If there is a goal, you need a way to get there. A training plan is a way to do that. But understanding the goal (like an A- event or even something as simple as doing a “Base”), is a necessity. So we set that via Plan Builder by adding events or selecting a general focus.
Once that is done, “the plan” uses whatever magic TR assigns for the types of workouts to reach that goal (VO2, Thresh, etc.) and the progression from week to week, in order to hopefully meet that goal.
As such, having a populated calendar is essential, IMO. Maybe people ignore the stuff more than a week out, and that is fine if they do. Considering what we expect in the end case with AT, the plan is expected to change frequently and throughout the duration.
I don’t see a problem with the workouts changing 2-20 weeks out… It may seem odd for those looking that far, but the changes are made in light of recent progress, with aims of hitting that goal again. Adapting to our pure performance, as well as sickness, interruptions and the like are all part of the long term process like this.
It’s essentially what many coaches already do, even if they don’t actually share the long term planning with the athlete. In this case, TR is sharing the entire road map for the athlete, even though it is malleable to meet the rider and plan as needed.
Ignorance is bliss, so you can simple stick with the “Career” page and ignore the “calendar” unless adding things like new events, sickness or time off, after completing the initial Plan Builder.
I have updated mine but it has a frustrating bug. In TrainNow it overlays the endurance and climbing suggestions on top of each other so the endurance option is hidden.
LOL, mine is a mess and not really accurate now. My VO2 and Threshold are lower than they should be. I broke the association on two weeks of workouts for them, so they are really lacking.
Mine is about right for me lol (although my endurance is actually in the 7 range, I did an unstructured 3.5hr z2 ride with a buddy that’s not captured in the progressions just yet)
I updated my plan today.
The cycling WO changed as expected… but something that DIDN’T change was the swim and run wo…
this Saturday the plan had Pioneer and Brick Workout (Pioneer + 20min Transition Run)
Now the week is rest week with Echo -4 and Brick Workout (Pioneer + 20min Transition Run)
My point is there is some little work to be made on the running aspect of the tri plans…
Haha that’s how I feel. It’s hard to keep up with all the updates. Especially since I have zero interest in beta testing or navigating the bugs. I just want TR to tell me what to do and I’ll smash pedals
I’m not in the beta and very excited to try it, thanks for sharing your progression levels. I had a couple of questions after looking through the workout levels and trying to guess my own chart.
First, if your SS progression level is 7.9 would your threshold level really be just 1.5? I’m wondering if the data are almost too granular based on individual zones and what workouts you do to feed the algorithm. Would a threshold workout with a level of 2.5 not be quite easy for you?
Second and related, how fast does the ML algorithm update your personal levels? If you for example tried a threshold workout with a level of 5 and completed it comfortably, would you expect your threshold progression to jump up to that or does the ML model need more convincing?
Progression Levels are based upon some amount of history (not sure exactly how long). If you have not had “recent” workouts in that training zone, it’s possible and likely the related Progression Level will be low.
That doesn’t mean there is no association between adjacent zones, but it seems that TR is splitting them to a degree. This may change a bit with the debut of the Secondary Progression Levels moving forward. Those may serve to bridge the gaps that seem apparent right now.
Changes can happen VERY fast. If you complete a workout that is well above your current Progression Level, especially if you rate it at something like a 1-Easy or 2-Moderate, it will make LARGE jumps in PL.
Here is a VO2 with Workout Level of 5.8, that I did starting with a Progression Level of 1.6 for VO2. I even rated the workout 3-Hard and still got a massive bump in the VO2 PL. So changes can be big depending on all the related factors.
