A couple of weeks away and my FTP has now dropped 25.5 percent 🤣

TrainerRoad Software
1

Erm

I hate to ask….but, is this another bug?

I stopped paying my subscription for a few weeks as we had some non-training related stuff going on including the potential for finances to change significantly for the worst. I was totally burnt out (through work and life stress NOT training stress/TR) but everything is getting sorted now and I am feeling better so restarted the subscription this morning. It asked me to do a ramp test which was a bit of a shocker as I thought I didnt need those any more and it’s only been a couple of weeks since the last TR workouts. I said no (or a variation of no in more colourful language) mainly because the kickr is buried under stuff and I am much much happier training outside in the rain.

It then pegged my FTP at 137. It was 184 when Eddie checked about 3 weeks ago when there was another bug that knocked it down to 174.

It’s a good job it’s not AiFTP detection that brought me back to TR. I just love the calendar, the simple but effective way it handles strength sessions and the workout library. I am paying my subs for those three things. Its a very expensive, but very useful, calendar.

I’m gonna manually set my FTP at a relatively low level for me (probably about 176) and go from there, I may even do a 20 minute test at some point (legs fried atm from weights)

2

Oh, and I actually went to AiFTP detection and it put my FTP down from 137 onboarding to 135 :rofl:

3

Contact support to discuss!

4

Honestly, i think it’s important to post this here. We hear so often about people making huge gains starting with TR. Well they will if they are started extremely low.

The advertising is that all your indoor and outdoor rides are taken into account. I haven’t done a ride without power for a very very long time. All the data is there. Power figures, hr, my old TR workouts from 3 weeks ago. Its treating me like a new user, fair enough, but it clearly isn’t taking my ride history into account, because this is the exact same figure I gave me when I first started with TR a few years ago with zero back data (I had deleted both my Garmin and Strava accounts beforehand).

I suspect the issue is because I don’t train indoors atm and haven’t for quite some time. I just don’t have the room for a decent set up with decent cooling, and I hate the environmental impact of sitting on a powered training using powered entertainment with huge powered fans when I could just ride happily outside and be close to nature.

5

I find this an interesting take, for where I am right now, returning to TR after a year full of interruptions to structured training.

TR looked at my history to reassess my starting point. It knocked my previous AI FTP from 241, to 213; I went with the 213.

Only 2-3 days in, my Progression Levels have skyrocketed. I am guessing that it will sort itself out in short order.

Down the line, I’ll tweak a few things. I mistakenly put myself in High Volume, but I can finish it out in the near term - - just eight weeks.

6

Hey @JoPage :slight_smile:

Let me look into this. But by looking at your account, I don’t think this is the bug Eddie helped you with.

7

Thanks. I’m interested to hear exactly why this has happened.

10

I’m going through some like this now and am starting to think that there are ways the AIFTP gets confused.

I think best bet is after some time off it’s best to do one of the old school test to get started back into training.

From there maybe you can count on AIFTP if you’re doing most of you’re workouts indoors.

That’s what I’m beginning to think.

13

Hi,

I maybe have the same issue. I renewed my subscription and I had this onboarding with a lower FTP.

I deleted this onboarding FTP and I used AI FTP Detection.

Before I stopped TR, I was at 262, now I am at 146, it’s really a big drop, maybe is it due to few weeks without training, but I am surprised…

@ScottG Could you give a look, please ?

14

Same. I re-subscribed and I was ready to accept some modest drop, but I went from 241, to 213.

After reading this thread, I deleted the onboarding FTP and that dropped me back in at 241, the previous FTP. I haven’t had much trouble at that level so far. In fact, my automated adjustments keep going up. I think it was the right move - - for me.

15

Similar. A month away for holidays (or thereabouts) and illness; then TR recommended the same FTP as when I last onboarded …

16

@brnfox, @r-squared, @yoyodub, I will bring your cases to the convo we’re having with the team.

Thank you for reporting this!

17

Hi @Caro.Gomez-Villafane ,

It seems I can detect again my FTP, is it ok now ?

Thanks.

