TrainerRoad - STW approved sessions

TCX files are just XML files so are plain text, if a little unreadable for most. You can open them up in any text editor, I opened one in LibreOffice so something like MS Word should also be able to read them. The total distance will be near the end of the file and look something like:

<DistanceMeters>24983.17</DistanceMeters>

If you are using ant+ you could just put the garmin on for distance.

Another interesting (for me!) observation from todays ride without PM is once my LTHR/FTHR has been more accurately calculated & updated HR zones across all platforms (Garmin Connect, TP & Strava) is now my garmin calories is almost bang on my Strava? And those two where miles out from each other before...

Did Baxter today - started out in a fairly low gear but began to struggle with the cadence after about an hour so went up a gear.

With doing my FTP test on Wednesday and thus starting the Sweet Spot Base a day late, I'm going to timeshift things and do Goddard tomorrow as Mon, Wed, Fri fits in better for me.

Just to check...

As I'm ending week 4 - recovery - of Novice race ive decided to switch to the new plans as new is better right? Plus doing Slide Mountain today was more interesting the colosseum - is Short Power buildmthe correct replacement?

ive been doing one of the Time Crunched plans.

Went out for a proper ride today for the first time in a long time. My legs felt really good all through the 3hrs, but I struggled with power on the hills using much lower gears than I had in the summer.

Are any of the individual sessions that will help, or is that where there is no substitute for getting out up proper hills?

Have you just lifted your natural cadence, spinning more than before or are you actually slower ?

Complete failure during Sufferfest Local Hero today, mainly due to eating breakfast very early and lunch consisting of soup.

Still even the first 40 minutes done to target power is a good session in itself. Not the most positive way to end an otherwise excellent 4 week block of training.

Ooh well a new week starts tomorrow.

@ FunkyDoc, any time restricted plan is going to show up weaknesses during a 3 hour session, purely because by definition you won't have that base in your legs. However doing things like low cadence power sprints can help, provided your knees are okay with that type of training.

Slower, but I have been off the bike for 1 reason or another for about 3 months.

In summer most of us are faster, it's only natural as generally the riding is more enjoyable ! Have a look at Carson TC if struggling for time as only 30 mins and looks at sweetspot training with a drop in cadence for hill climbing, as said though watch your knees.
I was supposed to be in the third week of mtb plan but a patch of diesel put paid to that, so picking and choosing lighter effort sessions to keep legs working while the bruises and strains clear up....

What the hell is wrong with me? For the third time in a row, I've not been able to complete the 8 minute test, this time producing 1.8w per KG in the ride and a suggested FTP of 180w! Needless to say I am/was way above that, roughly 33% fwiw.

In general I can comfortably finish all the longer intervals up to 95% of FTP - sweet spot, tempo o/u's etc, the closer to FTP the more discomfort, but I've struggled with Givens (3 mins at 120%, 140% and 160% as well, so it appears I've lost my top end - has my FTP plummeted and why?

I've checked everything on the bike, and the only difference from previous is a tyre change from an OEM Giant SR4 to a Michelin Lithion - it can't be that though if I'm finishing everything sub FTP in the plan right?

Haven't you had long standing illness? Not beyond the realm of possibility that the numbers have dropped either through this or the set up change. Ignore the numbers, complete an FTP test and scale from there. Maybe try a 20 minute test for a change as it is easier to get a better reflection of your FTP as you really have to nail an 8 minute test to give a good reflection of 60 minute power? Not much more you can do than that I wouldn't have thought.

Any hints for ILT (isolated leg training)? Did my first session of them last night and really struggled particularly with my right leg (had a total hip replacement on that side 14 months ago). I ended up by using the last five minutes or so just spinning with both legs as a recovery.

Kryton i had something like this last year when i changed the tyre everything was fine for a few rides then i couldn't finish anything, if i did the next day the warm up was hard going. Retested and FTP dropped by 42watts.
When i did a workout that was done a few week earlier at the old FTP my average speed was the same :/

I still don't know what changed. I use a Kurt Kinetic road machine fluid trainer so mot much can change my side.

