The official TrainerRoad thread

dc5rn

I’m a new user of TrainerRoad and love it so far. I’m coming from Zwift and I love how structured the workouts are. It’s definitely a sad time of year that I have had to get my last 3 rides on the trainer

moscowflyer

Looks like I've sorted my earlier issue. Just did a ramp test which spat out an FTP of 246, which isn't too bad considering I was 303 some 3-4 years back when I was fully fit. Am I right in thinking TR on an iPad won't connect to the smart trainer and HR belt at the same time via bluetooth?

daniel_b

Dunce alert.

I'm a long time TR user, and know the whole calendar thing has changed, but wasn't quite sure what effect it would have.

I am approx 85% of the way through the century plan, but as of this week, it showed I was doing no plan and ave me a blank calendar beyond what I had already completed, so I had to look at the plan to see what workouts I was meant to be doing, and manually add these in.
I'm assuming that next time I start a plan, it will re-act as it used to, and populate the calendar, and I can then simply punt them around to different dates as I see fit?

Captain Fagor

Daniel B wrote:

Dunce alert.

I'm a long time TR user, and know the whole calendar thing has changed, but wasn't quite sure what effect it would have.

I am approx 85% of the way through the century plan, but as of this week, it showed I was doing no plan and ave me a blank calendar beyond what I had already completed, so I had to look at the plan to see what workouts I was meant to be doing, and manually add these in.
I'm assuming that next time I start a plan, it will re-act as it used to, and populate the calendar, and I can then simply punt them around to different dates as I see fit?

After the calendar was introduced yesterday, the first time you log into your account online you will get a prompt to import your current plan into the calendar. I declined this, because the prompt didn't match the instructions I received via email. It turns out the auto-prompt was (and likely still is?) a one-time opportunity, so I was forced to manually import my plan. Like you, I was well through a plan (Sweet Spot Base, Low Volume II). You can get help on this in the website, but it seems easy enough.

Essentially, you start a new plan matching the one you are on, and back-date the start date to just before you started. You also specify which days you prefer your workouts to be on and give an end date. TrainerRoad will recognise the workouts in the plan that you have already done and only schedule those workouts that lie ahead in the future according to your start and end dates. Depending upon how far ahead or behind schedule you are, you might get a few duplicates (i.e. scheduled rides that you have already completed), but these are easily deleted. After that, you're back on the plan. The percentage completion seems to have disappeared for now, but I think I read some blurb about it coming back soon.

shazzz

For me, when I first opened the new calendar via the website (not the app) it detected that I was partway through a plan and asked if I wanted to add it to my calendar.

This link also gives instructions....
https://support.trainerroad.com/hc/en-u ... -319135913

Raikzz

Hello, first time doing TR workout today, did Barnard -4 workout , with my 269ftp , and i closely followed the target watts that the screen told me , i had to abandon the workout halfway thourgh because i couldn't hold the target watts, which seemed little bit odd but thought okay then, but when i'm analyzing now, seems the target was way off what i actually needed to hold according to plan ? For example It told me to hold about 430W on the 2set of intervals, but when i'm looking now it says that i only needed 300-350w, and all intervals were wrong, not only one


I'll attach picture also, when you can see on the graph that the target was supposed to be 363w for Anaerobic capacity 1 intervall,( which is exactly 135% from my FTP, but from the bottom list you can see that it says Power: 371 / 432 , 432 is 161% of my ftp :roll:




Am i doing something wrong myself or is it TR problem ?

shazzz

Pretty sure that the green line indicates that you had manually increased the difficulty of the workout - maybe by accident using the up arrow. If you have your FTP set correctly in TR then this would have led to a much harder workout...

daniel_b

Captain Fagor wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

Dunce alert.

I'm a long time TR user, and know the whole calendar thing has changed, but wasn't quite sure what effect it would have.

I am approx 85% of the way through the century plan, but as of this week, it showed I was doing no plan and ave me a blank calendar beyond what I had already completed, so I had to look at the plan to see what workouts I was meant to be doing, and manually add these in.
I'm assuming that next time I start a plan, it will re-act as it used to, and populate the calendar, and I can then simply punt them around to different dates as I see fit?

After the calendar was introduced yesterday, the first time you log into your account online you will get a prompt to import your current plan into the calendar. I declined this, because the prompt didn't match the instructions I received via email. It turns out the auto-prompt was (and likely still is?) a one-time opportunity, so I was forced to manually import my plan. Like you, I was well through a plan (Sweet Spot Base, Low Volume II). You can get help on this in the website, but it seems easy enough.

Essentially, you start a new plan matching the one you are on, and back-date the start date to just before you started. You also specify which days you prefer your workouts to be on and give an end date. TrainerRoad will recognise the workouts in the plan that you have already done and only schedule those workouts that lie ahead in the future according to your start and end dates. Depending upon how far ahead or behind schedule you are, you might get a few duplicates (i.e. scheduled rides that you have already completed), but these are easily deleted. After that, you're back on the plan. The percentage completion seems to have disappeared for now, but I think I read some blurb about it coming back soon.

