So I’m always at a loss on how to sort out doing this. I’m sure there’s probably a podcast post about it, but I honestly don’t have time to go and research it.
After doing an outside ride, how or what is the most effective method for picking a relatively comparable structured ride to pair it with?
Do you use duration and intensity factor?
TSS?
I recently did an outside ride that took about 2.5 hours covered about 45 miles and had about 2300 feet of climbing. Based on the metrics that I got the closest thing would be a V02 max ride that was above 10. And I know that I am not at a progression level of 10 for a VO2 max ride.
You can pair an outdoor ride with a workout by converting the workout to a Solo Ride or a Group Ride. I’ve done this a number of times but am unsure of what that does to the plan and adaptations. I did nothing but fairly strenuous outdoor rides paired with workouts converted to Solo Rides for two weeks and got big positive adaptations in my plan. When I asked about it here, the official TR response was that it didn’t happen because TR doesn’t count outdoor rides unless they are actual structured plan workouts. I saw it happen and they said it didn’t so IDK what is really going on.
We don’t recommend pairing an outside ride with a TrainerRoad workout unless you’ve closely followed the structure of a specific workout.
Trying to find something that seems close to an unstructured ride will inevitably result in issues with your training down the road. We’ve seen it happen way too many times.
There’s nothing wrong with riding your bike, though! Not every day needs to be a structured workout, and when you’re just out riding your bike, don’t worry about trying to rate that ride or get some sort of credit for it. As your fitness grows, it will show during your structured workouts, and your Progression Levels will be adjusted accordingly then.
