The official TrainerRoad thread

jgsi

dw300 wrote:

Thanks for all the info bigdave.

What workout did you do JGSI?

Did half of Henry, but legs were not up to required speed for those power intervals, but just been out and feel a lot better.

jgsi

Henry conquered.
Tough workout, that 1.
Recommend properly rested before attempting.

bpmhigh

Hi Guys

Thought I would chime in and share my TrainerRoad addiction.

I have come off a long course/ironman triathlon base with a view to my first season of road racing. I chose the Advanced Build 1 and 2 and have been following the plan religiously. First 8 minute test at day 1, week 1 gave me a 286 FTP. Week 7's test saw this jump to 306 FTP and next week (week 13) I test again.

Despite generally good weather and the best cycling roads in Australia, I just can't tear myself away from TR. The convenience of being within earshot of my young kids, and the outright user friendliness and motivation it provides is brilliant. I'm using a Powertap so dont have any virtual power issues. I was more attracted to the training plans, the standard FTP tests with auto calculations and updates, and the simplicity of "green means good, red is bad".

I'm not sure if it's an indication of being "hardcore" or "a truly sad case" but I'm currently ranked number 1 in TSS among all users for the quarter (...actually number 2 but the person in first has some very odd looking numbers).

Keep it up Nate - looking forward to the workout creator as once Advanced Build 2 finishes, I plan to do some tinkering. Also if you need a testimonial from someone who has followed Chad's "Advanced Build" plans to the letter, let me know.

...must get home......gotta do North Guard tonight.......must get home....!

jgsi

I am assuming then your season is kicking off from now?
I don't have any issues with using VP over Powertap (although very tempted to get a wheel system) as whatever workout I do, they deliver the challenge in terms of keeping to the green and out of the red.
Now thinking about using TR in the off season mode.. if anyone has any suggestions for planning?

bpmhigh

JGSI wrote:

I am assuming then your season is kicking off from now?

There are 3 local clubs who all run events so the season never appears to end. The plan is to lean down, build FTP, get to 4w/kg by xmas day and then race hard in 2013.

Once "Advanced Build 2" finishes I will venture outside on the club bunch rides while using TR 2 or 3 times a week to keep building FTP. I'm already doing Gray on those days when the program calls for a free ride so will schedule this and Starr King each week. I will also create a "Bill Black Hour of Power" workout once the creator is launched (10min warmup, 60min at 90%FTP with 15-30 seconds of 130%FTP every 3mins).

Not sure how my sprinting will stack up so might have incorporate Kettle, Kearsage etc.

How are your numbers looking?

jgsi

aha... the joy of climate over 'weather'

From my TR record , there is a 9% watt increase for a 20 minute interval which reflects using TR since mid July.
I think the best feature of TR is that it makes periodization practical for me.
I race as a vet so 1 main aim is to peak properly for selective races and not have such a scatter gun approach.

dw300

Impressive TSS rank there bpm!

Does anyone have an opinion on whether periods of zero cadence during endurance rides reduces their effectiveness much?

Since it's the end of the season in the UK, I'm guessing you guys may soon be starting a winter program of some kind. I'm thinking of tweeting my thoughts on programs and results of tests over the winter. I have an aim to hit 4W/kg by the start of next season and perhaps do some racing next year. If you want to follow me add @dw300

It would be interesting if 2 or more people were to work on the same plan perhaps. Or perhaps someone who knows what they're doing could devise a longer term plan built from the currently defined workouts?

bpmhigh

Ouch - needed two goes at North Guard. Only lasted 20 minutes yesterday before waiving the white flag. Came good tonight and got it done.

Doing Gray tomorrow (2x20) and will bump up the intensity before testing (2x8 minute) on Tuesday.

t.m.h.n.e.t

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2012/08/firs ... kickr.html

This badboy is going to make TR fooking sweet! Competing vs strava segments seems a bit cheap doing it on a trainer though.

jgsi

Msg to Nate and the team:
A big thank you!
1 month good solid work on TR and possibly my last race this season gave me 7th overall/5th age cat... best result in 2012.
I went for a long one with about 5 ish miles to go... and stayed away
Was I chuffingly chuffed!
Went earlier in the race to try and bridge across to the break which stayed away but just couldnt get across before the ramps.
http://app.strava.com/rides/20561078

NatePearson

bpmhigh wrote:

Hi Guys

Thought I would chime in and share my TrainerRoad addiction.

I have come off a long course/ironman triathlon base with a view to my first season of road racing. I chose the Advanced Build 1 and 2 and have been following the plan religiously. First 8 minute test at day 1, week 1 gave me a 286 FTP. Week 7's test saw this jump to 306 FTP and next week (week 13) I test again.

