Hi guys I’ve been cycling for almost 3 years. Been in FTP plateau for more than a year so I’m thinking about following TR plan but I have some questions and problems about my current situation so still hesitant about paying for TR.
Almost all my ride is outdoor group ride with choices of fast hard group ride on weekdays (there is chill speed group ride too but it will be mostly Zone 1 power zone), one 50 km gravel riding on weekdays and decently long ride on weekend (80-100km on Sunday) so I’m thinking how to fit all of these into my TR plan. I’m thinking on taking the LV plan
Just watched Dylan Johnson’s video about TR’s training plan problem so I’m still hesitant. But the video is 4 years old so I don’t know if the problem is still relevant because TR must have been tweaking some things
from everything I’ve listened to in the TR podcasts etc, they recommendation would be to look at your riding and then supplement with TR sessions. You indicated a LV plan but based on what you’ve detailed your likely to be prescribed Z2 endurance/recovery session in between all the other riding you’re doing as there seems to be enough intensity in those already.
I’ve seen that video and you are correct, time has passed and so has the science and thoughts around polarised training vs all the other types out there.
My advice to you, based on my own use, is that if you have a specific goal in mind (race, fondo, increase FTP as you stated) then subscribe to achieve that goal. Drop all weekly rides and follow the TR plan but still keep the weekend ride, or whichever ride you prefer, and focus on hitting your goal. I think after that you will have a pretty good idea of how TR fits your ‘normal’ riding and if you need to subscribe for the long term. Based on what you’ve detailed above an 8 week build at MV or HV would see an increase in FTP all things being equal.
Appreciate for the advice. My goal is just generally increase in FTP. Why do you think MV suits my schedule better than LV? I think I’ll gradually reducing my group rides for TR indoor workouts (maybe I’ll try the workout outdoor as well to keep things fresh).
Also regarding Dylan’s video, is it okay to just trust TR everything ? Now that it has adaptive training, TrainNow etc
One of the unfortunate things about TR is that it still cannot adapt to rides outside of trainerroad whereas other apps, which are a lot cheaper too, like JOIN can and will adapt to what you do outside the program (ie change type of work, schedule extra rest etc)
Your pattern is not to dissimilar from mine. I am on a LV Masters plan and I think its a good choice for you. The traditional LV plan has 3 days of HIIT but the Masters versions have just 2 HIIT and changing one for a LIIT. I was doing that manually back 3-4 years ago, to prevent burn out, but thats an automatic thing now.
A lot has changed in 4 years. Its debatable if it was even relevant then but there’s a lot more stuff built into the plans to inform your training. Back then you had to identify the risk of doing too much and make those changes yourself. Now AT adapts your plan to avoid you possibly burning out and just recently another layer/tool to the algorithm has been introduced (RLGL) which will identify possible burn out from outside rides etc (on top of your training) and adapt the plan. As I said above there’s now masters plan which automatically build in more recovery to the LV plans now too.
But it DOES do that now with the RLGL functionality added earlier this week. I would suspect if OP adds a LV plan, and continues to do his weekly rides outside, many of the TR scheduled intensity sessions will adapt to endurance (or rest days) instead.
ETA: @rawzy69, TR is an awesome tool for structured training IMO. I would say to try it for a month (they do have a 30 day guarantee after all). If it doesn’t fit your schedule, no harm no foul. You may just stick around!!
I think it’s important to understand what it is you want to get from TR. If you’re already doing 3 hard group rides a week, are you willing to change that? If not, what is your goal in using a training tool like TR?
I really like @HLaB idea of using a Masters plan for your specific case scenario @rawzy69!
If you want to increase your FTP and incorporate your group rides, which I think are pretty substantial efforts, a LV Masters Plan allows enough recovery to add in unstructured rides as you see fit, without compromising the structured interval training from the plan that will help increase your FTP.
Based on what you have I would probably do something like this, but it depends what days your group rides are:
Sunday 80-100km Group Ride
Monday Off
Tuesday TR Workout (Interval)
Wednesday Replace Endurance TR Workout with Chill Group Ride (Zone 1)
Thursday TR Workout (Interval)
Friday 50km Gravel Riding
Saturday Off
Note: you may need to compromise and cancel one of your group rides depending on how your fatigue levels lay out.
