I guess I should have added a little more nuance. I mean…it’s December and I got the impression (could be wrong) that this was a big jump over what he’s been doing. But if we’re talking a big race in the early part of next year and he’s worked up to it then I agree with you, it’s possible. I was assuming (probably a mistake LOL) that he was in the northern hemisphere, maybe 6 months from his A race, started up after a break a few weeks ago, and has this monster ride on his schedule. Just didn’t feel right. My money is still on “glitch” but it’s not impossible that it’s right on.
Just checked….last year I managed 0.8 for 4:24 but most (like…all) of my longer rides (like this) were in the 0.6-ish range. That was tough…but it did feel super good to pull it off. Major confidence booster!
I don’t know, the TSS is the only objective target given in the instructions. “Go hard, work up a sweat, etc.” is totally subjective and sounds like a day of fun junk miles to me. I could make that a 150 TSS day or a 250 TSS day depending on how I interpreted that. And there is nothing wrong with junk miles if you just want to get out on the bike for a bit (particularly in the off season), but if the objective is driving adaptations from the workout and keeping your progression on track, I’d sure like to see some better guidance in the instructions. Even the 220 TSS target is highly open to interpretation. Doing 220 at steady state is going to drive different adaptations (and require different recovery needs) vs. going out and doing big efforts/intervals with rest in between. If it’s winter off season, it doesn’t really matter, just do what’s fun (and I’d question the value of a plan in that case). But if actually training and building toward an event/goal, then those instructions are poor (just my opinion). And for what it’s worth, I really don’t understand how these unstructured outside rides fit into a TR plan. It’s not a feature I use, so maybe I’m way off base here. Maybe they aren’t even part of a training plan?
You’re not far off. In the northern hemisphere. First event is mid March. It’s an audax, so only racing myself. Things kick off more so in May.
Previous outdoor rides have been far been 90 minutes on the plan, but I’ve always done 3+ hours because it’s nice to ride outside. But at .7 IF, not .85
In plan builder you can change a workout to a solo or group ride. So I have two interval workouts during the week on the turbo then try to get out on the weekend
Solo rides exist because sometimes people need a break from structure and just want to go ride. The instructions are just guidelines that generally align with the intent of the plan but can be completely ignored if you choose. They likely fall under your definition of “Junk Miles”.
If someone needs or wants instructions they would do an outside workout.
Thanks, that all makes sense. I guess I already operate that way, just didn’t realize there was a feature to “allow” it. I’ll generate a TR plan, but I only respect the Tues/Thurs interval workouts and the rest of my training is self managed. That typically includes a big ride on Saturday that might have a little structure (to and from the ride), but it’s mostly pure junk miles because it’s a team group ride. I guess I could change my plan next season to flag my saturday workout as a solo ride instead of prescribing an actual workout, I’d be curious if it makes any difference vs. what I’ve been doing in the past (always just deleted the planned workout).
Adaptive Training does not adapt the TSS of Solo Rides directly. Last season, I had 6 months of 5 hours Solo Rides in my calender, hard and endurance. Not at any point did the Target TSS change. What could happen was that adaptive training would change the Hard Ride to an Endurance or Easy ride. With this change, the TSS would also change.
Sounds like it’s basically recognizing a yellow or red day and backing down the suggested solo ride based on that. I manage my overall training progression through intervals.icu rather than relying on TR (since most of my work isn’t TR workouts). As I dip into the red zone (as shown in intervals), I’m typically seeing yellow or red on the TR calendar. 6 of one, half dozen of the other, directionally saying the same thing - be cautious, entering the danger zone.
It’s about time for me to enter all my events and build a plan for 2026, I’ll definitely try incorporating the solo ride option to better understand how it works. If nothing else, it will make me feel better that I’m not ignoring/deleting the planned workouts on my calendar every week. It would be nice if the system was smart enough to at least progress the TSS target on that solo ride as it recognizes the increase in CTL, but it sounds like that’s not how it works.
These TSS figures are just recommendations/estimations of what a prescribed structured workout that follows the training discipline of the day might look like.
220 is pretty high. As @svens mentioned, the only three-hour workout that fits that bill is Pendleton, which is 7x20 sweet spot intervals.
I wouldn’t let those estimates dictate your ride. Just go get a hard ride in.
Something like Cartago or Billy Mitchell might be a better example of what a hard three-hour ride might look like for you.
Regardless, I’ll share this with the team to see what they have to say.
. Weather permitting my goal is just to enjoy it. I’ll try push up the hills, but it’s mince pie 
season … so … 