TrainerRoad – STW approved sessions

The old garage is warming up a bit now and my Dyson fan that did nicely in the winter is struggling. Any recommendations for something powerful with a remote control?

I’ve seen picture of some that sit on the floor in front of the bike and angle up at the rider which look like a good idea.

I have a couple of these screwfix ones.

Remote control? Belkin Wemo switch to control from your phone?

I bought one of theserecently from ebay – 40 quid with a remote control.
It works great, level 1 is easily enough airflow, oscillates – bit rinky-dink, though, really basic quality so don’t know how long it will last.

Makes quite a difference!

Only 55 watts 🙂

Handy, thanks.

I’ve got 2 Honywell HT-900 Turbo fans running on mid-speed. It’s pretty noisy but not ridiculous and they certainly seem to shift a lot of air….. They aren’t remote but I just turn them on and leave them.

So my workout for Saturday is “Broken finger”. The last workout of the general build. Looking at it in detail this is Kern (3 sets of VO2 max intervals) followed by some over-unders.

I did Kern on Tuesday and is was one of the hardest workouts I’ve done with me lying on the floor afterwards and feeling sick for ~ 1hour. There was no way I could have managed some over-unders afterwards.

Do people think it’s better to dial the % down and finish the workout or try it and know I might be bailing after the VO2 max part? Or do Kern again and find some over-unders to do the following day?

Broken finger

125 TSS in 90 mins, that’s going to be hard!

I’d just give it a try and see how it goes. You could always skip one or two of the O/U if you’re legs are done.

TBH Kern on its own looks pretty tough but it’s an hour at 0.94 IF so shouldn’t really be leaving you dying on the floor. I’d guess your power above threshold needs a bit of work (just because two people come out of an FTP test with the same number, doesn’t mean they’ll both have the same capacity for work at 115% of that value.) So maybe it might be worth knocking it down a few percentage points while you do these sorts of intervals.

I agree on power above threshold needing work and I think I’m going to do parts of the short power build at some point. I really notice when riding with a few friends that while we all have roughly the same w/kg they are much better at punchy climbs or pulling away with a quick burst of power…

Just to echo the above post, due to moving house and getting sick my build training suffered a little. lots of little breaks here and there.

Anyhow I’m now on to specialism and finding , for example, the last interval of 3 to be very tough. I am hitting the power output but not holding it. The frst two intervals i can complete, all be it slightly under the requirement on the 2nd interval.

Should I dial down the whole workout a few % rdo the intervals i can then drop it right down to complete the third interval? or just do the best i can for all three?

Thanks in advance.

Should I dial down the whole workout a few % rdo the intervals i can then drop it right down to complete the third interval? or just do the best i can for all three?

Dropping it right down may mean not being ‘in zone’ which negates the benefit.

Generally better to do the first intervals at the power you can hold for the last. If this takes you below the desired zone drop the number of intervals or reduce the non interval section.

Been using TR for a while now and reading this thread on and off.

Just thought I’d pop up to say has anyone seen the new programme stuff? You can now track your workouts against a programme and it’ll tick them off as you do them.

Dropping it right down may mean not being ‘in zone’ which negates the benefit.

Generally better to do the first intervals at the power you can hold for the last. If this takes you below the desired zone drop the number of intervals or reduce the non interval section.

Ok so start as i mean to go on. Reduce the percentage of the whole workout from the beginning and complete all the intervals at the recommended power etc.

Then i suppose go up 1 % after a workout of two until back at 100%?

At this point I have to own up to not actually using TR so can’t help on that bit. The targets for my own intervals are based on a loose triangulation of how I feel, what I’ve done and how much pain I feel I can cope with. I’m not willing to hand that over to an algarythm. I do try and stick to a principle of never give up which means if I overdo it I will do the last intervals at reduced power rather than give up. From a training point of view giving up might be better but for me it’s a mental mindset I don’t want to start.

Sure , appreciate that. I don’t give up on the last interval section , I still do it as hard as I can , but the power output is perhaps 25w under the goal.

This has been discussed on the TR podcast a few times I think. They tend to suggest the following IIRC:

1) Be sure that your FTP is set right.
2) If you’re ill or too fatigued then it might be better to just call it off or opt for a lower intensity workout instead, but if you’re good on those fronts then:

(a) Dropping the intensity a few % is OK. Different people do have slightly different power profiles, so whilst e.g. 120% of FTP for n minutes might be a do-able VO2max interval for many, it might not be for you, especially if you’re a bit old or weak of mind (:-)). Drop it by too much though and you will miss the point of the session.
(b) A super-short rest mid-interval is OK. They tend to recommend back-pedalling for a few (<5) seconds just to give the muscles a chance for a quick flush and the mind a quick break. The way they talk, they seem to do that themselves often – much better to do that and still get through the interval than to bail or drop it down.
(c) If the high intensity stuff is still regularly too tough for you to complete, but you’re sure that overall your FTP setting is OK, then you can increase the rest between intervals a bit.
(d) MTFU

What gray and adsh said 🙂

I still use TR but most of what i do is custom workouts. And intervals are based on what my power for that duration is rather than just being a % of FTP which is a bit crude. So if, for example, my 5 min max is 400W, I might do 3 at 380W. Then depending on how that went I might tweak it up or down for the next session regardless of what my FTP is set to.

