So with the update and with what Nate wrote I’ve been looking at my workouts and trying to understand TR software a bit more.
If the system just looks at watts how does it use that data to make you faster with training?
I’ve looked at my last four Over/ Under workouts as and example.
AIFTP 222
1/3/26 Blackcap, Under 212 / Over 243 - Hard RPE
1/10/26 Palisade -1, Under 211 / Over 233 - Hard RPE
1/18/26 Fang Mountain +2, Under 211 / Over 237 - Hard RPE but this workout the over is a ramp up so a bit different.
AIFTP 233 bump on 1/25/26
2/1/26 Blackcap, Under 226 / Over 246 - Very Hard RPE but it was so borderline that I had to refer to the Chad Chart. The Under part of the workout was OK, the Over was what put me in the hurtbox.
I’ve linked my calendar in hoping someone can help me make sense of how it works.
Looks like Blackcap has proportionately shorter overs … but they’re at 110%. That would make a noticeable difference if it snuck up on you.
@Kendogz161 This would mean you’re producing quite a lot more lactate, and more importantly, nasty, ouchy hydrogen ions and other metabolites which your body will need to become accustomed to managing.
Yes the differences in workout types is one of the things that for me makes it harder to understand how the Raw Wattages thing works.
I can see how Palisades -1 give me a bit more time on the over part of the workout and Fang Mountain +2 give me that gentle taste of Higher watts while both of those adds in more intervals.
The only constant is the second Blackcap.
Is it more about not really going up in watts but more about extending the time while performing the wattage of that zone?
So how you wrote in your example the total time that one was working at the hard part of the workout kept increasing from week to week until the AIFTP change where it reset in a sense with the second Blackcap?
Endurance: Should usually be Easy. Could be Moderate if it’s either over 2.5hrs/100km+ (on Zwift) or if I did it straight after a workout. I often choose easier alternates, because keeping my easy rides properly easy (0.60 to 0.65 IF) enables me to add in a third workout every so often, which makes sense on my volume.
Sweetspot: 1.5hrs Should usually be Hard. Could reasonably frequently be Moderate. Should rarely be Very Hard.
Threshold: 1.5hrs. Should usually be Hard. Occasionally Very Hard. If it’s Very Hard all the time you’re likely getting a lot more fatigue for not much more gain.
VO2 Max and Anaerobic: Very Hard or Max Effort or Death or why bother?
Those are my broad-brush expectations for how those should feel. It’s TR’s job to keep serving up workouts that meet those expectations. It’s
Not to derail this topic but this is why some users comments about removing the predicted difficulty in the new UI are rather silly to me. Most of us already have a good idea how the workouts are going to feel.
I agree with this and as soon as you can hide all of Predicted AIFTP I will turn it off.
I have an idea of how a workout should feel but on the occasions when I have to rate one Very Hard, seeing the Predicted FTP take a hit is a tough pill to swallow.
I get the in the long run it’s better to be honest with how it felt.
I think we are missing the point of the OP. Is Fang Mountain +2 (5x9 at higher FTP after the update) similar watts to the other threshold workouts at lower FTP (3x9 & 4x9)?
Per the description from the podcast if at higher watts for FTP shouldn’t the workout be something like 8 min reps?
My question was just trying to understand how does the workout progression works.
Since the AI just looks at watts, I was just focus on the wattages side of things but after reading some of these post I realized that I’ve never taken interval time into account.
I’ve always had trouble understanding how the whole Training plan and how / why workouts are selected.
Bit more nuanced than that, I am sure. Ultimately you are looking at increasing the number of watts you can hold for any duration. If your events are short your focus will be different to ultra riders. The purpose of intervals is to enable you get more total work done, than if you’d just done a continuous bout of intensity. With the aim of a bigger stimulus and return from the work done. But you can also vary the intervals, both the intensity, duration and number. If all you ever do is the same threshold or VO2 intervals you’ll become accustomed them, and the stimulus will reduce.
