TrainerRoad’s Ask a Cycling Coach podcast gives you the chance to get answers to your cycling and triathlon training questions with USAC/USAT Level I certified coach Chad Timmerman. See a few questions we answered in our latest episode below!
Listen to the Full Episode
How do I adjust my training on vacation or when I’m sick?
While training plans are precisely structured to make you a better a cyclist, life doesn’t always go according to plan. Sometimes, you’ll need to modify your training.
If you happen to take a break from training (such as a vacation), the main things to consider are the goal of your current training block and how many training sessions you’ve missed.
When you’re early on in your training in a base phase, hitting every workout precisely isn’t as crucial as it would be in later training phases — like the build phase. However, missing workouts as you get closer to your event take a much larger toll on your fitness.
If you find yourself missing 2-3 days, just pick up your training where you should be and leave those missed workouts in the past. However, if you’ve missed a week or more of training, it’s a good idea to go back to your training plan and restart where you left.
If you’ve been ill, you’ll need to take into consideration the condition of your body once you’ve recovered. Rushing into a high-intensity workout with a depleted immune system is more likely to put you behind in your fitness progression rather than move you ahead.
Go back to the rest week before you got sick and start training from there.
To hear Coach Chad’s advice on this topic, listen at 34:16.
How do my power zones relate to my heart rate zones?
VirtualPower has introduced many people to the benefits of power based-training long before purchasing a power meter, so the question of “how do my power zones relate to my heart rate zones?” is pretty common.
The answer to this depends on each athlete, and needs to be considered with a “pronounced asterisk” that references the variability of heart-rates.
Heart-rate measurement is a subjective and highly-variable lagging indicator of effort. With this in mind, using heart-rate values as data points for structuring intervals can be difficult, and defining heart-rate training zones based off max heart rate is problematic for the same reasons.
Having said that, the best way to use heart-rate training is as a reference point to power data. With time, you’ll recognize general approximations in heart-rate readings in association to specific power zones. This allows you to have a reference point when you aren’t using a power meter.
But remember, your heart rate can be influenced by many factors, so this data should be used as additional information rather than a solid data point to structure your interval workouts.
To hear Coach Chad’s advice on this topic, listen at 2:30.
Why is my power output lower on the trainer?
Many cyclists—when being introduced to indoor training— realize they can’t seem to output the same power levels they did when riding outside. There are plenty of theories about this discrepancy, but know that as your experience with indoor training grows, your outdoor riding abilities will rise as well.
The first thing to consider is your trainer. Many trainers have an unrealistic resistance curve, making your ride feel unrealistic and with too much drag.
Secondly, your body is dedicating nearly 75% of its energy consumption to regulating your body temperature while you train. If your training environment isn’t providing a similar environment (ventilation, temperature, humidity) to that outside then you shouldn’t expect similar results. We often underestimate the cooling effect of moving through the air at 15-20 mph, so using a good fan while you train indoors is extremely important.
Finally, the mental fortitude required to train indoors without the stimulation of riding outside or in a group can be challenging. While it is difficult to quantify the effects of boredom or lack of distractions from pain, we’ve certainly all felt them at one point or another. To combat this, having specific and reachable goals within a custom-tailored workout is a great way to keep you engaged, motivated and to take advantage of the highly-concentrated nature of trainer workouts.
To hear Coach Chad’s advice on this topic, listen at 21:25.
Additional Notes
In this week’s Ask a Cycling Coach podcast, Coach Chad answered 29 questions! You can learn more about these topics with our resources below:
- How to structure a cycling training plan
- How to use heart rate zones in conjunction with power zones
- What is the optimal cadence?
- How to avoid and deal with Burnout
- How to use Training Stress Score (TSS)
- Bike fit and proper riding position
- How to use heat training for cyclists
- How to train for a Half-IRONMAN
- Pacing strategies for endurance riders
- How to train for Cyclocross season
- How to follow TrainerRoad training plans outdoors
- Power output discrepancy between indoor and outdoor training
- How to train for Criterium racing
- Using TrainerRoad with Sufferfest videos
- Nutrition guidelines for cyclists
- How to follow your training plan on vacation
- How to become a faster climber
- Using TrainerRoad’s Workout Creator
- How to use left / right power measurement
- Using TrainerRoad with Tacx trainers
- When to bail out on a workout
- Using Heart Rate Variability (HRV) to adjust training
If you have a question that you’d like to ask Coach Chad, submit your question here. We’ll do our best to answer them on the next episode of the Ask a Cycling Coach podcast.
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If this is going to be a regular “show”, is there any chance we could get a RSS feed so it can be added to a podcast app?
Hey Nate,
Yep! While we don’t have a consistent schedule, we will be doing these semi-regularly throughout the year.
We will be putting this up on iTunes as a podcast, but for now, here’s the RSS feed from SoundCloud: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:169741362/sounds.rss
Awesome, thanks and very much looking forward to more of these!