18

I’ve fixed yours @brnfox and @r-squared, which was the same issue as OP.
And now looking at @yoyodub :slight_smile:

19

Thanks :+1:

21

I’m having a similar issue. I let my subscription lapse a few days in August and my FTP was messed up. Customer Service manually fixed it. But now I had another auto AI FTP and it dropped from 282 in August to 255 on Tuesday. Well tonight during my nearly 2 our ride I had a 60 minute high of 256w average and NP of 282?

I suspect this is due to unscheduled outdoor rides and no scheduled trainerroad indoor rides and the AI program is favoring TR workouts over the unscheduled workouts.

23

Thank you for the reply.

I have valued my TR subscription and the AI FTP detection.

I have listened and watch just about every TR podcast & YouTube video since 2019, and have heard Jonathan and Nate preach many times how the TR AI program looks back at “ALL YOUR" workouts to determine the right workout, every time.

Yes, I haven’t been doing a lot of unstructured training, I live in Denver and have been enjoying riding with my friends in the terrific weather, while I can! This is where AI can’t quantify the enjoyment of cycling. If AI can’t review my efforts based on HR data, power and RPE, maybe I need a different platform. Even Strava estimated my FTP at 270, which seems to be more in line with my recent efforts including an NP last week of 276 with a 60 minute average of 256w, and that wasn’t a 100% effort. I think I rated the RPE as Hard (it was hard +.5, I debated on rating it Very Hard, but I felt good enough to have a 1 minute sprint and still felt strong on the way home after the ride).

TR has all of my ride data, and hundreds of millions of records from other riders, but it seems that the program heavily weights the TR programmed workouts. I can see why, that is a lot easier to measure. But I have been setting segment PRs on my normal rides, including 1 minute, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an a 1 hour efforts just last week that was higher that the AI assigned FTP. That’s nonsensical.

Yes, I know that I can get out there and perform an FTP test, although that is somewhat difficult outside here as we have rolling terrain in my area and being in the city, its harder to find a road that I can just go flat out on for 20 minutes or longer without a traffic light, stop sign or sharp turn or downhill that messes with the effort (spinning out). And yes I have a trainer, but my Elite Direto is having issues with holding higher watts (the power fades over 200w, so it would be very difficult to hold 300w). But this is why I have opted to pay for and been loyal to TR for many years, to help establish this important number without performing an FTP test.

Here is my concern I have suspected this the past couple years. If the FTP is set too low and because I haven’t been doing structured rides combined with my Progression Levels that are lower than they should be, then I start training at a lower starting place than I should. It takes many weeks for the Progressional Levels to increase and a month for the FTP adjustment. Therefore I’ll be starting out behind schedule.

Here is a serious question that I have looked in the TR forum for, but I haven’t seen an answer to: When I am training with friends, should I add a TR outdoor workout that would have a similar overall effort and just do the group training ride? I assumed that TR was looking at my ride data regardless, and I am just taking a hit on the Progression Levels by doing unstructured rides, but that seems not to be the case as it also affected my FTP detection?

For now, I think I will override the FTP this time, 255 is too low.

Please let me know your opinion on if I should add a TR workout and just override that on my group training rides (I was doing that for part of this summer, but I started losing rides when my Hammerhead just turned off, so I stopped doing that).

J. Brian Anderson
Aka PavlovsDogzCyclist

24

You are free to use the value of 255 or 270 - I think there is enough slack with the progression level system to get you productive workouts whichever one you choose.

But TR thinks 255 is the optimum value to get you the best training so I’d use that. You will probably find that your AI FTP detections will increase fairly quickly while you train.

I wouldn’t get too hung up on what your “real” FTP is - sounds like your fairly sure it’s 270 :man_shrugging:t2:

That being said, that trainer of yours doesn’t sound like it will be doing you any favours, could be affecting the validity of the measurements.

25

Keep the 270, do Marion on a trainer and see how it goes. Personally I would just go with the AIFTP, especially if all your riding has been outdoors

27

This :index_pointing_up:

Keep the 270 and do Marion, it should feel hard but is a good workout for FTP verification