdoor, steady efforts, its mainly the 60min ones I've struggled with. Fatigue is almost certainly a factor, I'm a Triathlete and will be running and swimming as well as doing the plan workouts. Maybe there's an assumption within the plan that there's no other activity and I need to adjust accordingly.

TrevorDeRuise

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19621204#p19621204]LeighM[/url] wrote:

I'm currently doing the Sustained Power Build workouts, but I'm finding it very difficult to operate at FTP and above for the full sessions.

My most recent 20min test put my FTP at 226, but I'm bailing early when riding Jobs, Stevens and similar workouts +FTP workouts.

Its probably due to fitness and fatigue, but I did also wonder whether it was partly due to my trainer setup, although my Cyclops Fluid 2 has a clutch doorknob, which I'd assumed meant that for a given tire pressure, the resistance would be fairly constant.

Anyone else had a similar experience? Did you just grow a pair, dial down the intensity or even drop back to one of the base plans?

Did you do a plan before Sustained Power Build? If so, which one and how soon before? If it's fatigue that's holding you back right now, you want to recover and get yourself out of that hole before continuing. Taking a rest week should bring your freshness back up so that you're able to continue at 100% intensity. This would be a more ideal route to take than dialing back intensity and continuing through the plan. Riding at a lower intensity can also change the zones that you're training in during these workouts, thus preventing you from attaining the full benefits of this block of training. Further, you run the risk of digging yourself an even deeper hole that is even more challenging to recover from.

-Trevor from TrainerRoad

norvernrob

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19621204#p19621204]LeighM[/url] wrote:

I'm currently doing the Sustained Power Build workouts, but I'm finding it very difficult to operate at FTP and above for the full sessions.

My most recent 20min test put my FTP at 226, but I'm bailing early when riding Jobs, Stevens and similar workouts +FTP workouts.

Its probably due to fitness and fatigue, but I did also wonder whether it was partly due to my trainer setup, although my Cyclops Fluid 2 has a clutch doorknob, which I'd assumed meant that for a given tire pressure, the resistance would be fairly constant.

Anyone else had a similar experience? Did you just grow a pair, dial down the intensity or even drop back to one of the base plans?

I did the same plan through the spring, I found the workouts really hard but doable. I found the ones you mention, the long over FTP intervals the hardest too. There was only once that I had to dial back the intensity slightly to 95%.

I'm a postie and used to get back from work, have a large coffee and a few biscuits then go straight on the turbo. The exception was the 90-135 minute workouts which I tried to work into my day off, I did notice the difference in how much fresher I felt instead of walking 8-10 miles then doing it!

I did the 2x8 min FTP test and got 196w, 3w/kg which was roughly what I was expecting, I haven't done one since (I keep meaning to do one) but I'm clearly stronger as I can now drop my riding buddy and am significantly stronger than him towards the end of a ride. It's easily the best thing I've done to make me better on the bike.

markp80

I see TrainerRoad is now integrated with Strava, so your workouts can automatically sync to your Strava feed. Thats a useful feature (for me anyway) as I normally do this manually.

Speaking of tough workouts on the sustained power plan, I did Jacks last night and found that very hard. 4x8mins at 105% FTP, 1 min RBI. Still, it's not meant to be easy.....

Cheers.
MarkP

Dodger747

Yep, Jacks and Stevens are particularly brutal workouts!

LeighM

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19621420#p19621420]TrevorDeRuise[/url] wrote:

Did you do a plan before Sustained Power Build? If so, which one and how soon before? If it's fatigue that's holding you back right now, you want to recover and get yourself out of that hole before continuing. Taking a rest week should bring your freshness back up so that you're able to continue at 100% intensity. This would be a more ideal route to take than dialing back intensity and continuing through the plan. Riding at a lower intensity can also change the zones that you're training in during these workouts, thus preventing you from attaining the full benefits of this block of training. Further, you run the risk of digging yourself an even deeper hole that is even more challenging to recover from.

-Trevor from TrainerRoad

Yes, I did the Sweetspot base 1 and 2 through Jan-Mar, supplemented with outdoor rides. I've then attempted Sustained Power Build twice, each time hitting a wall with the +FTP workouts. I personally found the jump between Sweet Spot Base and Sustained Power Build to be a big one.

markp80

I personally found the jump between Sweet Spot Base and Sustained Power Build to be a big one.

- yep, I'll agree with that for sure

MarkP