Thankyou, and Shazz - I never had a pop up, so would have been a pain had I been early on in the plan, so bit lucky there!

Noticed they have pushed their prices up, but not for recurring renewal customers which is good.

bobmcstuff

shazzz wrote:

Pretty sure that the green line indicates that you had manually increased the difficulty of the workout - maybe by accident using the up arrow. If you have your FTP set correctly in TR then this would have led to a much harder workout...

Yeah looks like that to me... I sometimes find this happens if I've dripped sweat all over my phone...

moscowflyer

So following on from my ramp test last week, I found the next workout pretty easy and again this morning. I noticed that I'd done the test on the laptop, but the FTP hadn't updated on the iPad app so it was still 35w lower which is pretty annoying . Certainly felt it once I'd changed it though.

Raikzz

bobmcstuff wrote:

shazzz wrote:

Pretty sure that the green line indicates that you had manually increased the difficulty of the workout - maybe by accident using the up arrow. If you have your FTP set correctly in TR then this would have led to a much harder workout...

Yeah looks like that to me... I sometimes find this happens if I've dripped sweat all over my phone...

Yeah, seems like that was the case Damn it was a hard workout! I was watching Worlds during that workout until i had to stop because i started to feel dizzy and couldn't manage to complete the interval

sampras38

MoscowFlyer wrote:

So following on from my ramp test last week, I found the next workout pretty easy and again this morning. I noticed that I'd done the test on the laptop, but the FTP hadn't updated on the iPad app so it was still 35w lower which is pretty annoying . Certainly felt it once I'd changed it though.

Logging out and back into your account help?

handful

I used Trainer Road for the first time in ages on Sunday and did a Sufferfest (A very dark place)with an old video which ran fine. Isn't this now supposed to have stopped?

vpnikolov

Just wanted to say that I am very pleased with all the changes to the app. The calendar is an awesome addition and it has forced me to stop using TrainingPeaks altogether. Heck, I have stopped recording my commutes too as can't be bothered and just put in manual entries.

So easy to track everything...

Outstanding job!

bobmcstuff

handful wrote:

I used Trainer Road for the first time in ages on Sunday and did a Sufferfest (A very dark place)with an old video which ran fine. Isn't this now supposed to have stopped?

Yes, those aren't available on mine any more. Possibly if you have not updated the app then the old sessions would still have been there?

handful

Thanks bobmcstuff, probably right. Is there any benefit in updating the software or should I just stick with the version I have and retain the ability to continue with my SF videos?

BorderCyclist

I've got 2 free 1 month referrals going. If anyone would like one pm me your name and email.

daniel_b

I am dreading the 0.98 IF Ansel Adams workout coming up in about 20 minutes :shock:

EDIT: Well not as bad as I had feared - for those who have not looked:

Description

Ansel Adams consists of 3x12-minute sets of 50 seconds at 135% FTP with 50 seconds of recovery between each interval.

4 minutes of recovery fall between each set of intervals.

Goals

The primary goal is to improve maximum aerobic capacity, or the endurance that allows you to work harder and longer with improved oxygen utilization and less sugar-expense.

Simultaneously, increasing your anaerobic work capacity is a secondary goal leading to greater speed endurance, improved lactate utilization and improved high-end capabilities.

Cadence should exceed 100rpm during every interval, but if fatigue forces a lack of control at higher cadences then shoot for 90+rpm and ride smoothly.

I managed to keep cadence north of 100 (though not by that far) for 24 of the 25 efforts, so pretty pleased with that, as I tend to struggle with higher power AND high cadence.
Got through it with no back pedalling, and no drop in intensity - last 4 efforts were pretty tough.
Carried out most of them on the hoods, small amount of time in the drops, my stretching and inching up the stem length is working it would seem

Had a few months of bad eating\drinking, and not enough exercise until the start of December, and still marvelling at the fact that on August 22nd I was able to hold this workouts 50 second power in my then FTP test for both 8 minute blocks, feel a good way off that at the moment, probably by something around 10% - though on the plus side, I'm +10% FTP wise on where I was coming into 2018.

I did burnout a bit (I suspect) and lost some motivation towards September\October time, so will attempt to avoid that this year.
Last year I pretty much stuck to mid volume the whole way, but since December I have been on the low volume HIT maintenance (That a kind chap on here alerted me to - in the Enthusiast section) course, and after this will switch to the low volume Sweet Spot Base II (Higher TSS than SS Base I).
Potentially different working patterns this year with regards to flexibility, so may have to stick with low volume, but in an ideal world I would be looking to either alternate between low and mid volume, or 2 low \1 mid and repeat for example.