I could understand a change in watts for what ever reason but when you drop 40 watts and your speed stays the same it doesn't make much sense.

Exited did you recover from it? How?

I can't even sit at my curent Ftp for 2 minutes, I don't get it at all.

This is what happened to me last week - I can't believe that I've dropped off that badly. I still haven't got to the bottom of it. The bike had been off the turbo then back on, so maybe I moved it. Or is there a possibility that TR have been messing with the power curves of the trainers?

Legolam you may have it :

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40011&t=12869366&start=2920 although thats not for the minoura I'm using.

Somethings up surely...

Calling Trevor.....?

much better day for me today. after failing a session last week, skipping the weekend and failing geiger before work, i came home and did geiger.

more than happy - i think i might have been over reaching on the cadence, going from 105 to 95 feels too hard at first but i finish the intervals much better...

I've sent in a support request asking if they've messed with anything.

I've posted the same on Bike Radar which Trevor does surf sometimes. Legolam, can I ask what workout you were doing? I seem to me fine under indicated FTP, but struggling over it - wondering if thats in common with you?

I first struggled on Jepson ( http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/1455791-Jepson).

It was just after I had the bike off the turbo for an outdoor ride, so I'm willing to concede that it might all be down to a slightly different setup. It felt very easy for the first two 8 min intervals, so I got off to check if I'd done up the wheel tight enough in the turbo (it was the same as always, although I think I'd moved the turbo a little on the garage floor). The third interval was waaay more difficult - average heart rate jumped from around 150bpm to 175bpm.

I've not been able to complete any workouts properly since. I'm sure it must be a setup issue because of the sudden jump but can't work out for the life of me what I've done differently.

I've posted it on the main forum as well but I imagine it'd be of particular interest to people on here so is anyone else on Zwift?

It's a MMO game using power (virtual/real) as per trainerroad to determine your speed and thus enable online races. I got accepted onto the beta this week, I think there's 2000 of us in the beta program now so was wondering if there's anybody else using it?

[url= http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/09/ultra-graphics-trainer.html ]DC Rainmaker review[/url]

[url= http://zwift.com/ ]Zwift[/url]

@ Leglam, your in my ball park here. On November pre- chest infection I completed Lamark - 4x10mins at 225w. Profile steady and flat as a pudding. WHILE I was ill in December I completed Cedric Wright at circa 220w per interval 8mins x 3, a few bumps, mainly smooth but then I had a chest infection.

Today I couldn't hold 220w, and I couldn't hold 240w for more than a minute last Thursday, despite the fact I since raced Saturday, and completed Slide Mountain at 3 x 10min 190w as a recovery ride fairly easily the following day.

So my evidence is showing that any workout even slightly above FTP is really really hard - more than it should be maybe...

I'll let you know when I get a reply from TR. In the meantime, I'm going to reposition my turbo/bike and have another shot at a workout tomorrow after work.

ooof. just did Olancha TC for the first time and it did a good job of trying to kill me...

tyre change from an OEM Giant SR4 to a Michelin Lithion

First week over. Did Keeler needle ( ramps) yesterday evening and it went really well. All good so far and feeling better and able to keep a consistent power. Finding longer intervals just under FTP harder than other parts. The recovery segments are pretty easy!!!.

What the hell is wrong with me? For the third time in a row, I've not been able to complete the 8 minute test,

I had that a few weeks ago, with the 20 minute, almost was like a mental block. I eased off for a bit, dropped my FTP, so I knew i could do some threshold stuff (as it was effectively under my threshold) and stayed at that FTP for a week. did a test last night, and I've gone up 10 points from my original FTP.

you're either too tired, or it's a mental thing.

you're either too tired, or it's a mental thing.

+1

i'm no expert (see list of failed sessions above) but i need to time eating before sessions right. too close and i haven't digested, too long and the energy is gone.

