People are paying TR for stock off the shelf plans and an app that will scale the targets to your FTP based on generic one size fits all model. Don’t get me wrong, this a very great thing, especially for the low price they charge. But, to get maximum benefits from it, you do have to do a little coaching on yourself and make some adjustments. You can get pretty far just running the program as is but even the guys running TR will tell you this is not a set and forget system if you want to maximize your training.
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If you’d read my post and the point I was making, it was that TR will get left behind if they don’t move to individualization. You can fanboy TR as much as you like but training platforms are moving to individualization. That is fact. I don’t think anyone is currently doing this well enough and think TR offer the best all round platform. But individualization is the future. And not too distant future.
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On the podcast Nate is dropping hints about this, hoping to see TR’s first step into individualization this year
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I did read your post, that’s why I quoted it. Thank you for the TR “fanboy” comment, but I’m sure you meant it as a insult 
. I am a huge fan of TR as I think it is the best training platform available!
I’ve sometimes thought the Trainer Road interface on V02 max workouts would be more useful if it represented the recommended power peaks as zones with an upper and lower line. You see a lot of people (and I have done it too…) fixating on making the power line match the graph, even though the on screen coaching is very clear about V02 being a range with variability from one rider to the next.
Or perhaps the power number on the interface could have a toggle or secondary piece of information that tells you what percentage of FTP you are working at right now. The mental math is a bit much when I am also busy sucking wind and praying for death to release me.
Let’s drop the name calling (implied or direct).
It’s a stepping stone to personal insults and worse, which are not appreciated or allowed here.
Focus on the content to keep the discussion positive and productive, please.
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yes. And warning me that for 120% intervals, dropping Intensity to 85% would turn the workout into threshold, and that 89% is lowest to keep in vo2max power range.
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Gotta do this before you hop on the bike! I’ll figure out my power points for the workout, write them on a strip of painter’s tape and stick ‘em to the wall. Sometimes I’ll also write down the accompanying cadence but I usually save the cadence calls for the latter intervals when power starts to get a bit iffy. Then it’s a mental game of making sure the ol’ Wahoo always hits 100 or whatever (I use my headunit far more than the TR app).
Returning to the OP – VO2max difficulty – one good thing about their difficulty, for me anyway, is that it’s all local/acute. All the pain and suffering is then and there, there seems to be no carry-over fatigue like there is with long SS/Threshold sessions. I’m sure my heart disagrees but my body feels just fine the next day.
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I’m good with the Billat style 30/30s and shorter 60/60 jobbers, but the longer ones are harder and take more out of me. SS doesn’t affect me much, but threshold sessions definitely require more recovery.
Thanks for that, handy bit of math though isn’t it 120 * 0.89 = 106% , as 106 is the beginning of FTP, just shows that dropping a few percent to get through them really isn’t going to do you any harm, dropping to 89% is acceptable (I’d say for the long intervals)
If FTP = 250
V02 according to TR = 250 + 20% = 300
250 + 6% = 265
250 + 20% = 300 * 0.89 = 267
Took a while off the trainer and done some outside cycling.
It seems to me like this could be the issue biggest issue. SSB2 has some shorter VO2 work at the end of it that helps you build into the VO2 work in the build programs.
Personally, I know if I take some time off VO2 work I can’t just hop back to 3 minutes at 120%. If I work my way up over a couple of weeks though, then I can crush 3 minute 120% intervals.
Isn’t that what the 3rd Col is ?
That’s definitely a solution - but from a product development perspective, when your customers are inventing their own workarounds in such a specific way, there is also an opportunity to improve the product.
Also, @Captain_Doughnutman - follow and appreciate all your posts. Have learned a lot by reading them over the course of this winter. The doughnut image does make me hungry though.
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Yeah, I meant adding actual wattage target. Bad wording on my part.
Like this:
See the “General Cals” tab.
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yes, TR encourages us to make adjustments but then misses the opportunity to guide us during the workout. That is precisely when we need the most guidance, to stay within the power range and keep the workout consistent with its goals.
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There are some great comments about possible mid-workout adjustments in at least some workouts. But they can be easy to miss if you aren’t closely watching them, and they are not in all the workouts that may be appropriate for adjustment.
These types of notes could be useful in the workout tips section. But It would be great to have some other “live access” tips that we can refer to easily, while in the workout. Something like the top 3 things about or to focus on, and any practical tips to get the most from the workout. Again, some of this is already in the notes (like cadence recommendations), but we would need to review them prior to or have another device to access them in the moment.
So I see a chance to add some “new feature” that could give us this info much more directly.
Attempting such mental math makes the time aka pain go by faster. It is an awesome distraction! 
LOL - maybe for you. If Trainer Road programs in a “majored in journalism” button for people like me, that’d be great.
I done Mills which is I know one of the easy one and I found it really tough but kept my cadence up just up so it’s great to get it finished and at least now I have something to build on. Thanks again because I had fallen out with my TR set up. I guess I just needed to know that others find 120% of ftp unmanageable but my aim is definitely to get them done eventually.
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