If I can ride 12 minutes of over-unders, I’m sure I could also just do at least 12 minutes under. But TrainerRoad instead gives me 10 minutes. Well it does give me 1 or 2 additional intervals, but IMHO that doesn’t change the big picture.
I wonder whether I should more aggressively mark these sweet-spot intervals as “easy” to ramp up the progression, or are these intervals intentionally in the moderate intensity range?
Or to put it in more general terms: if you are training with two intensity days a week, should both of these days be about equally hard, or would it be better to have just one really hard day while keeping the other one more of a moderately hard?
I completed the Guyat workout today. Only the last interval felt like I was doing some pushing. So I tagged on another 10 minute interval above threshold, which I successfully completed.
If I now rate that workout as “moderate”, TrainerRoad will give me next week Monitor +1 (SS 4.9) which is 7x6-minute @ 88-94%.
If I rate it as “easy”, TrainerRoad will give me next week Truchas (SS 6.1) which is 2x22-minute @ 91%-93%.
I’m also pondering why does TrainerRoad want to give me a Threshold 4.2 workout when I just recently completed a Threshold 4.5 workout (was hard, but didn’t struggle to complete it). Should I accept its advice or reject it?
Hmm… potentially the latter might be because earlier today I used AI FTP detection to bump my FTP from 280w to 283w. But that 1% bump in itself didn’t seem to initially cause any changes in the workouts. The adaptations to the plan only appeared after I completed today’s workout.
It’s looking at the workout levels/PLs independently for each level of intensity, and ratcheting them up, independently, as it thinks you can handle. It doesn’t seem like gaming the after question to increase works out all that well for a lot of people. If you feel like you are ready to jump up your time in zone for SS, then just substitute what you want next week. Keep it simple.
As far as going down a PL, I’ll guess that it dropped this one a hair because you are coming off a recovery week.
Well, I guess I’m a bit of a cautious type of coach
I’m in general trying to lean on the side of rather doing too little than too much. On the other hand I have been ignoring TrainerRoad suggestions about the volume for quite a while now and it’s been working out just fine for me.
So you did 50 minutes (5x10) today (which doesn’t sound like too little), and next week you’ll either get 42 mins or 44 mins. Instead of playing that game every week to see what it gives you if you answer the question one of 6 ways, and hope it is what you want, you could just pick an alternate workout next week, that is more than 50 minutes and has a higher workout level, and know that AI got the message that it’s not keeping up with your progress.
That 5x10 today is a bit tricky to assess as these were intervals of increasing intensity, with the first 10 minutes being just a touch above endurance pace. But thanks for the suggestion.
Ideally I would schedule a longer workout than the current 1 hour. But I’m a bit tight on time on Tuesdays. And on Wed/Thu when I have more time, I’m doing longer endurance rides.
Alternatively I could swap it with the current threshold work from Saturday. So I could do a bit shorter threshold session (which is often anyway padded with Z2 blocks) on Tuesday and have 1.5+ hours for sweet-spot on Saturday.
I got a little off track from your original short SS intervals issue, with the total time in zone discussion, and since you have limited time, you could substitute a workout in the 3x15 min SS range and then progress to that 2x22 Truchas workout (or maybe there are workouts that could create a slower progression, but you get the idea).
I sort of already decided to try the 2x22 Truchas next time. I’m pretty sure I can handle it.
My main worry with progressing to this was that maybe there’s some reason why TrainerRoad gives me an easier interval session on that day. But apparently there’s not. So I’ll just ramp it up.
SS can be ramped pretty aggressively for most people imo. The key is to make sure your time in zone is progressing. If you did 40 minutes total this time, do more next workout. This is true for closer to threshold too, but at a much slower rate.
1. Should I rate sweet-spot workouts as “easy” to ramp up faster?
You should rate workouts based on your actual experience, not your desired outcome. Adaptive Training is built to respond to honest feedback. If a sweet-spot workout feels truly “easy,” marking it that way helps the system understand your current capabilities and progress you faster—but only if it’s accurate. Rating a workout “easy” when it wasn’t might result in overreaching too quickly. Trust the process, and the ramp will reflect your fitness in a sustainable way.