You’re welcome Nate!
Just finished listening to the first episode while at work today… excellent job! I have a question that I’m hoping you can answer on one of the next shows.
I have been using TrainerRoad and virtual power with positive results. My tri bike will be going on the trainer in a few weeks after my last race, and I picked up a power meter to use this off-season. Other than pairing the power meter and doing a FTP test, is there anything else I should consider adjusting in my TrainerRoad profile before I start building a training plan towards next season?
Sounds great Nate! We’ll answer that one this week. Here’s the signup link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8018870611674431489
I want to do the Fred Witton sportive next year. So 9 months training, which combinations of training plans would you recommend?
Jim Ball
Hey James,
Thanks for the question! We’ll do our research and answer this one on this Friday’s podcast. To get your answer live, register and reserve your spot here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8018870611674431489
Hi,
first off all great solution you have! I just joined last week and have a few questions:
– How to incorporate weekend rides in the training plan? In general I can do mo-wed-fri training, and then a ride on sunday. However if I do that ride on sunday (couple times a month), I’m too exhausted on monday to start a training again, so do I just move that monday training to wednesday for example and just shift?
– While my FTP ride went fine, I left 48 hours to my 2nd training, but my legs were still a little bit sore from the FTP session so I couldn’t nail all targets, certainly not the 3rd interval. Should I leave more time between trainings? Note that I just restarted and am a beginner in that sense, so also have a low FTP, and my heart rate is also quite high consistenly. I did ride before more, but with the birth of my youngest and having 2 little children I’ve been off the bike for quite some time, now picking it up again.
– Since I ride in general all year, road during the summer, and MTB during the winter what is the best training planning? I don’t target races or something, I just want to become a better cyclist and be able to join some group rides with more experienced riders. Should I just keep repeating some different plans depending on the season (road vs MTB) with each time maybe 3-4 weeks rest between each plan?
Sorry for all those questions, they might have been covered previously but I couldn’t really find answers on these.
Thanks, looking foward to your answers and keep up the good job!
Hi Jo,
– Shift the plan as necessary to accommodate your training schedule, even if it’s just an occasional shift. Ideally, you’ll recover well enough from each key ride, i.e. intervals or long endurance work, to make the subsequent workout productive. This might mean extending a 1-day recovery to 2 days or adding an additional day of recovery/endurance riding prior to your next interval workout. But do your best to make those structured workouts fall on the days you feel ready to conquer them.
– See above. 😉
Also, FTP assessments can be tremendously taxing affairs, especially if you’re a bit deconditioned, so you might find that you bounce back more quickly after your next assessment. But yes, a little more recovery is probably your safest, and for now, most productive course of action.
– With a year-round schedule, you have to determine when a “break” is in order. I wrote on blog recently on a few ways to do this, so check that out when you get a chance: https://www.trainerroad.com/blog/4-ways-to-train-between-cycling-peaks/
On top of that, I heartily recommend starting with one of our Base plans, moving onto one of our Build plans, and then how you structure any Specialty plans will revolve around your priorities and times of season. Not the most detailed response, but there are a lot of factors that play into year-round fitness, Jo.
But even the fitness you’ll gain from the Base & Build plans will have you strong enough to latch onto (and maybe animate) most group rides.
First off – Excellent Q&A roundtable podcast you guys have started! It’s great to hear the rationale & philosophy behind your training recommendations. Having different voices contributing to the show gives a good sampling of individualization to training. n of one is the most important n!
Question: I run and hike as crosstraining during the road cycling off-season, and I’ve noticed both my Aerobic & Anaerobic HR thresholds appear to be higher than on the bike by about 5-10bpm. I assume the difference is due to the additional muscle groups utilized in running/hiking (ie. upper body contralateral rotation). Is this normal to see, or should threshold HR be approximately equal between these modalities?
Background: I’ve been road cycling for a few years but I’ve only began properly training & racing this past season, having come from Rugby with a more fast-twitch physiology. So I wonder if my cardiovascular system is being limited by my muscle fiber type composition & rate of O2 consumption? And whether this will continue to improve with training?
Thanks!
James
Hi – I’m triathlete. My season starts at the end of May, and ends early October. Say I’m gonna start in Olipmics races, have first “A” race at the end of June (so about 40 weeks left). How to prepare for this race with TR plans starting in mid October. My first idea is 12 weeks of traditional Base, 8 weeks of SS Build, 4 weeks of traditional Base III, 8 weeks of SS Build, 8 weeks of TT40.
My current Olimpic bike leg result is 1:11, so I’m rather MOP biker.
Hi Marcin,
Well you’re off to a great start, both in terms of your early start and your proposed approach. In fact, I’m not sure I’d tweak anything with your current plan except to mention that I’m about to start working on some triathlon-specific *annual* plans that will incorporate tri-specific base & build phases complete with swim & run workouts – gotta put my fancy new USAT certification to use!