Also planning to start riding out every other week with my LBS, they have different speed rides, and they are only 2 hour 30-40 mile rides, starting at a earlyish 08:00.
My girlfriend is interested in doing likewise (Bought her a bikefit for Christmas at said lbs) and as we have a 5 year old daughter, we'll likely relay it, every other week.
I think she wants to learn to ice skate actually, so probably whoever is not riding will be taking her to that

What does everyone else do?

barongreenback

Nice work. I’ve just moved back to TR from
Zwift and boy, are the workouts more challenging. But also not impossible. TR seems to be able to hit that very very fine line between success and failure. Doing the Sustained Power Build low volume at the moment as 3 sessions a week fits in well with work travel and gives opportunities for nice outdoor recovery rides.

bobmcstuff

handful wrote:

Thanks bobmcstuff, probably right. Is there any benefit in updating the software or should I just stick with the version I have and retain the ability to continue with my SF videos?

Mine auto updated, which was a shame.

You can make custom video workouts I believe using the workout editor, so it could be possible to recreate them.

The other thing I have done when I have wanted to do one of my old Sufferfest videos for a bit of a change is just do it on RPE and record the ride in TR under the "free ride 60" workout. Since the older sufferfests were designed for RPE anyway...

Did a ramp test last night, 242 W which is my highest January FTP so far, so this bodes well because I haven't done loads of training! Unfortunately I am also quite heavy which slows me down a lot on the road

Plan is to drop from 77 kg to 72 kg in the next 3 months, then maybe down to around 70 kg.

I think 280 W is ultimately achievable for me so I might be able to get to 4 W/kg, although maybe not this year (my previous best is 263 W but I have definitely been fitter before I used TR).

harry-s

I've used TR on and off during the winter months for the last 3 or 4 years or so, and never really had a problem. On the rollers at home it's a case of just getting on and pedalling. In the gym however it's a different experience.

In the gym I use a Wattbike, and they have quite a few of them. If they are being used it takes a long time to get a sync with the bike I'm sitting on, with the app choosing other Wattbikes seemingly at random. The iphone seems to have a low refresh/reaction rate making selection and deselection of bikes difficult, and often, even once I've got the right connection it might flip over to another bike mid ride. The devices menu also picks up the (newly installed) Life Fitness machines in the gym, and there's loads of them. There's been a couple of times recently where even after 30 minutes or so, I still haven't been able to get a connection to 'my' bike.

Anyone else had this problem and found a solution?

pippi_langsamer-2

Anyone got a trial code I can use? Let my subscription lapse last Spring, and not sure if I'm going to continue with TR or give Zwift a go

bobmcstuff

Pippi Langsamer wrote:

Anyone got a trial code I can use? Let my subscription lapse last Spring, and not sure if I'm going to continue with TR or give Zwift a go

Yeah, PM me your email

bobmcstuff

Done, my replies are being stuck in my PM outbox for some reason (?)

daniel_b

bobmcstuff wrote:

Done, my replies are being stuck in my PM outbox for some reason (?)

They sit there until they are read Bob, when they progress to sent.

pippi_langsamer-2

Got it, cheers Bob

daniel_b

Just about survived Mary Austin -1 - BRUTAL.
Hit all my power targets which is satisfying, fairly destroyed afterwards though.

supermurph09

I’ve recently started a blog on my TR plan:

http://hitthesweetspot.home.blog/2019/0 ... p-quickly/

rdt

Supermurph09 wrote:

I’ve recently started a blog on my TR plan:

http://hitthesweetspot.home.blog/2019/0 ... p-quickly/

So, you skipped SSB Part 1 and jumped straight to Part 2. Fair enough if that's what you intended, which I expect is the case bearing in mind your experience.

For others reading this who are new to TR though, the usual/regular approach is to do part 1 then 2; the SSB part 2 plans are a bit of a 'pre-build' phase and so are not especially base-like, having a fair whack of VO2max work for example. I only mention this as there can be some misunderstanding with new TR users who haven't realised that the usual progression, time permitting, is 1 then 2. Grannies sucking eggs caveats apply here etc.

supermurph09

rdt wrote:

Supermurph09 wrote:

I’ve recently started a blog on my TR plan:

http://hitthesweetspot.home.blog/2019/0 ... p-quickly/

So, you skipped SSB Part 1 and jumped straight to Part 2. Fair enough if that's what you intended, which I expect is the case bearing in mind your experience.

For others reading this who are new to TR though, the usual/regular approach is to do part 1 then 2; the SSB part 2 plans are a bit of a 'pre-build' phase and so are not especially base-like, having a fair whack of VO2max work for example. I only mention this as there can be some misunderstanding with new TR users who haven't realised that the usual progression, time permitting, is 1 then 2. Grannies sucking eggs caveats apply here etc.

Are you talking about skipping the low volume part?