# Feature Request: Extend recovery period between intervals **URL:** \ **Category:** TrainerRoad Software\ **Tags:** feature-request\ **Created:** [December 8, 2018, 2:35am UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447 "2018-12-08T02:35:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AlphaDogCycling](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/alphadogcycling/32/13863_2.png) [@AlphaDogCycling](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/AlphaDogCycling)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 2:35am UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/1 "2018-12-08T02:35:41Z")
Similar to the current “Extend Warmup” and “Extend Cooldown”, it would be great if there was an “Extend Recovery”. That is, if I’m doing 4x6 minute intervals at 105% of FTP with 4 minutes recovery between intervals, and I need more time between say the 3 & 4 interval to recover, I could hit “Extend Recovery” and I would get 30 seconds or a minute longer recovery. This would help where I need a little more recovery between intervals for a specific workout, and still allow people to use ERG mode and do the full intervals / follow the workout. ---
**Author:** ![mcneese.chad](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/mcneese.chad/32/15056_2.png) [@mcneese.chad](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/mcneese.chad)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 2:48am UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/2 "2018-12-08T02:48:15Z")
Not to discourage this request. But you can use the Pause button to do this right now. ---
**Author:** ![wyku](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/wyku/32/7725_2.png) [@wyku](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/wyku)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 3:34am UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/3 "2018-12-08T03:34:47Z")
That doesn’t really help if you have pedal to start/stop on and if you want to show that you took that extra active recovery time during the ride. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Snrub](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/mr_snrub/32/175163_2.png) [@Mr\_Snrub](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/Mr_Snrub)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 4:19am UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/4 "2018-12-08T04:19:27Z")
Funny… I just completed Spanish Needle this morning and thought it would be handy to extend my recovery. Sure, I got off, stretched, filled drink bottle etc which helped but there were times where I just needed a little more time. ---
**Author:** ![ErickVH](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/erickvh/32/15689_2.png) [@ErickVH](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/ErickVH)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 4:29am UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/5 "2018-12-08T04:29:36Z")
If you can’t recover fast enough your intensity is too high. Do some base work and get that cardio tuned up. ---
**Author:** ![dtrevathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@dtrevathan](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/dtrevathan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 4:39am UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/6 "2018-12-08T04:39:48Z")
In the past I have put workouts in the workout creator and extended the recovery phase. But to have a way to just extend the recovery on the fly is a great idea! ---
**Author:** ![TonyLPowell](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/tonylpowell/32/46435_2.png) [@TonyLPowell](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/TonyLPowell)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 5:23am UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/8 "2018-12-08T05:23:10Z")
I would like to see this feature as well. I use the pause now, but it would be better to track the extended recovery in the app rather than having to watch a clock separately. ---
**Author:** ![MI-XC](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/mi-xc/32/12993_2.png) [@MI-XC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/MI-XC)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 12:43pm UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/9 "2018-12-08T12:43:32Z")
You can always just back pedal. Clock keeps moving and so are your legs. ---
**Author:** ![AlphaDogCycling](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/alphadogcycling/32/13863_2.png) [@AlphaDogCycling](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/AlphaDogCycling)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 2:41pm UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/10 "2018-12-08T14:41:45Z")
Yes, I could get off the bike / stop pedaling and take some time, but that at least for me is not as good as pedaling easy at recovering. Plus if TrainerRoad can figure out a way to identify “failed” vs. successful workouts, having this would help. It would be better to know, and track, that I can do 3 6-minute intervals at 108% FTP with only 4 minutes rest, but to do the 4th interval, I need 5 minutes (or 6 minutes) rest. And then track over time if / when I can do all 4 as originally prescribed. ---
**Author:** ![ErickVH](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/erickvh/32/15689_2.png) [@ErickVH](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/ErickVH)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/11 "2018-12-08T15:06:43Z")
The plans will work you up after an FTP adjustment. Just do a 10s backpedal if you really can’t keep up. The workouts are supposed to hurt towards the end and giving you an escape hatch is counter productive to getting stronger. The brain is the weakest part of you more often then not. It doesn’t need any help sabatoging you. ---
