Been using TR for a couple of months. I also sync all my data into intervals.
I noticed as TR dialed in my training plan, my CTL/Fitness moved from oscillating around the mid to lower part of the effective range up to the top. Here’s my 9 weeks of TR
Is a fitness curve that high in the effective range…optimal?
My ramp rate for the last couple of weeks is < 1, Friel’s said a good rate for most athletes is about 5-8.
I started looking at this after this weeks VO2 intervals workout. It seemed easier than it should’ve been. It was 6 intervals and I think I could have 2x’d that with 12 before being completely wiped. Also, my max HR is like 179/180 and It never went over 170 during the interval.
Usually VO2’s totally wipe the floor with me. Like every interval I’m thinking “no way, I can’t, I can’t” but then by the time the rest period is up I’m l’m “ok, ok, ok, I can do one more”.
The plan TR has given you is based on what it knows of your recent training history. What data did you give it?
Give accurate feedback on the post workout surveys.
If this week’s VO2 workout was too easy, take a look at next week’s before you ride it. If it also looks too easy, swap it out for a harder one.
Same with all your TR workouts. If you think increasing the ramp rate is important, you can switch in higher TSS workouts whenever you like to achieve that. Or add another workout to the plan at any point you like. For instance, just adding Scotty as a “warm up” to your main workout will give you 10 TSS.
You generally want to push your fitness line up. Everyone has an upper limit where they are going to plateau, but with enough time and volume most can get well over 100 if they get there in the right way (slowly, over time). Important to note that fitness isn’t like FTP, it’s a number relative to your training status and individual physiology. At a fitness level of 50 this year, your FTP might be around 200w. With another year of training, you might be at 210w FTP when your fitness is at 50. As as we get older, we might need to hit higher fitness numbers to get to a similar level of performance.
The thing you want to watch closely is the “form” line, that’s basically the difference between your fitness and your fatigue. If you try to load too much stress too quickly, your form will drop into the red “high risk” zone. It’s OK to dip into it periodically, but it’s not where you want to hang out. I think of it kind of like TR’s yellow and red days. You can keep going a bit in the red/yellow, but if you keep ignoring the warnings as a regular practice, it’s likely going to bite you.
Yes, that ramp rate is very low. TR has a strong bias toward conservative training (slow and steady, but safe and effective). As long as you are ramping in the right direction, you are building fitness, but it’s quite possible you could be building fitness faster if ramping your training quicker. Going faster brings increased risk of burn out and overtraining.
And keep in mind that the model that intervals.icu is using is just one of many ways to manage training. It attempts to estimate things like fitness and fatigue, but it’s all very individual and listening to your body should always trump anything you see in a cool chart. Intervals can be a great tool to manage training progression, but it’s just a data point. TR is using similar concepts in the background to manage your training progression and adjusting things as you go. Intervals can be great for folks who want to understand a bit more about training progression and possibly managing it themselves. Intervals is the primary tool I use to manage my progression, and I use TR to manage and progress my interval workouts. They work well together in my experience.
Yeah, I typically dip into red on the weekends. I often go for very long, unplanned, meandering rides…like 5+ hours. Sometimes. 7 or 8. I might do a imperial century this weekend, I’m sure it’ll dip into the red for that.
That really caused TR to back off. Usually my body says that’s the right choice on Monday.
Anyway, I may keep an eye on it and like @ivegotabike suggested bump up the difficulty a bit if I feel up for it on a day by day basis.
Generally speaking, nine weeks in, it is probably best to err on the side of caution and to allow TR to progress you slightly more slowly than you think you are capable of. The flip side of that - to push too hard, too soon - can lead to significant fatigue catching up with you down the line.
The fact that you’re consistently sitting in the “optimal” form zone and your fitness is steadily increasing tells me that you’re likely doing something right.
Your TSS has actually increased quite a bit since mid-February, and it looks like you’re just getting into a Build phase with VO2 workouts.
I expect things to get more challenging as you now start to progress into VO2 workouts, as long as you respond to your post-workout surveys honestly. It looks like you rated this week’s VO2 with two-minute intervals as “Hard,” and next week you’re already being bumped up to 4-minute intervals.
If you actually could have done twice as many intervals as you had, was that work really “hard?” Also, I’ve never hit my max HR during VO2 intervals. I would worry less about HR during VO2s and more about hitting the power targets and answering the surveys as best as you can. We’ll make sure that things get challenging for you.
Don’t forget that if AT isn’t ramping things up quickly enough for you, you can always use Workout Alternates to find another workout that’s more to your liking that still follows the plan’s discipline. Personally, I’d give next week’s workout a go before making any major changes, but it’s totally up to you!
Also, I’d be curious to see what your ramp rate is around April 5th. I think it’s probably much higher than what you’re thinking…
With ratings, I figure it’s better to over rate than under rate them if you’re on the fence. I was leaning towards easy, but then…I mean, it WAS interval work. I was breathing vigorously and worked up a good sweat by the end of the interval. Like…you can have a 3h endurance ride that’s “hard”…even if you’re capable of 6h (very hard) or even pushing to 10/12h (max effort).
I was hesitant to say “easy” for that reason.
Interesting on the max HR, maybe I’m just getting more fit and it’s taking more to get that HR up there. a year ago (ish?) and the hallmark of my VO2 workouts where max effort style hiits that typically defined my max HR.
If you’re answering the survey conservatively, the ramp rate will correspondingly be slower, so if there’s a zone you don’t think is progressing fast enough, you might not want to err on the side of conservative after every workout.
I don’t think I’ve ever been within 5 bpm of HRmax doing intervals, if even that close. And don’t want to, either…hurts the repeatability a lot
I would worry less about HR during VO2s and more about hitting the power targets and answering the surveys as best as you can. We’ll make sure that things get challenging for you. 