2 years with TrainerRoad (each time after passing from Build to Specialty, I get so fatigued my FTP drops to half for months and have to start again from zero)

Any tips?

Anyone in same boat?

Story: i have
Been cycling for 2 years.
But everytime i start to do PR’s i start to feel fatigued and fatigued then sick ( cold or virus) and i am not able to follow any of the trainings ( even petits and carlsons become hard to so).

It is always related after long rides or gran fondos…

I have tried doing just petits and carlsons one week after gf or long hard rides… bit 2-3 weeks later i end up like if i have never ride in a bike.

I notmally do 3 rides of traineroad ( following plans), and 2 rides outside…

Iam the only women in my team, and all the boys keep
Improving… but i am the only one that is very disciplined.

Any suggestion?

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If it’s tied to gran fondos, then maybe consider taking a few extra days totally off the bike, or doing something like Lazy Mountain, Dans or Obelisk. Petit etc aren’t recovery rides (below 55% FTP), while Lazy Mountain is.

Also, you ride two days a week outdoors. What are those rides like? If you have a powermeter, do you know the TSS for an average outdoor ride?

It sounds like you’re running up against your training limit and not properly recovering. Consider what TSS you’re doing and maybe drop it some to see if that helps. Think about your eating habits, sleep, and non-cycling demands (work, home, family, etc). Also, I know it’s rude to ask a lady :rofl: but age may be a factor too.

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As @zwillis1 has mentioned, I think recovery is key to unlocking this. Start your recovery ASAP after your rides and if outdoors, keep warm.

Make sure you stretch out those muscles and take a day or two away from the bike. Make the next ride easy and build the intensity back up.

Whilst you’re on the ride, ensure you’re eating enough. Don’t start digging yourself into a hole that can take days to recover from.

Good luck moving forward :+1:

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Yes! Consider your eating/fueling on the bike as well as off. I find if I don’t properly fuel during a long ride, my recovery takes much longer.

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I’d suggest checking out the book “Roar” by stacy sims. I bought it for my wife and when she finished it I started reading it because learning. It provides insight into how women should fuel and train differently than men since women aren’t just “little men.”

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Stacy Sims has lots of writing scattered around the internet! The bits here were super illuminating for me: Stacy Sims Archives - CyclingTips.

The TR podcast also did an episode with Amber Pierce, who answered a bunch of questions about nutrition and training for women: Balancing Health and Training for Female Cyclists – Ask a Cycling Coach 193 - YouTube.

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What Performance management chart are you using? Do you have Power outside? Do you have a full historical view?

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I estimate the outsides rides with hr and traineroad estimation.

I am attaching it here. The slowdown was 3 weeks ago. And i am actually still in a cold for the past 2 weeks.

Hi. Thanks. I dont have power meter. I calculate it with hr traineraod tss estimation. Here is the table. The gf was 5 weeks ago. But 3 weeks ago i have been doing it very soft due to not force and cold.

Looks like you aren’t taking a proper rest week.

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I’ll second what @BMAC615 has said. A big big effort like the gran fondo and you didn’t really taper into it or have a good rest after. I find my performance is awful if I don’t take a recovery week every 3-5 weeks. Unless you have a real need to keep training high, I would do a week of very easy rides - start at 55% effort (Lazy Mountain, for example) then move to West Vidette or Petit. Aim for a few days totally off the bike, but still do 3-5 days of proper easy rides.

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Thank you very much. I would do!! :four_leaf_clover:

Thank you very much . You are right! Thanks!

Ohh thanks. I just bought the book. It looks mazo g

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Just boht it!!! :pray:

when I first started TR, I got better and felt better on the road than I had in a long time. So even though my long distance season started, I was still doing a TR training plan. But I kept getting slower. It knocked 10 percent off of my ftp which I really haven’t managed to get back. I was really discouraged and had to totally start over.

i have had to stop already 4 times from trainerroad and stop complettelly out of the bike… i think trainerroad is made for men and not for women…

every time it has been something: fatigue, anemia, anemia, fatigue…and i dont know what else…

after this post, and suggesting the book roar… i am starting to think that trainerroad is made for men… and it leaks totally our energy when we are not in our best days…

. plus, nutrition and training must be managed differently… look, i have tracked my moods, and prs and fatigue for the past couple of months and look what i found (at the beginning and at the end of my cycle: I AM UNABLE to train)…and is even catastrophic…

Do you ride with power 100% of the time? It is difficult to make that determination without a proper analysis of your history. It might not be TR program as there are women do the program with great success. There may be other life factors that are causing the undesired result.

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I’m sorry you feel that way. I’m a female TR user- I started in late 2014 and have been using it regularly ever since. I’ve about doubled my FTP and now have the confidence in my cycling ability to do rides that seemed absolutely unattainable when I started. What I have found that works for me is that I have to fuel and recover well and what that means for me could be different to what it means for you.

My menstrual cycle is very well controlled and to be perfectly honest I don’t really find it interferes with my physical ability to train although it can affect my mental ability to suck it up if it’s a hard ride.

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I know there are a bunch of women on TR (like @Scheherazade!) who are seeing great results, but I also know the impact of every woman’s hormonal cycle is a little different. (I haven’t been training long enough to rate an opinion myself, heh.) I wonder if there’s some selection bias: women who can tolerate or adapt to training plans based on male physiology will succeed; women who can’t will drop out.

Ultimately TR is a platform for training plans, so I’d be super interested to see plans based on pre-menopausal female physiology. Maybe two weeks-ish of high intensity from cycle day one (or whenever we stop feeling dead) to ovulation, then a week of sweet spot for the beginning of the luteal phase, then endurance or active recovery until the end?

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