**Author:** ![Nigel\_Doyle](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/nigel_doyle/32/15487_2.png) [@Nigel\_Doyle](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/Nigel_Doyle)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/12 "2018-12-08T17:13:24Z")
Good suggestion. Add vote. I’ll often do a variation of the workout for this very reason just to get a minute or two more recovery between hard intervals. Some of us older riders just need a wee bit more time to recover between hard efforts. ---
**Author:** ![ssphillips](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/ssphillips/32/294_2.png) [@ssphillips](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/ssphillips)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/13 "2018-12-08T17:28:54Z")
I feel like this would make it too easy (mentally) to use and could take away some of the intended benefit of the workout. There have definitely been times when I could have used a little longer recovery but I refused to pause and just got on my horse and rode instead of “giving up”. If there’s an easy button right there to extend the recovery it would feel like there is tacit approval from Coach Chad to use it and maybe we wouldn’t get the desired adaptations from the workout as originally designed… ---
**Author:** ![RobertSims](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/robertsims/32/26170_2.png) [@RobertSims](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/RobertSims)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/14 "2018-12-08T17:30:43Z")
Pause button does this surely or just stop pedalling for extra 30 secs? ---
**Author:** ![trpnhntr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/trpnhntr/32/93473_2.png) [@trpnhntr](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/trpnhntr)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 5:33pm UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/15 "2018-12-08T17:33:27Z")
I like the idea of extending the rest period between sets but not extending between intervals For instance - if you’re doing English ([Log In to TrainerRoad](https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/workouts/18059-english)) you couldn’t extend the 50 second recovery valleys but you could extend the 8 minute break between the two sets ---
**Author:** ![AlphaDogCycling](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/alphadogcycling/32/13863_2.png) [@AlphaDogCycling](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/AlphaDogCycling)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/16 "2018-12-09T14:04:35Z")
Agree that for sets of intervals it doesn’t make sense to extend the rest between the intervals in the set. So this would need logic like: - if “recovery” (that’s a can a worms in itself to define) \> X minutes, show “extend recovery” button ---
**Author:** ![Mikael\_Eriksson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/mikael_eriksson/32/6120_2.png) [@Mikael\_Eriksson](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/Mikael_Eriksson)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/17 "2018-12-09T14:08:34Z")
> If you can’t recover fast enough your intensity is too high. Do some base work and get that cardio tuned up. I disagree with this statement. It very much depends on where you are in your training cycle, as well as what type of athlete you are. Athlete’s that are more anaerobic for example may very well take longer recoveries between sweet spot intervals. They still get just as much benefit from the workout. But it’s all about adapting to the individual. ---
**Author:** ![Darkgerbil](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/darkgerbil/32/24615_2.png) [@Darkgerbil](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/Darkgerbil)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 2:11pm UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/18 "2018-12-09T14:11:19Z")
Another vote for this feature from me. Better to keep pedalling in an extended recovery period than pause the workout, the latter of which always makes it harder to get started again, even if it’s just a minute extra. ---
**Author:** ![bagr84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@bagr84](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/bagr84)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/19 "2018-12-09T14:29:22Z")
Agreed, I have been waiting for this for ages. There are workouts where extending the recovery valleys between sets has no impact on the intended gains (ie. threshold overunders, sweet spots), they are often short just because the workout has to fit in 60 / 90 / whatever minutes. ---
**Author:** ![AlphaDogCycling](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/alphadogcycling/32/13863_2.png) [@AlphaDogCycling](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/AlphaDogCycling)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 2:31pm UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/20 "2018-12-09T14:31:19Z")
> [@ErickVH](#): > > If you can’t recover fast enough your intensity is too high. Do some base work and get that cardio tuned up. I’m sure this is zero to negative zero research that shows 4x6 minute above threshold intervals with 4 minutes rest between intervals is superior to doing the same with 5 minutes rest or 6 minutes between intervals. Or a combination of 4 & 5 minutes rest. So to assume that taking an extra minute of rest is somehow detrimental to the workout is just that: an assumption with no information backing it up. ---
**Author:** ![nip123](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/trainerroad/forum/user_avatar/www.trainerroad.com/nip123/32/7746_2.png) [@nip123](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/u/nip123)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447/21 "2018-12-09T16:04:03Z")
+1 [Next page](https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/feature-request-extend-recovery-period-between-intervals/7447.md?page=2)