@Littlefield82 welcome to TR & the forums, you’re gonna love it here! 82 eh? What a great birth year! Fantastic people!
Simple ‘How TR Works’: You set your FTP, TR sets the WOs zones off that, you complete WOs in the zones, answer the surveys, and AT then adapts future WOs to customize, based on your performance & survey response. Works tremendously well, especially for super-time restricted people such as yourself, who likely don’t need or want to spend hours each week developing a plan, or putting much thought into WOs, they just wanna jump on and ride.
I’m going on the assumption you really can only do 2 TR WOs / wk, not 3, bc you mentioned you want to do a fun ride on the weekend, not a 3rd TR WO. If you can do 3 TR WOs, happily, you could just do LV. Easy! If you can only do 2:
You’ve got three options.
But first, it’s important to note: I believe it is still the case that Adaptive Training can only adapt future WOs that were added as a full training block, not individual WOs you manually add to your calendar. So if you manually add 6 mo worth of WOs to make a custom plan, AT won’t adjust future WOs as you complete them, and do the surveys. But I gather they’re working on adding this feature. [If anyone can correct / update me on this, please jump in!]
No matter what, strongly recommend you take a look at the Base → Build → Specialty plans, and generally follow that structure, including block lengths, WO zones, all of it. It’s super effective. Skipping base is a terrible mistake that tons of us have already suffered through, so you don’t have to!!
So, you’re 3 options are:
1 - Add whole training plan blocks, starting w LV Sweet Spot Build 1, then SSB 2, and you’ll just skip one WO per week. AT will work to adjust future WOs.
2 - Peruse the LV SSB 1 to get a feel for what a base plan looks like, and then custom build your own plan in 6 - 8 wk blocks, with only 2 WOs / wk, focusing on the 1 or 2 zones you want to. ATI don’t think will work for you, but could be wrong. Almost sounds like you can somehow save it as a “custom plan”, and then AT will work? Can anyone confirm? If AT would work, this might be the best option, as it allows you to sketch out your custom plan in 6 - 8 week blocks, focusing on the 1-2 zones you want to, and really build a plan you like, rather than having to skip WOs from an LV plan. That sorta feels like half doing a plan, eh?
3 - Don’t do any pre-planning, and always just use Train Now. It looks at your Progression Levels, and suggests WOs in zones you should improve on to best get faster. Fast & easy, zero planning option. I think this would be the worst of the 3, and I believe the intent of Train Now is really for inserting EXTRA WOs INTO a plan, if you want to do an extra ride one week, rather than being intended as an ongoing strategy / replacement for a plan.
I’ve been told, and seems right, that the LV plan w 3 - 3.5 hrs / wk is the min to quickly advance your PLs. If you’re only doing 2, you def only want to focus on 1 to max 2 zones during each 6 - 8 wk block, to maximize focus & growth. Don’t be too frustrated if your PLs don’t advance much with only 2 WOs / wk. But I have a feeling you’ll get some of those delicious & legendary ‘TR noob gainz’ !! And will probably also see steady growth over time, if you really stick to getting the 2 WO / wk in, and staying focused on 1-2 zones / 6-8 wk block.
Bonus Possible 4th option: I’ve also had a couple people tell me that if they only had 1 - 2 hrs / wk to ride, 2 WOs / wk, they would just do VO2 Max WOs to keep their intensity up, and then do fun outside rides. That honestly might be the best strategy… but only after you’ve been through one entire cycle of base → build → spec. Srsly, don’t skip it. It’s rly rly bad, it super sucks. Trust those who have suffered before you! LOL
Take a look at the link below. This is how to answer the survey responses. The splits are extremely clear, simple, and easy to know with 100% certainty which category you finish in.
Lastly, would strongly recommend you get at least 5 - 10 rides in each zone done on the trainer before you try to execute a WO in that zone outside. So you know exactly what the zones feel like, so you can know when you’re hitting, and when you’re missing. Actually doing TR WOs successfully outside is challenging, and kinda complicated. Learn on the easy path first, and once you’re a superstar, then try the difficult and complicated path!
I had a cohesive plan here to provide some structured info, but this got quite unhinged, apologies! Hope it has helped in some way! Feel free to ask any follow-up questions! Good luck, and have fun!!!
Link: AT: Easy vs Moderate vs Hard vs ... [Pass / Success Survey Responses] - #307 by mcneese.chad