TrainerRoad – STW approved sessions

My mistake it was Tuesday. yes an easy week – edit i forgot, i did a 15m TT goodnfriday then, last ride 84k easy on Saturday, good nights sleep ever since.

I have a tickly cough though, that started yesterday and seems to be borderingbin a cold today, although HR etc was fine at the time. Surely that cant have been the issue?

i dont know what to do with my ftp tbh.

Woke up coughing up brown stuff. That answers that then, and most likely another training week / opportunity for miles bites the dust.

Don’t worry, such is life! Just ignore the test I reckon, and try to pick up where you left off. Can always dial it down a few % for the first few rides back if necessary.

So I’m debating between short power build and general build. I don’t have any events this season as such this is just for fitness as sweajnr means I’m not riding outside as much as I’d otherwise manage.

When I look at some of the short power workouts they (obviously) have some big changes in power over short times (e.g Joe Devel +1). e.g 15 seconds @ 150% then 15 seconds @ 50%. My set-up is a Power2Max PM and an old Minoura turbo trainer. Anybody got any experience of how best to set up the trainer etc to cope with such rapid swings in power.

General build (which I did last year) also seems to have changed substantially.

Anyone got any thoughts on good sessions to play with when coming back from an injury? Just using Free Ride 30 and doing my own thing, but most of the sessions might be a bit pointless if just reducing the percentage figure?

How bad / long-term an injury?

Ive just had some surgery, and am going to have to play it very gently for a bit, so really I’m going to just do what I feel like. I find sweet spot style stuff like Mount Field pretty OK, with my FTP bumped down a load from where it was. I’ll just do that and play it by ear until I feel like I’m solid enough to go properly into Sweet Spot Base. That’ll hopefully only be a month or 6 weeks.

Assuming your injury is mechanical, it’s probably the case that high intensity is out, so I guess you just have to do the best you can, whilst prioritising your recovery.

Not that bad and medium-term. Ruined an ankle ligament and kept riding on it without realising for a year or so. So have had to have some small bone repairs and rebuilt the ligament using an internal brace. Had the op 3 weeks ago now, first turbo session towards the end of last week then was on again last night.

Mount Field is probably a good call, just playing with the ftp setting as you say. Will give it a go tomorrow

Now, if only I could unclip my left foot properly 😳

Sounds a bit of a pain. Hope it recovers well. I’m lucky in a way – mine’s higher up so my legs are perfectly happy wiggling around on a turbo. I had my first go a couple of days ago. Was good, considering. Could do with higher bars to be comfortable, but expect that to change pretty rapidly so probably won’t bother doing anything about that. I did get a bit of a sweat on and upset my wound dressings a bit though, so am going to wait a few days before my next go.

Best of luck!

Having spent 2 months doing very high intensity but short intervals I have my first Z4 sweetspot this afternoon and I’m dreading it. New FTP has it not far from where I was at threshold at the start of winter and I just know it’s going to hurt badly.

In case anyone is interested, the Tacx Neo seems to have drifted down in price over the last few months. Now quite widely available for under £900, including Amazon for £884:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0112VE4NO

I’m still using my Vortex, in Erg mode with Powermatch mostly on. It’s working well more often than not now, but still occasionally just goes all to pot and I end up switching out of Erg for the rest of the workout. I’m pretty likely to get a Kickr or Neo by the autumn, I reckon. I’m erring towards a Kickr, partly because of mrblobby’s experience that Erg mode on his Neo feels a bit rough. and partly because I saw this interview that Ray Maker did with a Wahoo chap, who I liked:

Back slightly more on topic, I’m now two months post-spine-surgery, and had my first physio session this week. All seems good so far. I’ve done a few TrainerRoad sessions (sweet spot ones like Mount Field, Tallac, Pallisade-2) in the last fortnight, and will squeeze in another one tomorrow before flying off to the US for a work trip. I’m lingering there for a couple of extra days in Boulder, Colorado, so will do my first outdoor ride after the surgery, in the ROCKY MOUNTAINS baby! Sorry, I got a bit excited there. Once I get back I’m going to plough right into Sweet Spot Base and watch the fitness come rolling back in!

Great thread, without having to read 82 pages has anyone move to TrainerRoad and regretted it, if so why?

Has anyone move to TrainerRoad from something like Chris Carmichael’s Time-Crunched Cyclist training plan, if so how have you found it?

Is there a better option than TrainerRoad for a ‘normal’ racer trying to make the most of his time to be as fit as possible?

