I just started using trainer road to peruse my goal of increase my FTP. For some time I had been creating my own workouts and with the help of you tube, coaching my self. I race but I enjoy riding/training on my bike since I’m not a big fan of running. From my previous history Trainer road has calculated my FTP at 311 which I think its fair since i recently became a dad and my time on the bike dropped off a lot. My goal is to get my FTP to around 350 which I think might be possible since I have tested at 337 before (it was a ramp test so maybe 350 is not realistic).
After a month and half of using trainer road I have noticed some things which has prompted the following questions.
1.) The AI FTP has not changed since it assed my ftp from my imported ride history. It seems like I need to do 10 indoor workouts in order to trigger this functionality. This leads to my question of why can’t my FTP be calculated from my outdoor rides which is where i do most of my training?
2.) As the summer approaches I usually ramp up my time outdoors. I ride on a trail and so i usually have to ride some time before getting to a section of the trail where i can do my workout. I know you can increase the time of a workout but that just changes the intensity or duration of rest between intervals, which won’t work for what I’m doing. Is there a way for trainer road to increase the time of the workouts “warmup time”? I also noticed that this extra time I’m putting in on these workout days are triggering more red and yellow days.
3.) To increase My FTP i also do strength training, and try and log it on the trainer road calendar. I noticed that Strength training on the same day as a planned trainer road workout will trigger a yellow or red day. So is it ok to just do workouts on yellow and red days? I prefer doing my strength training on days that i don’t have my trainer road rides because of time constraints.
So far I do enjoy the app, I use to create my own workouts but was bad at scheduling them so I would just do which ever workout seemed right at the time. This allows me not to think and just look at my calendar and go, which is very nice not having to think about it.
Appreciate any help or answerers anyone can provide.
Regarding item 1, my understanding is that the 10 TR workouts are, effectively, ‘seed’ data for the AI FTP calculations. After those 10 initial TR workouts you can then do indoor rides, outdoor rides, or a mixture of both, and the AI FTP calculations will update (which can be done every 28 days).
So, my advice would be to just get those 10 TR workouts out of the way as quickly as possible, and then move on.
TR errors on the side of caution. Trying to make sure you can recover. Strength training like long rides can trigger Red , Yellow days. I think it’s fine to do workouts on those days provided you don’t dig yourself into a hole.
In order for AI FTP Detection to have enough data to accurately detect your FTP, you need a minimum of 10 completed TrainerRoad indoor workouts . If you haven’t completed enough workouts, don’t stress—you’ll see how many more you need when you click the button to use the feature. Once you’ve completed these 10 workouts, AI FTP Detection will analyze and incorporate all indoor and outdoor rides with power data, whether or not they’re TrainerRoad workouts.
For outdoor riding you’d just extend the warmup and stay in the first warmup interval until you’ve reached your “training terrain”. What brand head unit do you ride with?
Yellow and Red Days which are recommended by our fatigue management system to help prevent long-term fatigue and unproductive workouts. We like to use the credit card analogy As you use your credit card, you have to pay back the loan at some point. Our fatigue management system aims to pay it in small bits to keep your training productive so you don’t have to pay it all at once because you’ve overdone it. We recommend you accept the recommendations, however, you are welcome to accept or decline them as you know your body best.
@Caro.Gomez-Villafane I have a garmin 840 computer that I use and I have just waited to hit the lap button before getting to where i want to do the workout. The thing I’m noticing is that when i do extra time on the bike it seems to trigger red and yellow days. if that is the case how can i get the “Increase FTP” plan to allow for more extra riding time on the bike. The plan seems to only have 4 to 5 hours a week and as the weather is getting nicer in my area I know I will be riding outdoors more than that.
@Hoser By looking at your Calendar, I don’t think the extra warm-up time is the factor that’s giving you Red Days; instead, the whole workouts are.
It looks like since December you just started training on a new plan mid February so it’s normal for our fatigue management system to be a bit conservative and not to ramp you out too fast. As you get through the training plan and get fitter you’ll most likely notice the amount of Yellow/Red Days decrease, which you can see actually happened on weeks 5 and 6 from 2 Red Days to 1 Red Day. On week 7 you changed things around and stacked up your training, which triggered multiple Red Days followed by getting sick.
I like how you have your training days set up right now because your Yellow/Red Days are naturally falling on rest days except your Sunday endurance ride, but even if you were to opt to do the workout, you have Mondays off to recover and hit the following training week. I’d be eager to see how our fatigue management system reads your training load after this recovery week.
As far as adding more riding outdoors, that’s totally fine I’d just consider how you’re feeling after your last training block. If you feel like it was totally manageable and you’re able to take on more, great! But if you are feeling a bit fatigued, then I’d consider taking on more load progressively like adding time to your warm-up and cool-down and when you’re ready an extra day of riding.
I’d just consider how you’re feeling after your last training block. If you feel like it was totally manageable and you’re able to take on more, great! But if you are feeling a bit fatigued, then I’d consider taking on more load progressively like adding time to your warm-up and cool-down and when you’re ready an extra day of riding.