NEW TrainerRoad AI is Here! | Ultimate Guide to TrainerRoad AI | Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast 568

Hey @lbosch, I am sorry you’ve felt ignored. It is definitely not our intention. It’s been very busy on our side.

As @NWcyclingman and @LiamC93 have mentioned, we recommend setting the same FTP across all platforms as the main goal of FTP is to be a functional training benchmark.

Nate does go over your concern on the FAQ here:

I’ve used my old FTP to pace!
Your fitness is a combination of FTP and your athlete level. But if you found you could hold your FTP for X minutes at a level 5 threshold, that will be the same in the new system. You could also self-adjust your FTP down/up until the AI gives you a level 5 if you have a one-time pacing question. That’s a way to get it answered in whatever system you used to use.

Thanks for the quick feedback! Sounds encouraging so I’ll leave the plan for now as I’m starting build. I know I could get more involved and select substitutes but as someone who uses ML quite often I want to br lazy and have the ML do what I want. At the most click on a prompt “would like to see more diverse workouts?” Hahahaha

Jason

If you watch the new podcast @Nate_Pearson says for the first time I’ve heard TR say it that many riders do have higher power outside. (around 1hr 32 mins in). Nate also said that the AI knows this and takes it into account.

I am like you and have 20W+ more outside than in. I’m very interested to know what AI actually does with this information and how it affects my training as potentially this is quite impactful.

You are making loads of assumptions, which are simply not true.

  • You can still browse the entire catalog manually, if you prefer. If you select a workout manually, TR AI won’t touch it (it is pinned/locked in), but TR AI will take it into account if you have other dynamic workouts in your calendar.
  • You can easily create training plans with more or less volume, it isn’t limited to 5–6 hours per week. E. g. it is able to deal with including my commute (mostly done in Z2, unless I am running late :face_with_tongue:) and I am not doing anything to tell TR AI to adapt anything. I don’t even have a power meter on my commuter.
  • I have become very fit on fewer hours despite adding strength workouts, so perhaps you simply are doing more than ideal. I don’t know your calendar, but that’s just a thought. (For reference, I will turn 45 in a month (JFC where did time go!) and do 4 hours of intervals per week plus 2 strength workouts. Currently, I sit at 4.6 W/kg using the inflation-adjusted correct™ FTP instead of TR’s new AI FTP. Now that there is little ice on the road, I will add about 6 hours per week in Z2 to that.)
  • If you prefer to cook up your own training plan, you can do that, too, while still having access to all of TR AI’s features. If you drop in specific workouts from the library, TR won’t touch them, but still give you yellow and red days if it thinks you are doing too much. Or you could drop in dynamic workouts (e. g. one endurance and one sweet spot workout) and TR AI will select suitable workouts for you. You can, at any point, override its choices and select, say, a workout it specifically does not recommend.
  • Regarding the changes, I hope I am not revealing anything I shouldn’t, but the 4-week window wasn’t the only one considered. If you go for a shorter window, say, 2 weeks, “less workouts change“, but TR changed it after getting input from beta testers. I find a 4-week windows works very well, because it allows me to plan out an entire block.

I am not telling you to like it, but shouldn’t you at least give it a try (as in train with it) before arriving at that conclusion?

This week seems off to me - why do I have such a hard workout before a 12-hour fat bike race? For sure, I will not do that threshold workout - unless I’m wrong?

I am a 65 yo partially retired (40-50 hr/week, stopped cycling last may due to pain (unable to flex hip to get over pedal stroke) . Since my pain became limiting approximately 10 yr ago, my FTP on TR has decreased from 225 to currently 100. I have recently had bilateral total hips. After the first one the pain was completely gone on the surgically repaired side. I’m allowed back on a trainer in 4 weeks for the other recently replaced side, hopefully with the same pain free result. Is the new AI training platform suit to use in 6-8 weeks.

Top right on the workouts page is the ‘list’ selection which gets you there. Similar on the app.

2 Likes

Ah, ok, there’s another step on the app (iOS at least) - top right icon gets you the selection filters

It looks like you use the filters if you’re adding a new workout. But if you open an existing workout you can only choose an alternate presented by AI - you can’t open the filter from inside the existing workout window (unless I’m missing something, which could be the case).

