I’m trying out TR after being off the platform for a few years and have a few questions on how things work. TIA for your help!
is there a way to look at upcoming outdoor workouts and see the specific wattages and lengths of each step? The outdoor workouts I’m getting assigned show a picture of the structure, but when you go into the detail, they say things like “warm up for 10 minutes between 100 and 250 watts” and “ride for 90 minutes averaging 250 watts”, but never “this workout consists of 3 sets of 2 minute overs at 250 watts followed by 3 minute unders at 230 watts” like an indoor workout would have. When I do the workout on my Garmin, it has all the steps and wattage ranges and works perfectly, but the descriptions in TR don’t have them. Is there an easier way to see the detail like you would for an indoor workout without going into the “Workouts” menu and searching for the indoor workout by name? I like to know the wattages before I start the ride just in case I miss a pop up.
After my outdoor workout is complete, when I open TR to do the post-ride survey, TR opens to the Career page, which shows the workout as upcoming, not completed. When I move over to the Calendar page, it shows the ride as completed and associated with the workout, but I have to then open the completed ride and click around to get to the survey. I would expect that when I open TR post-ride, it takes me directly to the post-ride survey for the completed ride. Am I doing something wrong or is this expected behavior?
Do the TR weeks not progressively offer up harder workouts and higher TSS weeks? This might just be because I’m new and it’s learning me (it’s only week 2), but I find that if it offers me a PL 3.0 Threshold workout on Saturday, and I then choose an Alternate PL4.5 TH workout and complete it, the next week it offers me a PL 3.2 TH workout instead of a 4.7. Also, week 2 had lower overall TSS than week 1.
I’m having the same issue that someone else posted in another thread where when I open my Garmin, it shows me the wrong workout for today. When I click “Training” on the Garmin, the correct workout is there, but it’s not the default that I see when I first turn it on. Is this normal?
Thanks for your help. It’s been a while, so I’m getting reacquainted with how everything works!
No, not really. You can edit the workout and shift it to an inside workout to se the structure of the workout (without saving) which would be slightly less work at least.
I think you are just a bit too impatient. For me at least, it pops up, but it takes a while longer than you would expect.
It should progress you, but the new tweaks to the Ai means that it to a bigger extent gives you workouts with the PL it regards as best suited for you. That might be less than your current PL or much higher than the standard progressive overload increase.
Seems like we are not alone in experiencing this at least.
Hey @Pbase, Welcome back!
You’re right, it doesn’t look like the Outside Workouts have the overview of what the workout is before describing what the structure will look like. This is great feedback, I will pass it along to the team.
When you open the app, it should automatically ask you to complete the survey. This sounds like you’re running into a delay with syncing from the surveys to the app (if you’re opening the TR app). You can test this by going to the website after a workout and seeing if you have the same or a different experience there. If the survey shows instantly on the web, but not on mobile/desktop, then it’s likely that the app isn’t syncing with the server quickly enough.
TrainerRoad now looks beyond just Workout Levels, factoring in your fitness, recent training, and overall trends to pick the right workout for you that day. When a workout looks different from what you might expect based on past recommendations, it’s reflecting a broader view of your current fitness and capabilities. This supports consistent, high-quality training, and that’s exactly what helps you get faster. Notes: TSS is not created equal, plus depending on the adaptations you get each week, these can vary. However, I see that you are rating your SS and Threshold workouts as Hard, so this is a great way to confirm the Workout Levels are on point.
Have you tried making sure that the time zone and date settings of their Garmin head unit and the Garmin Connect app match TR?
I do like @torneng and view the workout as indoors to see the actual structure. Especially since the warmup really difference indoors vs outdoors.
Also like @torneng mentioned, I think this is a question of patience. I usually look at my phone right away and do as you did by going into calendar and click on the workout to manually add in my survey response. But if I wait just a bit, I will be prompeted and don’t have to do the workaround as you did.
This is essentially why I’ve stuck around with TR. If I do choose an alternate that was a higher PL, TR will usually adjust (although not always right away) which leads to periodization and higher TSS. If not, I just choose the alternate myself.
Caro - thanks for getting this added to the wishlist/backlog.
Sounds like I just need to wait longer. I tend to do my app updates while I have breakfast after my workout, so I can just push that back to after I’ve showered too.
I’ve been changing the workouts to alternate workouts of the same structure to try to get to it recommending more realistic PL’s. It started me out with everything set to 1.0, so I’ve been trying to “teach it” that I’m capable of more, but it keeps trying to downgrade me instead of increase even though I’m not struggling at the harder level. I assume that a Threshold workout should be “Hard” and not downgrade me if I rate it as such. Threshold workouts aren’t supposed to be “Easy”. I’ve always struggled with this part of AT in the past though, so maybe it’s just the same issue rearing its head.
Good to hear it’s being looked at. Cheers again Caro!
I feel ya @Pbase AT might not look like what you expect, but it’s based on your recent training.
Maybe shifting the thinking on how AT now looks at your training is to think of your training like climbing a staircase. The goal is to keep moving upward, but not every step needs to be taller than the last. TrainerRoad adjusts the step size based on what you’ve been doing lately, so you can keep progressing in a way that supports consistency and long-term growth.
Since you just got started again with TR, my hope is that you try and trust it hehe.
AT might not look like what you expect, but it’s based on your recent training.
hehe.