Despite generally good weather and the best cycling roads in Australia, I just can't tear myself away from TR. The convenience of being within earshot of my young kids, and the outright user friendliness and motivation it provides is brilliant. I'm using a Powertap so dont have any virtual power issues. I was more attracted to the training plans, the standard FTP tests with auto calculations and updates, and the simplicity of "green means good, red is bad".

I'm not sure if it's an indication of being "hardcore" or "a truly sad case" but I'm currently ranked number 1 in TSS among all users for the quarter (...actually number 2 but the person in first has some very odd looking numbers).

Keep it up Nate - looking forward to the workout creator as once Advanced Build 2 finishes, I plan to do some tinkering. Also if you need a testimonial from someone who has followed Chad's "Advanced Build" plans to the letter, let me know.

...must get home......gotta do North Guard tonight.......must get home....!

Awesome!! Great to hear . I want to make a "flag ride" for the user rankings. That way when someone logs a 800 tss ride you can call BS on it. It's on my long list of things to do, more of a nice to have than a killer feature.

NatePearson

bpmhigh wrote:

I will also create a "Bill Black Hour of Power" workout once the creator is launched (10min warmup, 60min at 90%FTP with 15-30 seconds of 130%FTP every 3mins).

You mean like this one? http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/workouts/3022

DESCRIPTION
After a 8 minute warmup it's 60 minutes at 90% FTP. Every four minutes there's a surge to 115-120% FTP for 20 seconds.

End with an 5 minute easy spin.

NatePearson

T.M.H.N.E.T wrote:

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2012/08/first-look-at-wahoo-fitness-kickr.html

This badboy is going to make TR fooking sweet! Competing vs strava segments seems a bit cheap doing it on a trainer though.

It's a sweet trainer! If strava ranks those rides on their site I hope they have a "Trainer" section. We'd love to do the same thing.

NatePearson

JGSI wrote:

Msg to Nate and the team:
A big thank you!
1 month good solid work on TR and possibly my last race this season gave me 7th overall/5th age cat... best result in 2012.
I went for a long one with about 5 ish miles to go... and stayed away
Was I chuffingly chuffed!
Went earlier in the race to try and bridge across to the break which stayed away but just couldnt get across before the ramps.
http://app.strava.com/rides/20561078

ooo, nice job! 4 lap course for 45 miles. Sounds like a fun time .

dw300

NatePearson wrote:

T.M.H.N.E.T wrote:

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2012/08/first-look-at-wahoo-fitness-kickr.html

This badboy is going to make TR fooking sweet! Competing vs strava segments seems a bit cheap doing it on a trainer though.

It's a sweet trainer! If strava ranks those rides on their site I hope they have a "Trainer" section. We'd love to do the same thing.

When I upload my TR rides, Strava automatically checks them in as a Stationary Trainer workout, presumably as there is no GPS data included in the file. It also doesn't count the trainer mileage on the year-to-date total, although it does add it to the total for the bike, and the weekly totals .. it's a bit strange.

Unless that trainer can output a file with the original GPS data and your new effort ridden on the trainer, then those probably won't count, although I wouldn't really want them to. However it'd be great to test whether you could get near a KOM.

t.m.h.n.e.t

dw300 wrote:

NatePearson wrote:

T.M.H.N.E.T wrote:

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2012/08/first-look-at-wahoo-fitness-kickr.html

This badboy is going to make TR fooking sweet! Competing vs strava segments seems a bit cheap doing it on a trainer though.

It's a sweet trainer! If strava ranks those rides on their site I hope they have a "Trainer" section. We'd love to do the same thing.

When I upload my TR rides, Strava automatically checks them in as a Stationary Trainer workout, presumably as there is no GPS data included in the file. It also doesn't count the trainer mileage on the year-to-date total, although it does add it to the total for the bike, and the weekly totals .. it's a bit strange.

Unless that trainer can output a file with the original GPS data and your new effort ridden on the trainer, then those probably won't count, although I wouldn't really want them to. However it'd be great to test whether you could get near a KOM.

Never thought of that Your Dundonald KOM's are safe for now

richa

NatePearson wrote:

I want to make a "flag ride" for the user rankings. That way when someone logs a 800 tss ride you can call BS on it. It's on my long list of things to do, more of a nice to have than a killer feature.

Could you not auto-flag anything over, say,: TSS>110 with IF>1.1

dw300

T.M.H.N.E.T wrote:

Never thought of that Your Dundonald KOM's are safe for now

Pffft, all 4 of them! I lost one to 'Vino' off of here the other day .. went for a ride and made a new segment I thought I went fast on and managed to give him another one!

dw300

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/77432

Another bunch of little red medals.