If, however, you stick to your current plan and handle the swim/run training on your own, I think you’re on the right track with the 40k TT plan, but the Oly Distance Tri plan is also a suitable Specialty plan for your event.
And with your current plan, I suggest targeting a B-priority event around week 20 so you can not only work in some Oly-distance race experience but also give yourself something to work toward in the long interim between now and your A event. Then you can use your short return to TB as a form of active recovery & aerobic recharge before you dive back in.
Hi Chad,
Thank you for your response.
Annual triathlon plan definitely would be great thing. I know a lot people fighting to balance bike with swimming and running – including me.
Hey James,
You answered your own question, brother. There’s greater muscle recruitment/contribution when the upper body is engaged, e.g. swimming, hiking with poles; and even when the body simply bears more load, e.g. running.
And while it can be a bit of a pain, it’s often in each athlete’s best interest to have a separate set of metrics for each modality if they’re big contributors to weekly training stress.
So while I might not worry too much about it for a bit of cross-training, it’s quite important for multisport athletes, for example, to measure the stress more accurately via running HR, swimming HR, or other stress metrics, especially as each event constitutes a more substantial portion of their training stress.
In your case, I’m not sure it’s worth fretting over since it’s pre-season and *probably* low-intensity, but if you start to fall apart, even in seemingly insignificant ways, then it might be worth the effort to monitor your cross-training stress more closely.
Hey Guys, excellent podcast!
When moving between phases (base to build etc.) is it ok to move from say mid volume base to high volume build? I did this last year and it seemed to work ok with no issues but I’m not sure if this is harming my training in some way? I did find that by the time I completed my speciality block (climbing road race) I was pretty burned out and had to dial things back for a fair while (was my jump from mid volume base to high volume build the cause?). My problem is that I’m going to struggle to find the time to do high volume base but high volume build isn’t quite so time consuming.
I’ve been doing Trainerroad for a few months now and am about to start week 8 of the Short Power Build. After that I plan on doing the Specialty Phase, and specifically the Olympic OXC Mountain Bike specialty. With that in mind, how much improvement should I expect in the Specialty phase? I’ve done a few races lately and feel that I’d like to be faster/better/quicker/more powerful. With that in mind, should I extend the Specialty phase at the end or should I do the Specialty Phase then return to the build phase? Or, alternatively, should I finish the program and restart at the base phase, recognizing that I’ll be working on near the end of the summer but still within the race season?
Hello
RE Podcast 43 and cramps. Please see link below
http://www.teamhotshot.com/blog/the-nerve-is-the-boss-of-the-muscle-take-control-with-hotshot/?utm_source=HOTSHOT&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=HOTSHOTNLNerveMuscle&mc_cid=0a5b9fc846&mc_eid=7ca170a286
Regards
Adrian
Hey guys, I’m a big fan of the podcast, haven’t started using trainer road yet, but here’s something you should definitely look into/talk about on the podcast. In pretty much every recent issue of Bicycling magazine there is a full page ad for some product called EPO boost. They say it’s “all natural” way of boosting hematocrit level etc. etc. and that it’s completely legal. There is no information on what it actually is though, and the ads are super weird in my opinion. have you guys seen this? thoughts?
Hey Thomas,
Thanks for passing your question along! The crew will love to discuss. 🙂 Would you mind plunking it into our questionnaire form here: https://www.trainerroad.com/podcast
Thanks!
Hi,
I have been using Trainer Road since 20 October. I started of with assessing my FTP with the 20 Minute Test. Where i averaged 309 W over 20 minutes. The test result is here:
https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/4313289
I then started the Sweet Spot Base Low Volume 1 on 24 October. I pretty much managed to complete all training sessions except week 6 where I got ill. I then repeated that week making the block 7 weeks instead of 6. I then choose to move on to Sweet Spot Base Low Volume 2 but did a 20 Minute Test again. I this time only got 300 W over the 20 min (the test result is here: https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/4697154-20-minute-test)
When I started training in October I felt pretty strong after a season outdoors. Previous year I did not train with Trainer Road. When training on my “own” program I did not have something called Sweet Spot Base since I would expect that I do not need to prepare my body for training since all I have done is riding my bike outdoors.
Now to the question. Should I look at my lower test result today as a failure and that I need to change program to something that is a bit harder (more VO2max training) or continue on Sweet Spot Base Low Volume 2? If i continue should I do some changes? I was expecting to increase my FTP today. Last year I was increasing the FTP each month from November – April.
Kind Regards
Daniel
Sweden
Forgot to add some details. I ride MTB and I train for competing in XCO. My weight is 76 kg.
Daniel,
Thanks for sending us your question!
I went ahead and submitted your question to the podcast form. In the future you can submit them directly at trainerroad.com/podcast or use #asktrainerroad on any of our social channels. 🙂
Thanks Daniel — Stay tuned!