I just did my first ride today on TR. I have been training for many months outside of TR to prepare for a 70.3 in 7 weeks.
I noticed that my long rides are very easy z1/bottom of z2. I assume this is because my progression levels are very low since I just started using the app.
Am I missing out on event specific training due to the fact I am starting out late in a build cycle, with my PL levels being very low? (Long z2/z3 rides)
I would definitely consider using “workout alternates” to pick a higher PL workout and short-circuit the ramp rate a little bit. But it really depends how confident you are in doing so.
I am 3 months in, and the PLs do adapt to you. If you rate a workout as easy, a bump up is likely.
You can also manually increase the watts and duration in a workout. That may also encourage TR to increase your level as well.
I don’t know about directly starting a plan in Build.
Did you upload your training history to TR before you built the plan?
As already mentioned, with a long training history and just seven weeks to go to the event, the use of workout alternatives, to select a workout that is more representative of the stage of your training plan that you are already at, seems sensible.
Keep a check on how you feel and respond to the workouts and adjust as necessary to make.
Welcome to the forum @presofcanada! 
@jazir1979 has a good suggestion here. If you’ve just started with TrainerRoad, your Progression Levels will likely be low at first, but as you knock out workouts, they will start to climb up.
If there’s a training zone where you aren’t feeling challenged and Adaptive Training is taking a little too long to ramp things up, Workout Alternates is a great tool to find alternate workout choices that still respect the plan discipline. Just be careful and don’t make too big of jumps. I’d say no bigger than ~ 1.
For example, if you have a level 2.5 Endurance workout scheduled but want something “harder” I’d search through the suggested alternates for something around 3 - 3.5.
Alternatively, Adaptive Training will definitely get you where you need to be. It could just take a few workouts to get things dialed in 100%. Being patient and enjoying the process is the other option. 
If you aren’t familiar with how to use Workout Alternates check out the link below!
I do see all of my past training loaded into TrainerRoad, but for some reason it doesn’t seem to have had any effect on my current training. When I create the plan there is nothing I see about uploading past training
The team can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe at this stage that past training impacts AI FTP and probably the suggested volume in plan builder, but not progression levels.
That’s correct!
@presofcanada it looks like you have historical ride data in your TR calendar. Is there anything you’re missing?