Speaking personally – and this has a lot to do with my working practises – I’ve been criticised by fellow racers and a coach for not spending enough time out on the bike. I’m an MTB racer so core strength, flexibility and technical riding is important and I’ve neglected those.

I’m making changes in this winter season to address that, vis a vis don’t neglect outside riding

Has anyone move to TrainerRoad from something like Chris Carmichael’s Time-Crunched Cyclist training plan, if so how have you found it?

Is there a better option than TrainerRoad for a ‘normal’ racer trying to make the most of his time to be as fit as possible? TR has a a time-crunched plan in its training pages, so you can do this if you like. Amongst many, many other plans.

I really like TR – just don’t do enough of it, so at times it feels like I’m not justifying my subscription. But that’s my problem, not TRs! The only technical problem I’ve had with it is that my turbo is quite basic and suffers from drift as it warms up, which can affect virtual power accuracy quite a bit. Not all turbos do this, some are stable.
I now have a power meter so the accuracy issue is resolved, but I still need to slowly raise cadence to deliver steady power, which is a minor issue.

I think you’d have to be at quite an advanced level to find problems with TR, like the plan designs weren’t quite right for you or something like that. For the vast majority of riders who want to get stronger it fits the bill.

has anyone move to TrainerRoad and regretted it, if so why?

first caveat – i’m only moderatly fit.

Similar to Kryton…

2015 i spent loads of time on the trainer over the winter – to the detriment of outdoor cycling – I came into spring the fittest i’d ever been. Did Paris-Roubaix early April. My lack of core strength really showed; The cobbles highlighted an issue with spending not enough time on the bike/ in the gym.

It’s all a balancing act.

Thanks for the replies, with the Carmichael TCC plan it works well as you can do the interval sessions indoors during the week to make sure you’re nailing the power and then spend the weekend outside, so it keeps a good balance. From reading about TR I think their time crunched planning is similar.

Right – I have an FTP test at lunchtime today. I’m usually very bad at completing them to my/any potential. I’ve been off the booze for a while, slept well last few days and have just had a decent breakfast. I really want this to go well and for me to finish the test with as best W/KG I can muster.

If you’ve any last minute tips they’d be gratefully recieved!!

Put The Prodigy on, loud! Good luck!

+2.5%

Phew. *falls over*

+2.5% is good.

I’m -7.5% but that’s an estimate as I’m not up to testing yet. Just glad to be able to get on bike.

But your health is improving? Thats good, obviously.

Its not bad for a badly self coached athlete. Gives me a measure now for the Torq session in October.

I’m looking to shift my focus and looking for some advice/ thoughts.

I’ve been through build, sustained power and century training plans.

I’ve completed my century (london 100), and the training seemed to have done it’s job. I’m now looking forward to CX season which i’m going to dabble with this winter.

This blog post [/url] on Road into CX suggests sustained power into a CX plan.

I’m thinking Short Power into a CX plan, as i’ve already done the Sustained Power plan.

Does my logic hold up?

When does your cx season start / finish?

My training is all outside but not far off the cx plan already – but first race for me is mid sept and all over by christmas

mid to late october. I’m only going to get the second half of the season as i’m on holiday for 3 weeks at the beginning, a great way to kick off a season i know! 🙄

Any recommendations for a typical opener workout?

Need a backup plan for the turbo/rollers in case it doesn’t dry out by late afternoon…

Truuli is my go to, but just done pahrah as a cx opener which was good

Cheers ferrals, Truuli +1 looks like it will do…I’m usually around 6 short bursts and anything between endurance and tempo in between, about 90 minutes in all but really don’t fancy that on the trainer!

Yeah truuli works well, I quite often do a couple of all out bursts at the end instead of the last interval. I like doing openers on the turbo, means I don’t have to clean bike the day before a race!

Did pahrah today as been away for two weeks on the trot so lacking fitness and just wanted something short to remind me of pain.

G’day TR fanboi’s and girls. Despite my love of both Zwift and Friel, my obsession with the Ask a Coach podcast means I’m Coach Chad curious!

Just wondering what plans you’ve followed to completion, what sort of results you’ve got and what any pros and cons (of the plans) are.

I guess it’s the Sweetspot base options that have made me tempted. My training hours are relatively fixed across the year so I like the way the plans build intensity without needing to do double figure hours at any point.

The only tricky thing I can see is missing workouts for races. I’ll be targeting series of Crits next season, peaking a couple of times- which tend to be not as hard as one of the hard interval sessions but not easy enough to be endurance. Any tricks for managing regular races alongside a TR plan?

