32 year old cat 1 roadie that shows up to some of the national level crits
life recently has been all over the place, and I cant justify paying a coach for a plan that I am having like 50% adherence to as things keep getting in the way of my weekend rides, so end up just kind of playing catchup on weekdays, etc. Figured this would be the perfect reason to jump back to TR for AI based adaptations.
I know my volume over the past 2 months has been low, as my season basically wrapped up on memorial day weekend as I had targeted some of the earlier season races, and was done with my target races by the end of May. Rode a fair amount for the next 2 months to keep fitness for local races, but after that tapered down for a quasi off-season, capped off by a 12 day stretch completely off the bike during a vacation.
At the end of that period, my 6 week TSS average was 266. During my build and race calendar the 6 week average was 5-600, with a peak of 650 shortly before my A race for the year. Looking at last year when life was less crazy, was holding 6-700 TSS 6 week average without issue.
Used the plan builder this morning, and the peak weekly TSS it suggests is⌠400? Just seems to be suggesting long term detraining over the next 6 months, even with my selecting 5 days a week, and a âDemandingâ plan on the â Custom Training Planâ builder.
Will this auto update to upscale volume? Or should I just try to ask for my money back cause this seems crazy, as I had been planning on a 10+ hour/week offseason of mostly z2, with 1 or 2 high intensity days per week during my base phase as that is what I have been doing the last few years.
Simply put, volume is based on what you have been doing lately. If you know you can handle more and you want to do more you will have to add extra volume manually until the AI catches up.
Yup, just add volume to the end of the workouts or on your endurance days at endurance pace.
Out of curiosity, based on your history of working with a coach, how well do the TR plans align with what youâve been prescribed by your coach over the base/build/peak cycles?
One of the main differences that I spotted within my experience was the inclusion of an FRC type block that fit in at the end of my build and I suppose it served as a peak or specialty phase. That type of work was not something I had done before based on my previous TR gran fondo specialty phase or any of the build phases.
They align pretty closely right now, biggest difference I see is that the TR base periods are a lot more sweet-spot focused, which I think is to be expected as that is kind of TRs thing.
My prior base seasons were essentially âdo 10 hour weeks, with ~7 being mid z2, 2 being the edge of z2/z3, and 1 hour being a zwift race, or 2x20 threshold workoutâ. So seeing the 7 hour week, with 2+ hours being at sweet spot is a shift.
Build looks very similar, but slight nuance differences (50/50s rather than 30/30s, or capping off vo2 efforts with a sprint as opposed to doing a sprint before the vo2 effort then settling in), but that is so marginal it wouldnât even register if I was not actively looking for differences right now.
Specialty phase has a lot less sprint specific work prescribed than what I will end up doing as a thiqboy sprinter, but those are workouts I know by heart so would hit them anyways, as I dont think TR really makes any form-sprint workout type suggestions as it doesnt fit the methodology I wouldnât think as they are kind of a wasted day in terms of TSS/time
It now also knows your actual compliance to training and adapts up and down, recommends easier sessions or rest - and TSS becomes less meaningful as a metric. As athletes we tend to think our training volume is higher than it is, so itâs not unusual to get a bit of a reality check when it scales to reality rather than what we desired to be true.
Net effect should be more optimal and effective training than a static plan. Trust the system
Donât forget you can adjust how long your rides will be for each individual day, and you can also select a âmastersâ plan which will give you 2 days of intensity instead of 3.
You can call and talk to support, too. TR has been mentioning starting âonboarding interviewsâ for a little while, though I donât know if theyâve begun doing this as standard at this time. But, they should be able to get you squared away pretty easilyâŚthere are lots of ways to skin the cat, as Chad would say.
Not sure, did you say whatâs your CTL right now?
Whatever it was weeks or months ago, while it makes a nice coffee stop story, is not relevant for planning forward.
If you expect the TR plans/workouts to be set and forget, you will be frustrated and disappointed. The AI will catch up a bit once you use TR for a few weeks/months. However, you are your own coach and will need to alter plans/workouts/volume/tss based on your training experience. Particularly because you are an experienced cyclist. Use TR as a general guide rather than a coachâs specific plan to follow to the T. The AI is not there yet and likely at least a few years out, so change workouts (using alternates or TrainNow) as what you know works for you.
As other athletes have noted, the plan youâre seeing is set based on your recent training volume as a starting point. Since you took a bit of an off-season and a vacation, your plan is likely adjusting conservatively to help you safely build back up without overdoing it.
Adaptive Training will adjust as you complete workouts and consistently log volume. If you feel confident managing a higher workload, you can always add more volume by incorporating extra low-intensity hours and/or longer Zone 2 rides. Workout Alternates is also a helpful tool; it can provide options for longer or more intense sessions when you want to push a bit beyond whatâs prescribed.
Over time, as you show consistency and handle the volume, Adaptive Training will propose adjustments that scale with your fitness and recovery needs. Since youâve previously handled high TSS averages, your plan should eventually recalibrate to reach those higher levels as you settle into your base phase.
Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any other questions.
Any thoughts on what is better here - dropping the traditional base program into the calendar + adding a hard day to it each week vs following the plan as given, but making my Sunday âsolo endurance ridesâ ~4-5 hours rather than the 3 hours the AI selected?
I think it depends on what youâre aiming for with your weekly training hours. If those 10+ hours you mentioned each week are in the 10-15 hour per week range, Iâd probably lean towards getting 2-3 Sweet Spot/Tempo sessions in each week. If, on the other hand, you were doing 15-20+ hours, I think Traditional Base plus one harder session per week might be a better approach.
Additionally, a good compromise to consider, as @gally24 mentioned, might be to go with a Masters Plan, which would give you 2 high-intensity days rather than 3 found in the default plans. That way, youâd still get a couple of solid Sweet Spot/Tempo sessions in each week, while giving you plenty of opportunity/time for longer Z2 rides.
Honestly, Iâm not sure what doing 2-3 sweet spot workouts will do for one in the base season especially if you are breaking 10 hours per week.
What Iâm getting at is - when do you want to be fit? If itâs be fit in the spring, then sweet spot workouts all base season seem like one is just churning through the kilojoules.
But if one is going to work on FTP and TTE after January coming into form in, say April or May, then you probably donât need to do that threshold (sweetspot) work in Oct-Nov-Dec. Itâs time to chill and ride a lot of endurance.
IMO, of course.
And sure, I get that 3-4 hour low volume people probably just want to be as fit as possible and doing a lot of sweet spot is a great immediate path to that.
