Again, I don’t intend to get bogged down in the whole “What is FTP…” side, so I will keep this short.
My old FTP from a season or two ago was in the high 26# watts range. This season I topped out in the high 24# watts range. Regardless of what “FTP” I have, I would be unlikely to hit an All-Time Power Personal Record. My only chance would be to use a season that excludes the basic time range where I had those higher FTPs.
Essentially, any power PR has a time frame of reference. All-Time is a clear one, general seasons are another. Add in the fact that stuff like equipment changes (different power meters, trainers and such) can all contribute to “different” wattage values and associated PR’s… and it gets a lot more messy than people want to recognize. “Simple” use cases do exist, but I wonder if they are more rare than common?
Either way, I just don’t see FTP determination as integral to this feature request.
@RyanSpivey as youve stated, FTP doesn’t really mean all that much. If our FTPs were the same at 300, but you’re doing PL 7 and I am on PL 2, then were going to have seriously different power record numbers (if the effort is the same for both of us). Now this is a different discussion that has been had on this forum many times: How accurate is TRs FTP? Very accurate for some people and not for others, but this is a discussion for a different time.
Finishing a workout, it already gets analyzed by TR and if you’ve had a power record you get a little gold cup on the workout. Its fun to see. I’m just asking for a blank cup to be there when you look at your calendar if this workout could potentially give you a record. Obviously they won’t be there that often (how often do you get a power record when working out? Its probably once a month for me or somewhere around there, or even less, since I raced as well and TR calculates those efforts too.
FWIW… If you actually do “some” hard max or near-max efforts, your 90-180 day power curve (MMP) and modeled curve is by far a better way to predict potential power records. And that is completely independent of workout difficulty, completely. And far more to do with one-off short/medium/long power within past 3-6 months.
In other words, if over the past 3+ months you’ve got a max 5-30 second sprint, a max 3-6 minute effort, and a max 15-30 minute effort, then freely available (or proprietary) power curve models can give you an idea of a specific duration to target for a power record. This past year I’ve snagged a few all-time power records, and they were all above what the modeled power curve was showing.
Yup, just like we saw people aiming for 10 in many (all) Progression Levels (which was specifically discouraged by TR upon introduction) when they were introduced.
Put a value (aka target) in front of many humans and they will aim for it or higher. Just the nature of many people for a range of reasons.
Well not everyone using TR is an ‘athlete’, despite their best efforts to label us so. Much like not everyone you’re connected to on Facebook is your ‘friend’. Many (most?) will be just average Joe hobbyists.
Why not? It’s overall aim is to make it’s customers faster - i.e. to realise the most improvements they can over the long term. Part of achieving that is giving the right cues and prompts to overcome the psychological biases that work against that goal (and, conversely, not giving those that encourage and reinforce them).
Yeah, if you’re training and trying to improve your fitness, measured by AIFTP, which the goal is FASTER (according to TrainerRoad, straight from the horse’s mouth), then you’re an athlete.
We’ll just have to agree to disagree. It’s funny how people are taking this (to me) strange approach to fitness. I get not killing yourself for a hobby, but you’ll never get faster if you don’t suffer a bit.
Everyone actively trying to win races, or make gains, has to do this. TR already has the tools to push those that can’t control themselves to the point of overtraining…. Dumbing it all down isn’t a solution and a simple “you may hit a power record on this workout” isn’t going to be a killer.
I’d argue that if your definition of ‘athlete’ is this broad (i.e. it includes people who are new to the bike and just getting started, people who are just trying to gain/keep a bit of fitness, people who want to make their commute easier and more enjoyable, people who are trying to get in shape for a gran fondo, people who are just looking for some bragging rights among their mates on the group ride, etc., etc.) then your original point just doesn’t stand:
That might be reasonable if (as I would) you take a more restrictive definition of ‘athlete’, as someone competing at the pointy end of their chosen discipline and committing a very substantial proportion of their time to achieving that, but I don’t think you can have it both ways, and I don’t think that characterises the breadth of TR’s userbase.
This not really thinking through what PR’s are and how they can be applied. You are correct that you may use different wattages at different durations, but those durations are certainly applicable to events. Your best 20 minute power would help you pace a 20 minute climb. PRs should be tested regularly and they are a good way to show clear improvement. Better than using the completion of a workout, progression level, or even FTP. And if you aren’t pushing your PRs, you may not be causing stimulus that creates adaptation.
I think it as a neat feature idea, and one that I think would spur people on.
However, as with anything like that (K/QOM’s) they can easily lead people to focus on what could be portrayed by others as the “wrong” things
It would be good if there was a toggle within the settings menu that turned it on or off, or a default so that if you are following a Plan Builder leading to a specific A event then it wouldn’t tell you that the workout would/wouldn’t lead to a PR.
I don’t know about others, but the minute I do a race and go all out then my PR’s are set way higher than what any typical workout would have me doing anyway… I don’t think I’d see a “potential power record” flag show up very often anyway…
Opting out is cool, and I’m not dead set on getting this feature, it may be more trouble than its worth and I only suggested it because it sounded cool while i was thinking about it. I had no idea the workout I was doing was going to give me a record, considering the fact that i’ve raced but that sustained threshold power was never held that long with the type of racing i do.
I keep replying though because people are acting like this will cause people to get hurt. I mean, if something so simple is causing people to “overtrain” then come on, they probably need therapy. And I say that with compassion as someone who has done and will continue therapy! But that shouldn’t limit others on what they choose to do.
Alcohol shouldn’t be illegal because some people abuse it.
But lets bring this back to reality: I suggested a “potential power record” flag, not to legalize meth.
