As far as I’m aware AT is yet to account for outdoor rides and because of this it currently feels completely pointless to use it? (unless you only ride indoors) At the moment I can follow a standard LV plan and manually replace a workout with a hard group ride for example, if I see fit.
If I was on AT though, it would think I’ve missed a workout and not account for my group ride and give me a really hard workout the next time resulting in overtraining? Unless it was winter where 95% of my rides were indoors in it’s current state it seems to be pointless?
PS. I’m not shitting on AT at all, it looks great technology and I can’t wait for it to be released properly with all the features but I guess I’m more so wondering how people are using it in its current state whilst riding outdoors.
Beta apps are newer and more experimental versions of apps that are already released. Early access and beta apps may be less stable than most apps. For example, the app might crash or some features might not work properly.
Lots of “FOMO” around here about it. As pointed out, it’s a beta program that isn’t a part of the core product yet, but everyone seems upset about not being picked for the elementary school PE softball team.
I look forward to using it, but I’m not upset not to be in. If it doesn’t take outside work into account, it’s actually worthless for me
Is there someway outdoor efforts can be incorporated into the AT recommendations?
I mostly ride outside about 80% of the time now and use the Train Now recommendations for the other 20%. But as Iolage pointed out, the recommendations don’t seem to reflect my outside efforts.
I understand that, that’s why I mentioned in it’s current state. There just seems to be a load of anticipation to get onto the beta version and unless you’re riding mostly indoors I don’t see the hype.
Equally I can’t be alone in doing the vast majority of my riding indoors and lockdowns giving a unique environment for me to get to grips with beta AT (warts and all).
If I was riding outside so much then yes I wouldn’t be so bothered.
I don’t get the elementary school softball reference.
This might come across as me being rude but, honestly, that’s not the intention.
I use AT for my indoor rides. If I ride outdoors on my own or with the team, I couldn’t care if AT recognises the ride or not. Sometimes I just want to ride my bike and enjoy it for what it is.
Am I training 100% optimally? No, almost certainly not. Does AT throw crazy mud at the walls and expect it to stick? Not for me it hasn’t. I’m progressing along nicely.
With or without AT, I’d still train, race and ride in the same fashion. AT is however aiding me in my decision making. Such as when to ramp things up or back away from a workout I thought would be a good idea.
End of the day, I’m not a data/numbers type of rider. I don’t need everything I do to ‘feed’ into the machine.
That’s fair but imo the whole point behind AT is completely pointless if riding outdoors too and it’s not accounting for these rides. You might as well just use the Train Now feature?
I don’t understand what all the concerns are. IF when it’s released, outside rides are not taken into account THEN it could be seen as no use to many. But unless TR tell us otherwise outside rides WILL be taken into account. Many people seems to be panicking about it. I’m not sure why as it’s STILL IN BETA.
Agree – I get the excitement/frustration/questions - but it is in beta. I am in the beta. There are many features not yet working that are critical for AT to work properly. I email support a few times a week with my experiences, so they have the information as part of their knowledge base. I take the AT for what it’s worth. I agree that if certain core features aren’t included at launch it would be a problem.
I’m hugely excited by the prospect, and have gone out of my way to get power on more bikes in preparation. However, despite signing up, I’m in no rush to get on the beta to be honest for this very reason. I signed up in the middle of lock down where I was virtually 100% indoors - that’s over so generally swapping out at least two workouts for group spins and races.
I remain very bothered about Adaptive Training, and am really keen for the full launch once they’ve ironed out things like this (which is the point of Beta!).
Agree with that, but I do find a bulk of TR workouts to be overly complex and I like “my” library of 15-20 workouts. That said, AT seems like a really neat idea.
Not completely useless…but as I understand it here are a few things that break AT
1.) As you say, if you are doing outdoor workouts
2.) If you have to move a workout
3.) If you have to miss a workout
This is just from reading through some of the AT threads. Obviously it’s in development so…that list is subject to poor reading comprehension and updated software.
Anyhow, there are a large swath of TR users for which that list is going to be a never ending frustration. If you typically pick a mid volume plan but add Endurance or Recovery workouts to build up LSD TSS…AT is not going to work for you. If you typically follow a plan but race once a week and ride with you team once a week…AT is not going to work for you. If you have a business trip and have to move three or four workouts around…AT is not going to work for you.
So, actually, there is really only a very narrow range of users that are likely to have a frustration free experience with the current incarnation of AT.
I salute the beta testers & I’m quite confident that eventually the TR software team will (already has??) resolve all of these difficulties. In the meantime, I’m not too bothered just to wait for the finished product. Based on what I read on this forum I’d guess the wait is likely to be quite a while. On the order of a year or more.
I’m not bothered about being in the beta, and havent applied to be in the beta, was interested in the system, but :-
a) I ride outside
b) I pay TR to do make me faster not do their beta testing ( I am a software developer, so don’t want to see a bug report in my relaxing time)
c) Suffer from anxiety, made worse by pandemic, trying to ride outside more, and take more interest in my training, so don’t want to take on anything that encourages me to ride indoors more (stay inside to make AT work)
It’ll only assign you a workout inline with your progression level in a given energy system, and an outdoor group ride will not affect any of your levels.
In fact, indoor rides won’t affect your levels either unless you allow them to. You have complete control.