No, that isn't right. There's no way I could easily complete a 3 x 10 minute 225 watt intervals on a Sunday, and then struggle - and I mean in a leg stabbing sick inducing pain kind of way - 2 days later to complete only 15 watts more for two minutes.

Something doesn't add up.

Kryton, I've known my trainer setting to change itself in the app on rare occasions in the past.

Realise you've probably checked this anyway, but just in case...

Kryton, just a thought, has the wheel circumference setting in TR changed? If that's changed then it will have an impact on the speed calculation, and hence the power reported. I notice mine had changed recently to a smaller size (maybe an upgrade thing?) though it didn't bother me as I don't use virtual power. I only noticed when I was comparing Garmin and TR data the other day. I guess this would lead to under-reporting power.

Both - I've checked all that and the Trainers resistance setting - all the same. There is an Adobe upgrade on my Mac which pops up when I load TR's app which I haven't done yet - maybe thats it?

Levels of unusual toughness being reported on bikeradar also.

I've posted the same on Bike Radar which Trevor does surf sometimes. Legolam, can I ask what workout you were doing? I seem to me fine under indicated FTP, but struggling over it - wondering if thats in common with you?

Have you checked that the speed is still the same?
I.e If you download the data and upload into strava it will show you the speed your going at. If you compare an old test to one of your latest tests and find the power is the same, but the speed has gone up, then that would indicate something has gone wrong with the power calculations.

Fine tonight for me after bailing on Sunday's session, so clearly I was just a little run down.

Seems very odd Kryotn, hope you get it fixed.

I think I've managed to fix mine. I've just managed to complete Darwin (4x10 mins at close to FTP) at a much more reasonable RPE/HR (just over LTHR during the intervals).

It was a combination of:
1) resetting the wheel circumference - it seems to have defaulted back to 2120mm from 2136mm
2) moving the turbo back to where it was (6 inches to the left)
3) twiddling the resistance knob on the trainer a few times
4) not commuting by bike today

Legolam, curious that. I had a look at your ride on TrainingPeaks and the speed is pretty much the same (around 31kph) on all the 200W intervals including the last one that was harder, so it's not TR making you ride harder on the last one.

My guess would be something amiss with the turbo. Maybe slipping into a higher resistance setting?

Hmmm, in that case maybe it was the positioning of the turbo. The garage floor is a bit uneven, but I didn't notice that it was particularly wobbly or askew. Or maybe the resistance had changed up to level 3 rather than my usual level 2. Odd.

In other news, the TR app on my laptop is refusing to sync this evening's workout with my online career. Any hints/tips?

What's it saying? Wait a bit and try again later.

It was trying to sync to the server 3 times then just said "error- unable to sync". I logged out, and now it won't even connect to TR. Very annoying!

5th session done tonight, my god never realised how much it was possible to sweat!

I still thing something is wrong as I'm not getting any screen prompts at all. 4th session was Goddard from Sweet spot base 1. The description said to work on isolated legs, so I was expecting some prompts while riding but saw none.

Who has done Goddards? have i turned something off? I've cheecked the "Instructions" tab and checked yes and "hide text while riding" under my profile is unchecked. So surly I should have seen some sort of propmts from the last 4 sessions ??

Are you on a Mac? Not done any rides with instructions recently, but I no longer get the interval summary text. Maybe some problem with overlaying text?

Nope laptop, i had them on the very first one while watching netflix but none since.

Morning folks. If any thread can inspire me to use the indoor trainer more its this one. I have decided to get TR and use Virtual Power and am currently waiting for Amazon to send me an ANT+ dongle so I can crack on.

Can just ask about the trainer? I have an old-ish Minoura mag resistance trainer which is listed on the TR website . Does it just require you to set it to a certain level of resistance and work out your power from the speed and HR? Given that its 10 years old, how does TR know what the actual level of resistance is - given that it might not perform as well as a new model?

Yours, TR Curious