Today I did Lamarck (4 x 10m at threshold) and took extra time in the recovery valleys by stopping pedaling and so naturally auto-pausing the session.
However, I also set a new 20-minute power which led me to question whether the calculation of personal records factors in the time spent paused?
Or does it ignore the pause and calculate on as if no breaks were taken, which is as it appears in the ride summary graphic.
Thanks
My gut and personal review says that it is a pure Average Power over a particular time calculation.
As such, itās possible to have a PR in any time that spans over a recovery, if your new average power exceeds the old one for that time.
Thanks @mcneese.chad ! But Iām not sure if I explained myself well enough
Ss this still true for āunscheduledā recoveries where the watts/cadence are zero and the workout is paused?
You can see below, during the recovery valley where my heart rate drops significantly is where I stopped pedaling for about 2 minutes and then resumed (so essentially a 4-minute recovery).
However TR ātimeā stops and resumes when I stop and resume pedaling and the interval length is recorded as 20 minutes when in reality it was roughly 22 minutes. The Strava illustration shows the same, with no evidence of my additional 2 min rest/pause at zero watts.
This makes me think that what TR has recorded as my best 20 min average power segment, in reality, had a two-minute rest at zero watts in the middle that was not considered, thus making the actual average power lower than TR records.
This is something Iāve been concerned about for a while - that TR is very forgiving of pauses.
If I record a workout on my head unit as well as Trainer Road, and take a break during the session, TR acts as if I did it all in one block. Whereas my head unit records the time spent at zero, and adjusts the IF accordingly.
Feels like there should be an āextend recovery intervalā button.
Ignoring (and not recording) the pause duration in the workout file and calculation also feels like a bug to me. Maybe @Bryce can point out if itās intentional or considered a bug and being worked on?
Unfortuantely, TrainerRoad only registers the workout clockās time and does not have any way of measuring overall elapsed time, at least not currently.
If you would like to avoid false-PRs like this in the future, disabling auto-pause is likely your best option.
Iām really sorry I donāt have better news for you all 
.
@Bryce
Can you provide an update on this? Is there a concrete plan to fix this?
I find it quite dissonant that TR is promoting data analytic tools while recording incorrect/fake data.
This also affects analysis by other tools (TrainingPeaks, Xert, etc.), so I donāt see this as a small issue.
Itās one thing for TR to have taken this shortcut on proper recording when launched, but it now seems very inconsistent with where the product is now.
Thanks!
At this time, unfortunately we do not have a concrete plan to fix this.
Iāve spoken with our Product Managers this morning and while we absolutely agree that this needs to be addressed, the change would require a major overhaul of our software and a significant amount of Development time and energy. We currently have some major projects in the pipeline, but upon completion of those projects we should have more resources availiable for projects like this.
The good news is, that a majority of our users set personal records during outside workouts such as races or group rides, and those workouts properly account for the elapsed time.
Sorry for the inconvenience .
Hi Bryce - thanks for such a quick response. Iām glad this is acknowledged as a problem that needs fixing. I guess Iām in the minority then, as most of my longer PRs (1-3 hours) are set indoors. I get that this isnāt a sexy new feature, but Iām am very much looking forward to this being fixed.
Thanks,
Roy
@toyman I disabled pedal to resume and problem went away:
Easy workaround. And yes, I would like to see this fixed too.
iām honestly thinking this isnāt a problem to be solved. Yes, iāll occasionally pause a rest interval to extend it but thatās something Iāve been getting out the habit of doing. However there are legitimate reasons to pause a workout like going to the bathroom, someone comes to the door, the wife needs momentary backup with the child, adjusting shoes or saddle position amongst others that I would rather not have effect the overall numbers of the workout. At least if this is going to be a thing make it a toggle like pedal to start and workout text.
Having an extend rest interval button like the extend warmup/cold down button that does effect the numbers would be a welcome addition. Along with that something I would love to have indicated in the workout description is the purpose of the rest intervals and whether the duration is integral to the purpose of the workout. With workouts like Tallac+4 and Lamarck I feel like the rest intervals are part of the overall intent where as coach chad has said for various sweet spot workouts the work interval is really what matters and rest can be whatever. I can sort of glean from the duration that shorter breaks generally should be adhered to and anything 5+ minutes is probably a bit looser. Knowing that going into a workout I think would be really helpful and that wouldnāt require rewriting the software, just rewriting the blurbs. Of course, easy said not easy done but still I think itās helpful information.