That workout is 'Cartwright'. It's a pretty good one - 4 x 10 with the latter 5 mins of each interval increasing in intensity. 3 mins rest between sets.

I'm thinking I could push up my FTP a little .. but I'm gona wait till I test, maybe in another week or so.

jgsi

This is going to suffice for me until into 2013 for re jigging FTP
http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/77571
I am more pleased that LTHR is down 2 beats to 148 .

I do have an ongoing support request with Nate and CoachT re some off season training planning.. will keep updated here as well.

dw300

Is either the 8 min or the 20 min test any better for estimating FTP? How much did yours change after that test?

I'm surprised at the progress I've made this season, but thus far it's been maybe 3/4s road riding. Will be interesting to see whether the rate of progress changes much as I start to do much more trainer work now that the nights are drawing in.

jgsi

dw300 wrote:

Is either the 8 min or the 20 min test any better for estimating FTP? How much did yours change after that test?

I'm surprised at the progress I've made this season, but thus far it's been maybe 3/4s road riding. Will be interesting to see whether the rate of progress changes much as I start to do much more trainer work now that the nights are drawing in.

Mine was uo by 26 watts.
This was not a surprise as workouts were proving generally comfortable to achieve... and have been feeling well on form in the last few races.
They should be on the slightly uncomfortable side from now on... but not too much
I am taking the intensity down and a little off the volume for the next few months - with no competition, I see little payback in giving myself a hard time. It will be a lot more consistency than I had same time last year and come the new year, more specific training for a good season start.
I dont think there is too much difference between the 2 tests by the way.
I did up the mag resistance on my trainer up a notch as well, as I wanted to recalibrate the road feel when on the trainer.

bpmhigh

Nice work guys.

I chased a number in my third 8 minute test last week and went BOOOOM!

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/76998

Really wanted an FTP of 320 but clearly didn't have it in the legs. Set a new HR max (up 5 beats) which is probably what freaked me out. Despite not finishing the second 8 minute interval it still suggested an FTP of 315 which I took. Since then however I have struggled to get through the last 3 or so sessions which I attribute to riding back with the bunch 3 times a week, and the usual excruciating burn that happens in the first weeks after re-basing your FTP.

So thats 286 to 306 to 315 in the space of 14 weeks. Still on track for 4w/kg by xmas but will need summon a lot more willpower than I have of late.

bigdaveskinnytyre

Here's my latest effort after 2 weeks off the bike:

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/77985

Not the greatest of efforts but need to ease my way back into it.

Went off to Hong Kong on Holiday for a week, planning on a week off exercise to rest my foot, came back with a cold. Did a couple of short runs earlier in the week but felt terrible. Then had 2 moles cut off my arm on Thursday so until the stitches are out I can't really ride outside for a bit (shouldn't really use suncreen on my arms until then) ; I expect a lot of turbo time in the next 2 weeks.

pinno

Can you lot not go out and just pedal FFS !?!
(More jargon than soft Micks jargon centre, and thats a lot of jargon.)

t.m.h.n.e.t

pinarello001 wrote:

Can you lot not go out and just pedal FFS !?!
(More jargon than soft Micks jargon centre, and thats a lot of jargon.)

We do that too

dw300

pinarello001 wrote:

Can you lot not go out and just pedal FFS !?!
(More jargon than soft Micks jargon centre, and thats a lot of jargon.)

Aint no downhills on a trainer buddy ..

pinno

dw300 wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

Can you lot not go out and just pedal FFS !?!
(More jargon than soft Micks jargon centre, and thats a lot of jargon.)

Aint no downhills on a trainer buddy ..

Just stick an argos catalogue under the rear frame of your Turbo trainer ! Two, if you have the nerve.

dw300

pinarello001 wrote:

dw300 wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

Can you lot not go out and just pedal FFS !?!
(More jargon than soft Micks jargon centre, and thats a lot of jargon.)

Aint no downhills on a trainer buddy ..

Just stick an argos catalogue under the rear frame of your Turbo trainer ! Two, if you have the nerve.

I kinda ment that where training is concerned you might not want downhill sections, therefore trainer session can be advantageous. But yeh, we do both, I doubt there are people that only ride a trainer all year round .. are there?!

t.m.h.n.e.t

dw300 wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

dw300 wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

Can you lot not go out and just pedal FFS !?!
(More jargon than soft Micks jargon centre, and thats a lot of jargon.)

Aint no downhills on a trainer buddy ..

Just stick an argos catalogue under the rear frame of your Turbo trainer ! Two, if you have the nerve.

I kinda ment that where training is concerned you might not want downhill sections, therefore trainer session can be advantageous. But yeh, we do both, I doubt there are people that only ride a trainer all year round .. are there?!

Hell no