I have generated a new plan which has given myself a decent AI FTP prediction. However, considering the amount of cycling I have done other the past few years, the volume it has prescribed is low at only 6.5hrs per week on average.
When I go to add an extra endurance session a week, it brings my AI FTP prediction down. I assume this is due to training fatigue.
I would have thought I could handle more training but if not, how do I go about increasing the volume in my plan without it having a negative effect?
Thatās the million dollar question. I would try upping the volume more gradually, say an hour or two every week or two. You can maybe play about with the volume ramp rate (which maybe isnāt linear) to find out what works best for you
Edit your plan, and set your endurance day(s) to be dynamic, up to whatever maximum duration youāre willing to ride for. System caps this at 5. You can also set a static duration for your interval days, I believe it defaults to 1 hour, but if you have the time and volume established to support more, just increase it.
Days per week and number of intensity days is also adjustable. I have mine set at 2 intensity days, on 4 days a week, with my two endurance days set to dynamic. This is building up the duration of my endurance riding, which is what Iām looking for during this part of the year.
Donāt be afraid of the FTP prediction during base training. Itās easy to focus on this, but assuming youāre focusing on base like most of us right now, the point of base has NEVER been to maximize FTP after a base block. Itās to prep for the build phase to come later.
I would expect that as the AI feature matures, weāll eventually have some other metric show instead of FTP gains during base. Iād love to see base phase predictions forecasting to what to expect during the build phase instead. My .02 on base is that sustainable ramp rate, consistency, and resulting volume at the end of base are probably the factors with the most predictive strength towards how much you gain during build phases.
Just as a point of reference, yesterday was my first day of my new program, which TR subscribed a 1.5 hr endurance workout. Instead, I did a āFree rideā for 3 hours, which was also an endurance zone ride. My weekend long rides will always be either 3+ hr endurance rides or 3+ hour outdoor rides.
After completion of my Free Ride and deletion of their prescribed 1.5 hr ride, nothing changed for my predicted FTP. Not sure if this will be the same for your case.
Personally, I, and many others here, have never agreed with Trainer Roads lack of volume for some riders, particularly those that do 5+ hour races. Although countless experienced riders and racers have argued this, Iām always disappointed to see the stance that TR seems to take regarding the importance of long rides.
My suggestion is that in some cases you need to pick what works best for you in some cases and let the AI just manage the rest of it how it seeās fit. You can continue to make modifications. AI doesnāt know when you have certain life stresses or maybe havenāt recovered like you thought you might. In the same sense, it also doesnāt seem to know how youāve recovered or managed doing long rides in the past.
If optimal is what the offer you in the plan, then adding or subtracting from it will -by definition - be sub optimal.
Starts on the prescribed training plan, change your long ride day endurance rides to ādynamicā and set a max time so the AI can increase volume as it sees fit.
When I first started TR, it recommended a Masters plan for me because I was 46. For purely egotistical reasons, I decided to go against the recommendation. However, I did okay, and now when I revisit the plan builder, it recommends 3 intense days. It may be that if you do more hours without failing workouts, itāll adapt and recommend that training load going forward.
That said, Iām going to be watching my fatigue levels closely during my upcoming specialty block. Part of me thinks I should be switching to the Masters program now, but I also think I can afford to experiment for a few weeks. Iām just finally very prepared to ease up if Iām hating life by the next recovery week.
The plan is supposed to optimize around the constraints you give it. It explicitly is not trying to create an optimal plan without constraints, they said this would take too many iterations and not be feasible given the current state of the prediction AI.
Which means when an end user tinkers with the plan in a way that they didnāt ask plan builder to do, sometimes the prediction will go up. Itāll go down sometimes also, but thereās no reason to assume that the initial state canāt be improved upon.
I think this is an important point that is being missed frequently, or at least being obscured by the carrot/stick of FTP detectionā¦. many people seem to be happy to build multi-month plans of base-build-speciality, and then immediately start trying to maximise a predicted number for the first few weeks of that plan. Iād leave all of that for your build phase, and concentrate instead on getting the work done in base without trying to eke out a few watts here or there.
EDIT: not meant specifically at anyone on this thread, just as a general observation around the forum.
I hope Trainerroad didnāt train their AI according to their business model that less hours and more intensity makes you faster than other way around.
