I switched over to TR AI since January. Before that I had been experiencing steady FTP progressions. Since using the new AI I had a much lower FTP set (I get it, new ruler I’m fine with that part), and I’ve been passing all of my workouts and doing what’s prescribed but I’ve basically plateaued in progression.
The FTP prediction was slating me for a potential 0.8% increase earlier this week which would have been my first deviation from the plateau, but I had to skip one threshold workout due to a work meeting which dropped my prediction to a 0.4% increase and after my workout today it dropped to a predicted 0% increase again.
I know these are just predictions, but I’m so close to the next detection that it seems like it’s basically what’s going to happen (or not happen really).
What am I doing wrong here? I’m doing all of the workouts, I’m passing them, I’m rating them honestly, most of my hard workouts are just hard not very hard or max effort. Most of my easy workouts are easy. I’m eating right, I’m resting on rest days. It just seems odd to go from progression to plateau and the only thing that’s changed is the new ruler.
I’m not trying to blame the AI or anything, just trying to understand what I should be doing to grow again.
Well it coming so I’ll be the first to say it. Can you show your calendar or post screen shots of the last 8 weeks of your calendar.
You can even give permission to the TR staff to share what they find if you’re ok with that.
From your FTP history, you had a much longer plateau before this, from Feb 25 to Oct 25. What did your training look like in this period, compared to your recent plateau? And then, compare to the periods Dec 24 - Feb 25 and Oct 25 - Jan 26, when you were making some progress (in terms of FTP), and see if that tells you anything.
Over the last year of training I did go from 4 days of training to 3 because the trainerroad volume check told me to go down to 3. I also started the year with a demanding training approach for a while before scaling it back a bit. I know those changes will affect my ftp, but I was still growing at the time.
All that said, I did my scheduled workout today and at the end of it the ftp prediction has gone back up to 0.8%.
So I’m back to where I started which is great, though I kind of wish I could turn off the FTP prediction b/c apparently it’s too much of a speculative roller coster for my liking I do like the prediction, but it would be nice if I could fold it up and hide it and only peek at it when I feel like it.
All of that said, you all made good points about going back and comparing my training plans from previous time intervals to now to see what the differences were. I don’t know if I can go back and look at the previous training plans, but I haven’t tried so maybe I can. I’ll peek into that and see what I can find. I’m not expecting to make massive leaps and bounds or anything, and I am happy with the training that the AI has been dishing up, I just want to make progress.
I hope this can help.
You can turn off the AIFTP prediction.
This is on the mobile app, I think it’s si similar on the web too.
Go into your calendar and click on the AIFTP prediction box.
On the lower left click on the pencil icon.
On the new box that opens up just click on the switch.
The number will be off but unfortunately the box widget stays.
In very similar situation where I’ve been getting substantial increases over the last few months, leading up race season and then on my latest estimate…its giving me 0% on the 14 workouts planned before then??
A bit off topic… but can TR just add in the user agreement that states that if you post about the TR product you are agreeing that your training can be shared publicly? The “can I share” posts have to be getting annoying.
Will it count if we put the permission in the title or opening post?
I for one like my TR staff roasting every once in a while, much to be learned from them.
You’ve been training non-stop for a very long time now. In the past year, I don’t see a period where you took some time off to let your body recover . I do see, however, periods where you are rating your post-workout surveys with “Training Fatigue.” So we may have a trend here.
Your AI FTP Detection calibration to the new AI FTP Detection happened January 20th, so we ought to be comparing FTP changes since then, as comparing to past FTP Detections would not be an apples-to-apples comparison. That said, I do want to note that in December, you rated a few workouts with “Training Fatigue” and an annotation with “work, kids, house stuff” which I am assuming were outside stressors too coming into the new year.
Between your Jan 20th - Feb 17th detections, you rated interval workouts as Hard or Very Hard, so I can see why your FTP remains pretty unchanged (1 watt lower).
Between Feb 17th and March 17th, you’re also rating most of your workouts as Hard, but there are still a few labeled Hard and Training Fatigued.
March 17th and April 14th, your first week was a little rough, but you ended that block with rating workouts Hard and Moderate. In your last AI FTP Prediction, you increased your FTP to 246!
The above is a bird’s-eye view of what I am seeing, very apparent; lots of training, and little rest. This often leads to plateaus. Looks like you seem to follow the fatigue detection pretty well, and consistency with the plan is pretty good, with the exception of missed workouts because of life getting in the way (it happens!). But I would say, overall, you’re really good on plan compliance. I would just try to focus on recovery, too and take some needed time off once racing season comes to an end. I see you also have your training plan set to Demanding. I would play with switching it to Balanced.
Lastly, I wanted to point out, like always, that FTP is not everything. If your FTP remains the same, it’s important to look at other factors, like being able to complete higher workout levels, recovering faster, feeling stronger… When we start to hit our “ceiling,” the gains will naturally be lower and harder to gain, so we have to gain an overall perspective of what’s actually happening.
Are you getting stronger? i.e. are you able to make more power at a given period, or the same power at a lower PE and especially lower heart rate
On the off chance you are experiencing what one of my athletes is experiencing with their model, Take an FTP Test. Is it higher than what your previous tests were under their old model? If so, you may need to adjust accordingly. One of my athletes is extremely strong right now. her FTP has Tracked practically flat since the rollout of the new FTP. TR has recommended she just go of her REAL FTP. Their tool cant handle her SS Intervals. We weren’t overly worried about it because it gave her a monstrous Tempo engine going into Cape epic.
Awesome, thank you for taking a look at that for me. Yeah everything you say makes sense. I feel like sometimes it’s hard to keep that high level view right after a workout or even over the course of a week. I’ll keep that in mind going forward and also your comments about things other than FTP and yeah a good point. I’ll take a break after race season this year
I do have one follow-up question that seems kind of important. I had my approach set to demanding for a while towards the beginning of the year, but I set it back to balanced a while ago. When I did I noticed that I had to try it a couple of times before it stuck to balance because it kept saying it was demanding even after changing it.
Eventually it seemed like it changed it to balanced and from my perspective it is set to balance now. Is it showing as demanding on your end still?
I do like the prediction, but it would be nice if I could fold it up and hide it and only peek at it when I feel like it.
