Anyone have any experience good or bad using trainer road? Need some training guidance for bham velo next year

I use it…I follow whatever plan suits my current needs / available time.  It’s good..tho the latest update is taking some getting used to.

There’s a whole huge thread on here some…”Trainerroad stw approved sessions” or something

Yeah check out the TrainerRoad thread on here, lots of reading.

Ive used it for years, for the Velo ride I’d be following the sweetspot base plans…maybe low volume 1 & 2 with some longer outdoor rides at weekends when you can. Also you could put in an easy spin up session between the midweek workouts if you get chance.

12 weeks of base from now will take you into new year, then maybe the 8 week general build plan to take you into March when the weather will be improving…you can then either move on to specificity or spend the next two months working on distance since you’ll have more opportunities.

I’m in a similar position as I’ve missed the last few months through injury, I’m looking to build back up to be in good shape for spring and will follow those plans. They’ve worked very well for me before.

What type of trainer is it for? Do you have a power meter?  If you have the mindset and stick to the plans it’s very effective.

I find it very effective.  Drifted off the plans over the summer but there’s such a variety of workouts I tend to use it if I want to zone out in front of a movie.

I found trainer plans hard to follow because realistically I wanted to ride outside and turbo training was just a means to an end when I couldn’t get out as often as summer. The last thing I’d ever think of doing would be doing a turbo session just because a bit of paper said so and it was a nice day outside, and how many of those do you get a week mid November!

Depends what you want to do and how serious you are though. If you just want to survive a 100 mile sportive then just riding more is pretty much all that’s required.

So I just used them as a substitute, miss a night ride then do some speed intervals, miss a clubrun then do 2×20 (or 3×20, or more) etc.

As above with the plans, they do assume you are turbo only and that you dedicating the full amount of time to it.

Ended up getting more out of Sufferfest as I just pick and choose what kind of session I want and stick the video on.

But adding one of two sessions a week will make a big difference over winter whatever they are so long as you are working hard in them

If you can stick to a plan and like data driven training then trainer road is probably for you.  Pick a plan, choose high, medium or low volume and away you go.

It does work best if you have a power meter or smart trainer that can measure your power output. But HR, cadence and speed will do and create a ‘virtual power’ for you.

If you use android give indoor cycling workout a try ICW.    It is free but you can purchase extra structured workouts for pennies.

Ive had zwift , Bkool and rouvy but I’m like others on here and prefer to get outside if I can.

I was wasting money with subscriptions so ICW suits me.

So long as you have a power meter it’s not that difficult to go outside and do your intervals if you prefer, just aim to replicate the workout and TSS (or even hrTSS if you don’t)

I would disagree with that, a lot of the trainer road wrkouts require you to hold a constant power between 85-95% of ftp extended periods. The reasoning being that it gives you the best training benefits with limited recovery.  That’s hard to replicate on the road successfully unless you live somewhere flat and straight

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/trainerroad-stw-approved-sessions/page/79/

Difficult to hold a narrow range yeah, but I find it averages out pretty well if you pick your routes depending on your intervals.

I did this through most of last winter and it worked out well, always aimed to ride outdoors first unless weather or time constraints dictated.

Hardest part was reading the watts on the Garmin!

I agree with @jonnyboi – there’s no way I could do sweet spot or threshold intervals properly on the road.

In general, I like TR as it means I can maintain decent fitness without enormous time commitment and I can choose how to be entertained while I do it. I’ve tried Zwift and Sufferfest and found them both a bit less reliable to use and neither could keep me entertained for a winter’s worth of grinding.

My approach these days is to use the low volume plans and then add in extra rides on top when weather/circumstance allows.

I don’t have a power meter or anything so it would just be on a standard turbo trainer. Presume it would guess my power output somehow? Do you follow them on a laptop or phone? Could I load it onto my element bolt?

Your wheel speed is proportional to power for a given turbo resistance, more or less. TR will allow you to choose your turbo, and will know the resistance curve – Hey Presto! Virtual Power at your disposal.

Actually works really well IF your turbo resistance is fairly stable to temperature. Some aren’t, which means the resistance falls over time as the mechanism heats up. You’ll feel like a hero burying a long interval but really it’s 10% easier by the end. Still, it’s usable as far as just getting fit is concerned, and some turbos don’t drift that bad at all.

They have some advice on using ‘virtual power’ here:

https://www.trainerroad.com/virtual-power

I used it for about a year and was happy enough with it. It doesn’t read your absolute power very accurately at all, but as long as you use the set up the same way each time then it will be consistent.

That’s a fair point Garry_Lager – I use Trainerroad in the winter but only usually 2-3 sessions a week and rely on virtual power. My turbo is fluid and in the shed and when it’s cold I definitely get a hero interval near the end sometimes as the fluid has warmed and the resistance decreased! You can increase the effort a few % though if you can recognize this happening. My set up is consistent though in terms of tire pressure and the resistance and I’ve found virtual power pretty accurate considering.

I used virtual power on a kurt road machine for a couple of years using roll down calibrations – I finally bought a power meter and discovered that the virtual power was bang on. Just changed to a tacx neo for the ergo function, and while that is convenient the feel of it is not as good as the kurt. Wondering if I may go back to it!

You need a turbo with at least a speed/cadence sensor for Trainer Road to use virtual power.

The thing i really like about it is it has a ‘minimal’ mode that you can open over the top of a movie on a single monitor.