I listen to podcasts instead of actually riding. They’re pretty good. (I’d recommend starting at the beginning though.)

I reckon in a few years’ time there’ll be an equivalent of TR that will give you customised workouts that are based on your power profile, where you’d like to improve it and for what style of event, and automatically detect your levels of fatigue / when you’re ill and tweak things accordingly. I reckon the data that they’ve acquired already is an absolute goldmine. Strava too – if someone with the right skills got hold of that I think they could learn a lot about how mediocre athletes respond to training, and build an excellent AI TrainBot.

I’d be surprised if TR aren’t planning something along those lines (at least the power profile customised stuff.)

Thanks all . Will MTFU

I’d be surprised if TR aren’t planning something along those lines

Agreed. Especially now they have the HR / power warm-up as well. I’m waiting for the day something pops up and says “Based on your previous 50 warm-ups and HR there’s no way you’re going to complete this session so give up now”

I’m mid-way through the 2014 8 days of California and it’s tough.. but also really good as something with a bit more variety than straight intervals.

“Based on your previous 50 warm-ups and HR there’s no way you’re going to complete this session so give up now”

😀

Outside intervals tonight – hugely over to the extent I feel as if I’m about to throw up 2hrs after. Suspect that’s the end of this block.

Just tried the 2014 8 DC stage 3 and it was brutal. Couldn’t keep power for the final “climb” and had to abandon. On the way set new personal bests for 10 minute and 30 minute power but just couldn’t manage the second round.

The commentary really does keep you involved though and I’m finding this more motivating than straight training currently as suffering a bit of turbo fatigue.

We’re totally open to some of the ideas you guys are discussing above! Send in some of ’em to our user-voice page at: https://trainerroad.uservoice.com/forums/131395-general. We regularly go through these in consideration of what our users want to see in future development cycles. 🙂

Regarding the struggle on your 8DC ride, may just been one of those days. But just to be sure, check out our blog article on burning out. It’ll give you some insights as to riding the fine line between your physical and mental: http://blog.trainerroad.com/how-to-recognize-burnout-and-what-to-do-about-it/

Way to go on the PR’s though!

Happy Training, everyone!

Community Manager at TrainerRoad – Cycling’s Most Effective Training Tool
https://www.trainerroad.com/how-it-works

OMG they are watching us

FYI I just upgraded my Kickr to the latest firmware and now my power readings (on wahoo fitness app) are bouncing around all over the place, and the power distribution for my ride is muc more widely distributed with reading way higher than I normally get as well.

If you are going to do the upgrade it might be worth watching how your power fluctuates for a while before you do the upgrade to see if it gets messed up afterwards.

nickkanwetz – Member
We’re totally open to some of the ideas you guys are discussing above!

Community Manager at TrainerRoad – Cycling’s Most Effective Training Tool
https://www.trainerroad.com/how-it-works

howsyourdad1 – Member
OMG they are watching us

Now here’s a brilliant example of how STW can monetise the forum without throwing massive ads around.

We’ve got a great thread running, that has attracted positive attention from the manufacturer it’s about. So STW make it a sticky backed by a commercial arrangement with TrainerRoad. Agree that it’ll stay a sticky to promote TrainerRoad within the STW community and in return, TR engage with the community via the sticky on training advice and use of the app, plus some cash to STW Towers. Both companies and the community win.

Well another day and another failure to complete an 8 Days of California stage. This time day 6 which is billed as the hardest day. When I bailed at an 1hr10 my TSS was already 100 😯

These stages are certainly showing up my weakness – namely bursts of power above along way above FTP. Given I’ve been training for BC Bike race (average stage is ~50km with 1600m of climbing) which is a lot of longer slower riding not too concerned but think next winter I might do short power build or similar instead.

*Presses Reset*

Right, what recommendation for tonights pre-race get-my-lardy-arse-into-gear session for Wednesdays XCO race?

Since I decided I actually am an XC racer last night I’m back, need a session before Wednesdays race, will do a 20 min Test on Friday, race on Sunday then start on XCM ready for July’s target 24h.

Custom session. 1hr of z2 with 20 mins of tempo and 5 30 second hard efforts. Job done. (Bit like this one but with shorter and harder efforts.)

Something more off the shelf?

https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/3714304-8dc-stage-2-2013

?

Too hard IMO with a .92 IF. You could knock it down 10%.

ok, you’re thinking a bit less stress pre-wednesday but with some wake-up sprints:

https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/workouts/108313-cheaha-1

?

Not hard enough 🙂

How about Carrigain? (ignoring the low cadence instructions.)

Ok, I’m in for that.

sweamrs is looking for a “pyramid” style workflow – e.g 1min @85%; 1 @ 95% ; 1 @ 105% and then down again.

So many workouts it’s hard to just find stuff – any ideas from those who might have done something similar?

Keeler Needle?

Haeckel – although it’s 3 x 3 mins rather than 1. Have you used the workout creator? You can use it to make customised workouts if you can’t find a workout that matches your requirements.