Thinking of SSBase 1 and 2, sustained power build (more of a personal limiter than short power) and then the Crit Speciality.

Also wondering about Sweetspot Base and losing weight. Is it too tough to do alongside a significant calorie deficit (compared with a more traditional Z2 kind of base)?

Cheers in advance 🙂

I think they discussed the issue of racing whilst in the middle of a plan a couple of podcasts ago.

Personally I’ve found sweet spot base to be very manageable along with weight loss. A couple of years back I was doing sweet spot base low volume plus a 3-4 hour zone 2 ride, and losing weight quite nicely. I mostly did my TR sessions early in the morning, often fasted. I think this is probably something you have to test for yourself though. I have great confidence in TR plans getting me fitter, but I’ve done them from an untrained starting point, so hard to say how much is down to the specifics of TR, and how much is down to just consistently riding.

I do have a decent amount of faith in the theory though (and coach Chad!), so I remain a fan and plan to start sweet spot base again soon…

Oh and I enjoy the workouts – they vary just enough to keep it interesting!

Awesome, thanks Gray. Yeah, I think he said he had plans afoot for a Race Maintenance type plan so it might be here by 2018.

I’m just concerned that if I race every Tuesday say, and that’s a crucial set of intervals, I’ll miss not just one element but also all the progression built in to that.

I’m currently using Sustained Power Build to try and rescue my FTP for October and for example, tomorrow is 4×8@ 108% and Sunday is 2×30 mins Sweet Spot. I’m racing at Hillingdon so was going to do my best to make it like the 4×8 but swap it for whichever one it ultimately ends up replicating closely and doing the other one on Sunday.
I’m just concerned that the subtle balance of intensity and endurance or rest could easily get out of kilter if I was shuffling stuff around too much- to the point that I’d just as well create a Friel plan.

Yeah, I think the gist of what they recommend is to use your common sense and listen to your body. It’s not hard to figure out which of the prescribed sessions are the real ‘quality’ ones, and the message is always to prioritise quality over anything else. Typically in a low volume plan there are two main workouts and one that’s intended to be swappable for an outdoor ride. So if you do a race where you’ve not burnt through loads of TSS, then it’s simple, you just swap that for the less focused workout from that week’s plan. I imagine it will often be hard to replicate a workout’s format in a race, so that might be the most common strategy. However, it’s not an absolute science, so if you can get close and have some fun along the way then why not? Anyway, if you’re on a low volume plan then I’m sure that you’ll be able to handle doing a race AND the two quality workouts each week. You’ll know if you’re overdoing it.

Currently on mid-volume and finding it manageable so it should do for most of the year.
I guess if I really muck up a week, I can just repeat it before moving on.

Can’t be arsed to check now, but if I remember rightly, the mid volume just adds some low intensity stuff. I take that to mean ‘the two quality workouts are the meat of the week, the rest is up to you’, so get your volume on top of that however suits you (though bearing in mind this is supposed to be a base phase!) provided it doesn’t adversely affect the quality.

Yeah, I’ll be racing less frequently (probably 😆 ) over the winter so should be able to follow the Base plans quite well.
I’ve got the Beta version of the iOS App so I get to mark my outdoor rides as ‘Outdoor’ rather than leaving them blank or as ‘Skipped’ 8)

I guess if I really muck up a week, I can just repeat it before moving on.

you can but remember to have your rest/ consolidation week every so often.

I’m starting sweet spot base in October, went for low volume and will compliment it with a Sunday cafe/club run. We also have a local winter bash on a Saturday which will occasionally replace the weekend session when the weather works out, then active recovery on Sunday.

1 & 2 will take me up to Christmas week, sustained power build from new year through to Majorca in March.

All my training will move outdoors from that point, that’s where I need to work out the racing/training balance…got the Freil book to read so will hopefully have a better idea by then. Or maybe bite the bullet and pay someone!

Think I already know the answer to this, but is there any way to transfer the workouts onto a Garmin to follow outdoors…without having to build them manually through Connect?

Haze, i was recently advised by a coach to keep my training outdoors in winter where possible – all to do with maintaining muscle memory on the bike, handling and core strength, all of which is negatively impacted on the turbo.

Not to take away from the focussed work turbo’s provide, just dont neglect the other areas.

Yeah I get that, hence why I’ve been thinking of adopting the TR workouts onto my Garmin…so long as the weather is reasonable (ice etc) I can have a spin out to the local lanes where we have some decent stretches for intervals.

Assuming I can read the Garmin okay in the dark!