Good to have Nate back on the podcast again to analyze an athlete’s calendar!
NOTE: Our recording software had technical difficulties and lost the latter end of this podcast, so it ends abruptly. We’re working on recovering the original files, and if possible, will post the rest later!
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(00:00) Welcome!
(00:07) Listener’s Question: Why Am I Not Seeing Better Results?
(02:41) Understanding FTP and Training Consistency
(06:00) Comparing Event Performances
(16:12) Training Plan Recommendations
(19:27) Pre-Race Preparation and Strategy
(21:34) Comparing Seasonal Performance
(24:31) Training Plan Recommendations
(31:10) Fueling Strategies for Long Rides
(36:27) Maintaining Consistent Training
In today’s episode, Coach Jonathan and Nate dive deep into an athlete’s calendar to answer their question of why they didn’t see higher numbers in an annual event now that they are doing structure training. They analyze the athlete’s training calendar, compare performances from different years, and look at the impact of long weekend rides. The coaches discuss the importance of consistency, fueling strategies, and adhering to structured plans. With practical insights and recommendations, this episode offers valuable advice for athletes looking to optimize their training and performance. Let us know in the comments if you want your TrainerRoad account analyzed!
Most of the long weekend rides didn’t look that bad to me. There were a couple with some spikes, but others looked like there had been an effort to cap them.
Maybe it’s the accumulated effect of the long ride meaning poorer recovery and slower progress on hard days?
10 watts higher FTP and hitting some PR’s sounds like the training is working, just maybe not as quickly as was hoped.
If there has also been a improvement in body comp/weight, then even better.
I think it would be really helpful if TR gave us our W/Kg on the FTP history page. I’ve had higher FTP, but also higher weight, meaning lower W/Kg.
As W/Kg is such an important metric, I don’t know why TR don’t display it.
Recommendation of 3 interval days, 1 active recovery, 1 endurance is surprising, lots of intensity not much z2. Could do 3 endurance and 2 interval seems more consistent since already have 2 rest days.
To me, it felt like the conversation was focused on “you’ve improved in efforts under 1 hour”, but what the athlete was looking for was improvements in long rides, like the 3 and 12 hour events he has.
Having said that, the whole thing was pretty much rendered moot by the fact the courses were different and the rest/coasting time was very different, which means comparing them to each other over a 3+ hour time frame (total event time) is pretty hard to do, so they kind of had to break it down into “compare the segments that are apples to apples”.
Also, “ride more, be consistent, and do more interval work if you want to improve” isn’t exactly a surprising recommendation, but I thought that showing athletes how they can use the plan volume analyzer was a valuable teaching.
I thought Jonathan and Nate did a good job explaining how athletes can use the TR analysis tools to compare events, efforts, PR’s, etc., which was the real value in this episode.
https://trainerroad.cc/trzwiftclub