TrainerRoad – STW approved sessions

Oh and just in case any turbo-curious people are reading this, this is my first dabble on a turbo in years. Previously I tried it and managed about 3 goes of half an hour before giving the horrid thing away. A smart trainer plus TrainerRoad really is a game changer in multiple dimensions. 90 minutes is no problem, and it’s really quite rewarding.

Interested in what the high volume traditional base has as workouts etc. Any way of finding out without buying?

I don’t think there is if you aren’t signed up. I’ve a couple of “free intro months” to give away, you can have one of those if you want. I’ll need to PM you with the link but that’s at home so it will be tonight before I can do it.

Just looked at the High Vol traditional base. Week 1 is Warren, week 2 is Kolp, week 3 is Conness, week 4 is Gibbs. I.e. every session in those weeks is the same workout apart from the 8 minute test in week 1.

Rest week for me this week! Sweet spot 2 after that though…

Adsh Mail me and I can send you a screenshot if you like with description of trad base

The very last week of High Volume Trad Base (week 11 of 12) has you on the turbo for 14:30 hours 😯 I wonder how many people actually spend that much time on a turbo as I’d go spare.

Doing about 10hrs at the mo cos of the weather but commute will reduce that. Howsyourdad1 – e mail sent

About 10hrs is as much turbo as I can get in before Mrs Blobby starts complaining!

Wondering what people’s experiences are with BLE devices? As good as using ANT+? Just got a new PM that does BLE so now iPad TrainerRoad is a nice option to have without any silly dongle.

Also anyone recommend a good cheapish BLE HRM? The 20 quid ones of Amazon any good?

I have a Wahoo Tickr. I’m not running it on BLE but I’m not that impressed to be honest. It drops out if I sit up on the bike and cross my arms across my chest(so basically stretching out during a rest period). Outside it gives false readings a lot in the wind (which I attribute to static off the jersey).

Sweamrs is also training so 5 hours on the turbo (we’re sharing one) is about all I can achieve but that’s about all I’m mentally capable of anyway I reckon.

I use ipad for trainerroad with Kickr and occasionally stages both on BLE with no issues or dropout. Have recently started using a Mio link arm/wrist HR and that runs through BLE perfectly and records on Garmin as well as Trainerroad app. I just need to get a BLE cadence then won’t bother with Garmin on the turbo.
Use the Mio for commutte as well, can be a big of pain to make due in right place but when right no issues, but can’t use on mtb as slips or misreads.

FTP test tonight…i’m currently undecided about doing either the 20min or 8min TR test or giving one of the tests on Zwift a go!

On top of that, I’m using my MTB on the turbo at the moment and only have a 36/26 set up. I have the resistance on the turbo wacked up but I’m a bit worried I’ll still end up spinning out!!!!

Oh why is my life so hard 😆

Could barely hold z2 for 75minutes this morning. Another hour tonight and 2.5hrs tomorrow. Can the knowledge of how it feels to fail provide enough motivation…. The perils of starting a block too hard.

Oh why is my life so hard

Speak for yourself, I’ve been reduced to a diet of poached eggs and fizzy water to get through Brass Monkeys with any credibility.

Mary Austin tonight – with a pinched Rhomboid muscle, this isn’t going to be pleasant.

Speak for yourself, I’ve been reduced to a diet of poached eggs and fizzy water to get through Brass Monkeys with any credibility.

I could happily live on poached eggs…not sure my guts would like it though

Mary Austin, looks a proper workout that!

Still at least another week before I start crash dieting for BM 😉

Trying for outdoor rides all this week, been too much turbo recently.

Me too Mr Blobby. My wife decided to tear her ACL playing Hockey so the resulting running around has left me a bit time crunched.

Luckily after tonight its rest week, I’m marshalling the CX regionals on Sunday so I’ll ride there and back, sitting on may arse eating sandwiches and watching the racing in between. Might try to get out Friday lunchtime also.

Have we discussed the TrainerRoad BETA version yet? If not, I am in the only one that finds following training plans a bit crap now as you cant see which ones you’ve done? Or I am missing something somewhere?

No we haven’t and yes I agree… It would be nice if as you went through a plan they coloured green or the like. With the potential to reset at the start of a training “season”.

I’d also love to be able to compare stats from sessions. e.g I think my cadence has improved since last year but I’m currently basing that on eyeballing the same sessions from last year to this year.

happy and sad that it’s not me then. The old version was much simpler to see what you were meant to be doing, I will definitely forget what I’m up to with the new one

Let TR know if it’s not good, they are usually good with feedback.

On the recovery week now, did Pettit tonight – basically an hour of spinning as I wasn’t too bothered by the drills. Did Black last night which is basically like a road ride with the power levels continually shifting – you are only at any given power level for three minutes max. Andrews on Thursday night then I’ll see what the weekend’s like and whether to do Gibbs.

Then on to the next 8 minute test and Mid volume part 2.

Do any of you guys find it tough to sleep after a turbo session? Generally I’m finished by 8ish then eat and shower but often can’t get to sleep. Can’t go earlier as putting kiddy to bed.

Varies for me but it’s more to do with how much thinking I’m doing when I go to bed, If I’m mulling over a long running problem/activity then it can be hours before I drop off, if I just empty my mind (a thimble-full is all that’s there) then I can be asleep in minutes.

Oh, that was tough.

*cries*

I need to eat now, DT78 I won’t be in bed until 11pm.

I just did Tallac. Off to bed soon. I often struggle to get to sleep after an evening session, so do prefer early morning ones, but that doesn’t always work out.

