So far, I’m loving TrainNow. I’ve said my one big gripe with TrainerRoad is that it’s so event driven. The more I learn amount TrainNow the more it does exactly what I need. I want to be the most fit I can be, but not trying to peak for anything in particular.
For most of the winter, I was doing a lot of unstructured riding since the plans were just too much. When I first looked at TrainNow it didn’t make a ton of sense. I now understand that’s because it wasn’t looking at my non-TR rides. So, I jumped back into a plan for a few weeks and now see the recommendations that are spot on for me.
However, I have one question, does anyone happen to know how TrainNow deals with FTP changes?
If you’re doing a 5.0 “whatever” workout and have an FTP bump from an FTP test, a 5.5 in the same classification would be harder than just a .5 jump, right? Does TrainNow back you down again so you’re just building off the new FTP or does it just plug away until you start to fail?
I guess what I’m really trying to figure out is, do I do an occasional random FTP test or do I just keep plugging away at the TN workouts with no regard for FTP? (Which is how I understand adaptive training will ultimately work.)
Hey there! Any time your FTP changes, your Progression Levels (which drive TrainNow’s recommendations under the hood) adjust. So after an FTP increase, your suggested workouts will temporarily be slightly less intense, albeit at your new, higher FTP. As you successfully complete workouts, your levels will again increase, and TrainNow’s recommendations will follow your abilities.
@SeanHurley that’s what I thought would happen. Since I was “off plan” so long, it does make sense to do an FTP test when I’m back in the swing of things just to make sure my progression is where it would be.
One thing you could do know is load up a plan (any plan) in the calendar. It will start with a ramp test but you can now get TR to give you an FTP based on all your previous few months/weeks riding without doing the ramp test. The first time do both and see how they compare. Mine for what its worth were a couple of watts apart.
People can just add the Ramp Test directly from the Workouts library. Once there and all other setup steps for AIFTPD are set, they will have the option to use that instead of the Ramp Test. It’s shown only on the Career page at this time, in the actual app (not the web).
Thats good to know. TR is seems to be evolving so quickly it’s hard to keep up with all the small changes. The instruction manual (if there was one) would be constantly out of date.
That is kind of the challenge with something like this as it’s effectively wide access beta testing. The main forum topic has plenty of good info (and isn’t read as often as it should be), but lacks some of the finer points.
Per their other tools, TR will undoubtedly be adding appropriate documentation in their support site when this is actually officially released and not in a testing phase. Until then, we nurse through questions as needed
I like this thread as I have a similar question, maybe focused a little differently. . . I had an infection back at the beginning of June. I manually bumped my FTP down from ~3.76w/kg to ~3.25w/kg. I think my fitness is back. I do a lot of outdoor unstructured riding this summer (HR only, I only have power indoor on trainer). When I do TR TrainNow rides, they are pretty easy to moderate at this point. During the rides I manually increase percentages on the intervals…
When will TrainNow reassess my FTP or did I mess it up by manually lowering my FTP previously. It feels like Adaptive Training should have been pushing it back up by now?
