Custom training plan without specialty phase or without vo2 max/anaerobic workouts

TrainerRoad Software
1

Hi all,

I’m pregnant and would like to build/maintain fitness while avoiding high intensity workouts. I just did a VO2 max workout since I’m getting towards the end of the build phase of the plan I started a few months ago, and my heart rate was hitting 90% of my max heart rate and slightly above, which I’ve been told to avoid.

I work full time and have very specific requirements around number and length of sessions I can do each week (always the same schedule though): 30 minutes endurance on Mondays, 45 minutes hard workout Wednesdays, 1h hard workout Saturdays. So the custom plan builder works best for that.

However, whenever I try to build a custom plan the tool insists on including a specialty phase with mostly anaerobic and Vo2 max workouts, which I don’t want.

Short of swapping these workouts out manually, how can I create a custom training plan that will help me stay fit during my pregnancy without going too high intensity, i.e. a plan that involves mostly endurance / sweet spot / threshold workouts instead of anaerobic/vo2 max?

2

I was playing around with the custom plan builder and trying different options via goals:

image
image651×517 10.6 KB

It seems TrainerRoad will always suggest some type of VO2, or higher, workout in Specialty. I am not 100% certain on this and I welcome anybody to fact check me.

With that being said if I were you I would either:

  1. Skip using plan builder and use either TR’s polarized or traditional templated plans.
  2. Use the suggested plan that plan builder creates for you and use TrainNow to suggest an alternative workout when the planned workout is VO2 or higher.
  3. Skip setting a plan all together and use TrainNow exclusively.

Unfortunately this not succeed in accomplishing what you set out to do here:

But I am relatively confident that plan builder will always include a specialty workout with high intensity.

3

Hey there @lunabaluna,

Welcome to the forum & congratulations on your pregnancy! :partying_face:

The best way to achieve a plan without any workouts above Threshold would be to add an individual training phase to your calendar such as General Base, Traditional Base, or Polarized Base. Traditional Base is going to be pretty much entirely easy riding. Polarized Base will have a little bit of intensity, and General Base will be the most well-rounded with more workout diversity than the other two.

As @patricksudol mentioned above, most Build and Specialty phases include more intense workouts, so Base phases are likely the best option for you as of now.

You can find these in the Training Phases page under the “Training Plans” tab as shown below.

image
image1207×607 42.2 KB

Let me know if this helps and if you have any other questions along the way.

Take care & happy riding!

4

Thank you both!

It seems I have two options then (since I would still like the motivation of following a plan for now, which leaves out using TrainNow exclusively):

  • Traditional Base and swap out longer rides for shorter alternates
  • Custom plan builder and swap out more intense rides for lower intensity workouts

I’ll try these and see how I go.

@eddiegrinwald I do think there might be a ‘feature request’ in this: that could be

  • the ability to choose the maximum intensity used in a custom training plan, or
  • the ability to select which phases you want to use (not going as far as specialty for example), or
  • the ability to select the length of each workout in the more traditional plans

Thanks again!

2 Likes
5

You can currently set custom duration caps for each day of the week in a custom training plan! :grinning:

I agree that this shows a bit of a gap in our plans for people who don’t want high-intensity work though.

I’ll share this with the team, but I think the idea of hand-picking phases is the best move for now.

Stay in touch and let me know how things are going and if you have any issues or questions along the way!