Sweajnr goes to bed at 7; I try to be on the turbo at 7:30 so I’m done by 8:30pm. That gives me an hour and a half to wind down afterwards which seems to work okay. I’m up at 6 and in work by 7:30 so really can’t contemplate doing a session in the morning despite previous discussions on here about the merits of exercising early.

Huffaker for me tonight, finished just before 10pm, protein shake with banana and kiwi followed by a quick shower then on the computer to look at all the numbers.

Eyes are getting heavy now, should go to bed really…

I’m often up at 4.30, on the turbo by about 5, out the door at 6.20. Works pretty well for me, and leaves the evening free for family / eating / relaxing. This week though, Sunday’s ride didn’t happen until early afternoon, and I didn’t get great sleep on Sunday night (small child), so early Monday didn’t happen, so then that was bumped to Monday evening, and I don’t really want to do an early morning turbo the day after an evening one so that’s wanged me onto an evening turbo schedule Mon-Tues-Weds this week. Probably rest tomorrow then big commute on Friday morning… woohoo! I’m actually really enjoying this training lark overall.

My sleep is only really effected if I totally destroy myself with a race intensity effort. I can pass out quickly but will wake up with killer calf muscle ache around 4 hours later.

Most odd, stretching doesn’t seem to help. Happens from training occasionally and racing most of the time.

My sleep is only really effected if I totally destroy myself with a race intensity effort.

I was awoken last night in all kinds of muscular pain. Mind you, I had a flu jab in the morning, and did Mary Austin – 8 x 10’s average @FTP or 4 x 20’s with 1min rest over 90 mins – until 9pm last night.

That was a bizarre effort – intervals 6 & 7 had me really struggling – in a dribbly kind of way – to get through the muscular / lactate pain but immediately after the workout and still until know I feel great!

I raced an evening Summer series again this year. The races started at 1930 and usually lasted about 80mins. I certainly didnt sleep very well those nights but I put it down to caffeine usage as I don’t tend to consume caffeine after 9am normally unless im racing!!

Anyway – I went for the Zwift FTP test last night but probably wont do that one again. The average power for the 20mins on Zwift read about 20 watts lower than the average power that my Garmin recorded for the same 20mins.

My FTP came out at 3w lower than my previous test and i’m in 2 minds about how to take this! My last test was on a Wattbike, at a different time of the day (11am as opposed to 7pm). My last test also had 4 other team mates testing at the same time and we could all see each others stats on a big screen, therefore it had an element of competiton so I think the results were a little inaccurate.

On top of that, the info I got after the test didnt seem to reduce to 20min average by 5%. If it did then I’ve had a 5% increase in FTP over the last 4.5 weeks so am pretty happy I guess.

3.78w/kg isn’t too bad to be starting the Base phase is it?

Will quite often get off the turbo around 10 and need to be in bed by 11. I try and get the more intense part of the workout out the way early. Have in the past really struggled with sleep, think I’m just use to it now.

Never good sleep after evening race though, especially if it went badly (chewing it over in my mind!)

Quick question, I have completed the FTP on Zwift and a couple of workouts on there and TrainerRoad but as of yet I am undecided on which one to stick with and undertake properly. I like the social/fun side of Zwift but think I prefer the training aspect of TR.

Do I drop one, if so should I stick with TR, or just keep both and use TR for workout and Zwift for a ‘fun’ turbo ride?

Quick question, I have completed the FTP on Zwift and a couple of workouts on there and TrainerRoad but as of yet I am undecided on which one to stick with and undertake properly. I like the social/fun side of Zwift but think I prefer the training aspect of TR.

Do I drop one, if so should I stick with TR, or just keep both and use TR for workout and Zwift for a ‘fun’ turbo ride?

Personally, I think I’ll be using TR for anything structured and Zwift for the fun element. I’m not sure that Zwift offers enough to me personally to pay the fees…that may change one day, especially if and when I replace my turbo with a smart trainer (I think Zwift is essentially meant for these).

I found the power fluctuations on Zwift to be too much for me. Not having a 3sec smoothing function meant that I was constantly chasing the numbers which meant I speant more time looking at my Garmin than at the monitor…that seems pretty pointless to me!!!!

Don’t Zwift do structured TR like workouts now too?

Yeah they do – which is what I followed last night when I did their version of the FTP test…as I say though, for some reason, the power seemed to fluctuate quite a lot and seemed way off compared to my Garmin (using a Stages PM rather than virtual power so I’d assume they should be almost identical).

I personally think Zwift would be amazing used with a smart trainer, but I dont have one at the moment so it seems a bit wasted on me

Curious that. Are both using ANT+ or is the Garmin using ANT+ and Zwift BLE?

Ummm….I assumed both are using ANT+ but I cant be totally sure!

I’m pretty confident they’re both ANT+ as the little dongle logo does its thing when I’m connecting/pairing the PM and HR

Personally, I think I’ll be using TR for anything structured and Zwift for the fun element. I’m not sure that Zwift offers enough to me personally to pay the fees…that may change one day, especially if and when I replace my turbo with a smart trainer (I think Zwift is essentially meant for these).

This is my thinking. Although if I got a 2nd ANT+ stick I could run the TR workout on Zwift, best of both worlds? I have seen a few others do this so know it works

This is my thinking. Although if I got a 2nd ANT+ stick I could run the TR workout on Zwift, best of both worlds? I have seen a few others do this so know it works

I have a spare laptop and had a spare stick (i gave it to our team mechanic). If I still had the spare stick I think I’d have run both together…TR for the actual workout and Zwift for entertainment value.

Maybe when TR release their Android version…