As @HLaB mentioned, we did just launch Red Light Green Light (still in Beta) which can be a very useful tool to see how your group rides impact subsequent training and guide the necessary changes to your training plan so it doesn’t become unproductive.
RLGL will track your training fatigue, show you when you’re overdoing it, and offer smart adaptations to your training plan to prevent long-term fatigue. More info on this thread:
And yes! @Will_Peters mentions a good point. We have a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee if you don’t like us
Thanks everybody for the kind replies! Now Im convinced to try TR for at least a month especially with the new upcoming RLGL features … Will drop 1 or 2 of my weekdays ride for TR workout and adapt my schedules from there…
I think if your goal is only to increase FTP I would suggest the following:
Look at what your current volume is currently - 3 hrs a week or 15 hrs a week. From there choose the plan that is lower than what you already do. e.g If you ride 10 hrs a week at the moment than choose the MV plan as indoor riding is much more taxing than people not used to it would think. And so on if your doing about 7-hrs choose the LV. If you’re doing 20 HRs than the HV would suffice of course
Once you’ve chose your plan decide which group ride or ride you wish to keep doing. I would suggest the long ride on the weekend to keep up the social aspect while you focus on your FTP.
From there go ahead and subscribe, choose your plan and add it to your calendar and see how it looks. If you’re doing your long ride on weekends with the group still - take some time to consider the intensity of the ride and move one of your sessions that resembles that type of effort to the day you do your group ride - especially if it’s a smash session.
The start with a ramp test because as a new user you wont have any data in the system for the AI to give you an accurate start point base for your FTP and then follow the plan as is. A build will go for 8 weeks (3 on 1 off x 2). I suggest following the plan as closely as you are able to allow the system to ‘train’ you properly.
Note: I’m not sure what sort of trainer you have and how modern it is so you may need to consider those things before subscribing as well as with an older trainer that isn’t ‘smart’ the software may not be as effective.
Final thing I’ll say as this is a mistake I have made. Do less than what you think you can. see point I made about choosing your plan. I suggest choosing a lower volume than you think you can handle at first. You can always increase it if you feel you aren’t doing enough.
Make sure you have fans and can train in a cool environment. It’s crucial. Use towels and plan your entertainment while riding. You will need that too. lol
And finally - good luck whichever way you choose to go.
I cam back from a very long lay off (10yrs) thanks to a long term injury. My FTP was 131w. My injury was leg related and therefore I had very poor leg strength so I had a few issues to work through let alone absolutely zero cardio. The next two months doing 3 rides per week (Train Now no plan) my FTP raised by 10-15w each month to 161 after the first two months.
You can see that in the picture with the silver diamonds showing the FTP improvement (sorry if you are a subscriber and know this already).
Once I switched to an actual plan my FTP went bonkers up. Thanks in the most part of natural improvement after having done zero athletic training in the past decade, but more from actually following a structured plan. I started at 1.35 wpkg and ended last season at 3.2 wpkg (please note that I lost a significant amount of bodyweight and hadn’t done any training for a very long time so my improvement is somewhat skewed by those factors).
thanks a lot for the kind suggestion. I usually ride around 10hours a week but I will take the LV plan and adjust from there, since I can’t really stand long session indoor . I use wahoo kickr smart trainer and been training indoor for almost 2 years on Zwift but just stopped using it and have decided to switch for TR since I don’t really use the social aspect of Zwift. I hope the workouts here isn’t longer than 1,5 hours though
I don’t favour long sessions either. TR let you customise the default duration. I’ve set mine to 45mins, mainly so I have a little extra time to set up, do the session and have time to wind down before bed.
. I use wahoo kickr smart trainer and been training indoor for almost 2 years on Zwift but just stopped using it and have decided to switch for TR since I don’t really use the social aspect of Zwift. I hope the workouts here isn’t longer than 1,5 hours though 