Yes, certainly, and to my knowledge the update has only increased flexibility. You can select how often you want to train and for how long you want to train each day. It will warn you against doing too much, but ultimately, it will give you what you ask for.

Specifically:

(1) Launch Plan Builder and click through the dialog until you reach the Training Schedule tab.

(2) Click in Settings.

(3) Select from 2–6 workouts and 2–3 intense days per week.

(4) To customize the duration of each workout, click in the workout whose duration you want to change. Select the duration you want.

(5) You can shuffle days around, e. g. start your week on Mondays and adjust rest days as needed.

This way you can create a calendar with practically as many hours of training as you want. You are limited in some ways (e. g. you cannot select to train 7 days/week or have more than 3 intense days), but even that you can override by adding workouts to your calendar manually. Although that likely isn’t a good idea.

You can adjust those settings afterwards, too, although last time I tried it, I needed to go through the whole dialog tree again.

I have made a somewhat unusual selection this time around (and before being admitted to the beta), 3 workouts per week with 3 days of intensity. That’s because I get all my endurance volume from commutes, which are “unplanned rides”.

Sure you can:

(1) Go to your Calendar.
(2) Click in the red “+ Add” button.

(3) Select TrainerRoad Workout (below TrainerRoad AI Workout).

(4) Select the filters

I obviously cannot AB test this (old vs. new), but the UI doesn’t seem to have changed.

I’m specifically talking about the update. Unless you have been part of the beta, today is the first day it has been released to the public and you cannot have first-hand experience yet.

Again, not saying you need to like it, just that I don’t think you can judge whether or not it works for you.

Yes, but the idea of alternates is to keep you broadly within the AI recommendations. If you want something outside of that, best thing to do is delete the AI workout and select another of your choice using the filter list.

I’ve been using since the beta and this has been a big improvement in my training, I’m hooked on the predicted difficulty feature. Also love that it incorporates data from all rides.

One feature I’d like that was touched on in the video - TrainNow literally means “right this moment”. I’d prefer if I could set a scheduled time for the training, so if I’m picking a workout for today during breakfast it knows I’m not actually going to train until 6pm.

I also wish I could mark an endurance ride as an “easy” day so it doesn’t try to recommend a .73 IF workout. Even when Lazy Mountain is suggested for an hour and I switch to 90 minutes it decides to give me James, a massive jump in IF when all I want is a bit more time to spin.

Stay in contact with Support and they will help to answer all of your questions and ensure that things are set up for you as best as possible.

We’re aware that change can be hard to embrace, and that not every single person will immediately appreciate or feel comfortable with what’s new, and that’s totally normal. With most big updates (TR and non-TR alike), people will figure things out/better understand the updates over time and will then not want them to change in the future. It’s a cycle and we know it’s not always easy for everyone. We’re here to help, though.

We’ll do our best to help you out, but if you still aren’t happy, we’ll do our best to make things up to you so that you can go another direction.

As always, thanks for your feedback!

3 Likes

Agree. Its working great. I think most of the complaints were people angry that the number didn’t match what they expected (higher or lower) and not willing to try it.

The predicted difficulty is uncanny how accurate it is. Especially when it moves you up quickly or you start doing something new like Hard Start Sweet Spot.

Dr Seuss had it right……

I took a 4 month break from the bike and started back up training at the start of the year. My FTP in September was 275. I hadn’t done anything in 4 months and was surprised a few weeks ago that the old detection put me at 254. Not even close. Realistically I feel right with it set around 200. I lost a lot of fitness.

Now this new launch this morning it gave me 222, which is still high. Quickly skimming through here it seems they’ve changed the way FTP is used so maybe I should accept 222? I haven’t paid attention to anything TR related in months so I have zero clue as to what is going on with this new roll out.

Also, the calendar is now very, very slow and glitchy.

What’s going on around here?

Accept the 222 and trust the process. Also make sure you answer the post workout survey’s accurately.

As a beta user and after reading a LOT of the beta posts (over 3,000) I strongly encourage you to accept the AIFTP and answer the post ride surveys honestly. I think you will be surprised how good the system is at giving you the appropriate workout. Good luck!

how do i adjust the planned sunday ride duration in the plan. i see how i can adjust the max, but its still offering me 90 mins?

If you have it set longer than 90 minutes then that is what the system is recommending. Originally I was getting 90 minutes routinely but this Sunday and going forward I’m getting 2:45.