Come back to TR after a couple of years with an online personal trainer and am using the AI training plan for a 100 mile Gran Fondo in a few months.
The AI is scheduling me a load of Zone 2 workouts which are easy, HR rarely above 130 (I’m 55) and often knocking around 125. FTP stuck at 213.
I know this is what I’m supposed to do. All the books and stuff I’ve read about getting better on the bike (or for any cardiovascular exercise) talk about low intensity work to build the aerobic base. I’ve never really done that before, even with the personal trainer which was lots of sweet spot work and over-unders (as was my prior TR programme from about 2022, before the AI was introduced). So am going to persevere. But it just seems so counterintuitive - if it’s not hurting how can it be working?! Each ride I’m twitching to go harder but trying to persuade myself to trust the process.
A load of Zone 2 is only normal for me on a rest week (every 4th week) on a normal non rest week on my LV Masters plan its 2 hard workouts sandwiching a Z2 workout.
Post a link to your Calendar (after first making your Account Type “public”) or a bunch of screenshots covering eg. the upcoming 4 weeks, so people here can see what you’re referring to….
That depends. Are they on a high volume masters plan? That would give 2 hard and 3 or 4 easy. If they’re used to doing tons of SS, then 3 or 4 easy might seem like a lot. We’ll know when we can see the calendar.
The uncompleted Calendar workouts you’ve shown there are not those lying within the next 4 weeks (ie. within the simulation window).
You need to show the screenshots for the February sim window, where the AI is proposing actual workouts, not March where they’re all just placeholders still. Or share your public Calendar…
Thanks for replies. I suppose I’ve not made my question clear. I’m not asking whether the AI is wrong. I’m sure it’s not. It’s taken my history (extensive) and built me a plan according to what I asked it to do.
I’m asking “is it normal to feel as if you’re not training hard enough when doing all this base work over winter?”
That’s what I struggle with. I’m going to persevere whatever, I just need to trust the process.
It could be wrong - there are bugs afterall! Every question regarding the appropriateness of a plan is (much!) easier for people to comment upon constructively if they can see what’s actually in the plan - so I still recommend posting the next 4 weeks of your plan (ie. the 4 weeks, commencing today, that lie within the dark simulation window) so that readers here can see exactly what you’re being prescribed. Without that it’s all a bit too abstract with feedback restricted to generalities.
Based upon your prior 3 weeks we can see that you only did 2 hard workouts in that period, and from your March Calendar screenshot, we can see that you’re on a ~4hrs/week Masters plan with 2 hard + 2 easy per week, so not unreasonable on the face of it; we cannot see what’s scheduled in the upcoming 4 weeks, though, since you’ve not shared that, hint……
I think what they’re asking is more of a training philosophy question than a “workouts” question. I could be wrong, but it sounds like the question is “I used to be on one of those old plans that had me doing Sweetspot, Sweetspot, and more Sweetspot, and when I needed a break, the coach told me to “just FTFP” and now I’ve started trying out TR and in Base phase it has me doing a SS or TH once or twice a week, but most of my workouts/hours are Z2, and this just feels way too easy to be productive, so can you guys please verify that I’m not wasting my time when I’m itching to just do more SS”.
I would say, “yeah, it’s normal to feel like the endurance rides aren’t hard enough” but if you’re looking for challenge, set those endurance rides to dynamic and see what the system proposes.
I made a commitment to just do whatever TR said in January, whether I thought it was hard enough or not. At first I was a little meh, but then I started getting assigned longer and longer endurance. The workouts were at levels that were “easy” (like, AL 4 or 5) but doing that easy, non-stop, for 2:45? or 3:30? They’re still easy, but an hour or two later I get that very familiar “oh, I’ve definitely delivered some stimulus today” feeling.
I think of dynamic endurance as the “Let Jonathan Take the Wheel” setting
If you’re recovering well between your hard workouts and feeling like you aren’t being challenged, I’d definitely switch from two to three hard workouts a week. That is your first step here.
That will leave you with only one endurance ride each week if you stick to a 4-day-a-week plan. Of course, you will still get recovery weeks every fourth week, which are critical to the adaptation process and getting faster.
To make those changes to your plan, click on your plan’s name in the top left corner of your calendar, then click “Edit Plan.”
Anything outside of the 28-day AI window shows placeholders. There’s no point in trying to predict what workout you’re going to do a month or two from now..
This is my next 4 weeks (the AI window). Week’s trip away with work will almost certainly have no opportunity for cycling…. then I get another rest week shortly after.
If try to up the load in plan builder it tells me I’m at risk of overtraining!
I dunno. I’ll see how it goes for a few weeks then increase the load / quantity in early March if I’m not feeling it. Also will be getting some longer rides out with the club come spring too.
One known limitation of the training plans right now is they don’t schedule around your planned travel. So you can end up with a recovery week just before or after your trip. So you may want to manually tweak things around your trip.
Now, official TR guidance is that often work trips can be stressful in their own way and therefore should be treated as though you need recovery from them.
Obviously, how stressful a trip is for you Is going to be highly individual and dependent on the trip. Dies it involve a big time change, lots of standing on your feet, and drinks with clients? That’s a stressful (on the body) trip. Similar if the trip is mentally stressful. Consider that trip to be equivalently fatiguing to training (though not helpful in raising FTP sadly).
On the other hand, I often take trips that are just one time zone away and mostly sitting in meetings. It’s not stressful. I consider it a rest week and will adjust my training as such.
I’m about to go on a ski vacation six times zones away. It’s going to be fun but physically taxing. I’m going to have a mini recovery before and after the trip, then resume normal training.
Yes, that’s typically me. Endurance training doesn’t feel effective in the moment because I don’t get that heavy feeling in my legs. But do two long endurance rides in a row and then try doing a threshold workout that normally feels hard. Suddenly it feels very hard. There is a training impact.
Similarly, regularly doing those endurance rides are going to make you more ‘durable’. You’ll be able to maintain tempo and sweet spot for longer.
It’s very much a trust the process type of training. Base phase is meant to be very incremental like that. If you’re interested in fitness at 2+ hours, you need it. If your focus is on shorter durations, you can get by without it, but most will say it’s still optimal to have it.
