I am a return to TR person (after 5 years and never stuck with the plans because I hated 20 minute FTP tests and thought all the workouts were too hard…) I decided to do my ramp test after SSBLV1 on Sunday instead of Tuesday just do to time commitments and childcare going by the wayside currently…
After I did the test, my FTP had a small jump and it reset my progression levels, however for SSBLV2 the workouts didn’t adapt. My SS and Threshold were around 4.0-4.5 prior to the ramp (and 1.9 after) and all of the workouts in the next phase were 4-5 (including the V02 workouts), which would have crushed me at a new FTP 12 watts higher.
Figured out the reason it didn’t adapt things back down. Because I had done the ramp test early the adaptations seemed to only change within a block, and technically Base 2 would have started the following Tuesday.
After I dragged the “Base 2” icon ( and the name of my A event) to the day I did the ramp test, it adapted the workouts for Base 2 down, so the workouts would be achievable and productive (basically back down to 2.0 or that area where my progression levels currently are).
Hopefully this helps anyone else who does their ramp early and doesn’t get the correct adaptations!
Thanks for this - I’m not in a training block currently (starts tomorrow) and had wondered why a couple of ad-hoc rides I did last week didn’t adapt my plan.
I wasn’t really too bothered as I’ll be doing a ramp test tomorrow and expected the PL changes to adapt the plan, but I was curious what was going on.
I could 100% be wrong, but I think ad-hoc or TrainNow rides won’t change your adaptations - only the prescribed plans in the workouts - but they can change your Progression Levels. But I could totally be wrong about this.
Correct, manually added workouts via any method other than Plan Builder or ad-hoc plan addition are NOT getting adapted by AT. And yes, completing any TR workout (inside or outside) can update Progression Levels, which drive adaptations.
This is contrary to my recent experience. I had added a plan to my calendar using PlanBuilder…that plan was due to start with a Ramp Test 01jan. I performed a ramp test 28dec & intentionally bagged the test to see how AT would adjust the plan. There was no adjustment.
Subsequent to that ramp test I used TrainNow to select a Breakthrough VO2max workout. After completing that workout there were many, many adaptations to my training plan. Then I used TrainNow to select a ‘Not Recommended’ threshold workout. After completing that workout there were no adapatations to my training plan.
Then on 01jan I went ahead and did a legit ramp test. No adaptations post ramp test.
On 02jan I used Alternates to select a Stretch Sweet Spot workout. No adaptations post workout.
So, based on my exerience, it looks like manually added workouts can SOMETIMES induce adaptations. But most frequently they do not. Even relatively large increases in Progression Levels might not induce adaptations, though. It’s hard to predict.
Hey, no worries @mcneese.chad ! That EOY software release period seemed to be pretty ‘dynamic’ so I’m sure different people were experiencing different behavior. Couple that with probably the most popular time to create/update plans…there has probably been a lot of strange software goings on.
I’m just letting people know, here is what actually happened when I tried to jerk around with the software. Here’s what it actually did, here’s what it actually did NOT do. If there are frustrated users out there, maybe this helps them feel a little solidarity.
As ever, my advice is this: AT remains a suite of features that are under heavy development. Don’t set up your training to depend on AT to be successful. Set up your training to be successful w/o AT & if AT helps you out then that’s just the icing on the cake. If everything is dialed in you should have very few adaptations, anyhow.
I think is totally true - but it’s also impossible to have a plan in place without adaptations currently. Without the adaptations it sets you up for failure if your FTP increases.
When my FTP went up and my Progression Levels down, the workouts remained unchanged until I fixed the issue. It would have had me doing Vo2, threshold, and SS workouts 3-4 progression levels above my current levels. Failure for sure. So I needed AT to adapt them down to my current levels. So it kind of does need to work or else it will doom people to failure.
Ok so follow up to this - I went onto the app this morning in order to do the ramp test. Today is the start of SSBLVII.
Before I did anything, the app told me I had adaptations pending, which proceeded to update my VO2Max sessions from approx 1.5 to 5.8 or similar - clearly driven by the change in PL from last week.
I then did the ramp test, saw an improvement in my FTP, the PLs adjusted down a bit and the plan adapted again.