2. Should both intensity days be equally hard, or is one supposed to be easier?
Not necessarily. The Master’s Plan is designed with recovery and longevity in mind, especially for athletes balancing other life stressors. Having two equally hard workouts every week can risk non-functional overreaching over time. Often, one workout may push progression more aggressively while the other maintains or reinforces prior gains. This allows for consistent growth without burning you out. The key is balancing intensity with adequate recovery.
3. Why is TrainerRoad assigning me a lower progression workout after I completed a harder one?
The reason TR prescribed a Threshold 4.2 workouts it because of the FTP increase.
When your FTP increases, the Workout Levels you were completing at your prior FTP may be too challenging at your increased FTP. By reducing the Progression Levels, and in turn, upcoming Workout Levels, we can offset the FTP increase and serve you the right workouts for your current capabilities.
Progression Level adjustments after an FTP change are based on extensive data showing what athletes can productively complete after FTP changes, but every athlete is different. We intentionally take a cautious approach, as individual workouts aren’t happening in isolation—all your training is now targeted towards a higher FTP, and we want to make sure we don’t ramp you up too suddenly. But if those initial workouts feel a little easy, Adaptive Training will catch up quickly and keep you progressing.
TrainerRoad might be setting the sweet-spot intervals a bit shorter to help you gradually ramp up without overdoing it. It’s all about finding the right balance-if the workout feels moderate, rating it as such and following the suggestions could work well.
If I feel I could have comfortably repeated the whole workout, would it be appropriate to mark it as Easy? Even when each individual interval might have felt kinda hard.
Regarding “Should both intensity days be equally hard”.
I read that answer as: TrainerRoad might do this on purpose, or it might just do it by accident. But there’s no way of knowing which one it is. Use your own judgement.
Regarding the “FTP increase”.
I’d consider that 1% FTP change of mine more of a noise. I seriously doubt I will feel any difference in workout intensity. Especially when completing the workouts outdoors where my power fluctuates way more than that 3w FTP change.
For Post Workout Survey answers you should consider the overall difficulty of the ride and not how you expected it to feel. More info here: Post-Workout Surveys
As far as your second point goes, the interval days difficulty can vary as you’re working in different zones, and you may also struggle with one more than the other. I’d say a good rule of thumb is that they are meant to feel hard while still being able to consistently hit all intervals but not send you overboard where you can finish! If you feel your SS workouts are too easy and you’re rating them as such, you should be receiving adaptations for future workouts that are more challenging.
Like I said, we intentionally take a cautious approach when recalibrating Progression Levels after an FTP gain, so you’re more than welcome to choose Workout Alternates if you think the workouts is going to be too easy.
And yes! Riding outdoors power fluctuates and doing a workout outside vs. inside also changes as it may be less challenging as a trainer is not holding you to a certain power.
One thing that I sometimes have to remind myself of when thinking about how hard this week’s workouts are, is to consider further into the future than the next (few) workout(s).
If I embark on a twelve week plan, my aim is to execute every single workout well. I know that in week one, I could not (and should not be able to) do that with the workouts I am expecting in week twelve.
How far can I push the next threshold workout before the knock on effect is that the progression overtakes my capability before the end of the plan? Is it worth upping the PL by a few tenths of a level now, only to end up failing workouts in week eleven, or even week ten?
The closer to the end of the plan (or to a rest week) I am, the more likely I am to push PLs up a bit more aggressively than the AI suggests, but then only if I am confident that I can knock the harder ride out of the park.
I have marked some longer endurance rides as “medium”. Could I have repeated the 3 hour workout? Probably? But it would have been grueling to sustain 75% for most of another 3 hours. Everything under 2 hours I have marked as “easy”.
To conclude this whole topic. I marked that workout as easy and correspondingly did today a stretch workout of 2x22min SS. Felt completely fine. Didn’t struggle. Finished with enough left in the bank. Just as I had expected. But at least it felt more like a proper workout now.
1. Should I rate sweet-spot workouts as “easy” to ramp up faster?
2. Should both intensity days be equally hard, or is one supposed to be easier?
3. Why is TrainerRoad assigning me a lower progression workout after I completed a harder one?