I was looking for a thread that discussed returning to TR training after illness (or other) but everything I found was quite outdated as it didn’t consider Adaptive Training, AI FTP detection, etc.
Because I think that this is something many around here have to deal with occasionally (and this year may be particularly so; at least over here in Germany I know a whole bunch of people who suffered from week-long coughs or similar enduring issues), I thought the topic is worthy of a thread.
Here’s my specific situation: I had a nasty cough that stopped me from training for seven(!) weeks. Now the cough has finally vanished and I am back on the trainer. When starting TR it suggested various adaptions as expected. It had me start with a Ramp Test and offered AI FTP detection. I went for the latter. Good idea?
Q1: Is AI FTP detection reliable/a good idea after several weeks of illness?
In my case, my FTP was reduced by 12 watts. My first scheduled workout when coming back was a 90-minute VO2 Max session (more on that in a second) which I changed to a 1h VO2 max workout due to time constraints. It was classified as “Stretch” and I completed it with “very hard” perceived exertion - so my first impression is that the AI FTP was pretty accurate. But that’s only one data point and I’m curious to hear from other users and the team.
Q2: Is it good practice to re-start training with very high intensity work or would it be advisable to smooth the athlete into riding again?
For me, going hard from the get-go worked out fine. Yet I’m wondering what would be the go-to practice among good old-fashioned human coaches.
On that note, wouldn’t it be a good idea for adaptive training to ask a user who skipped several workouts for the reason why? I could well imagine that the optimal strategy to get the athlete going again varies, depending on what happened - say illness, injury, traveling, work stress, or lack of motivation.
Q3: Should I go back in time in my training plan or not?
The last topic I’m wondering about is whether or not I should move a few weeks back in my training plan. As said, I missed about 7 weeks, which in my case translates to having only done 2 weeks of my build phase. Adaptive training now has me jumping right into specialty. I assume the answer here likely varies depending on the existence (and timing) of goal events.
In my case, I don’t have any particular event I’m targeting. So at least from a timing perspective, I could easily go back to build. Would you recommend this or not? And if so, how would I do this in the TR interface? In the “Edit Block” menu, I can only choose from other specialty phases but not go back to build or base training.
And assuming I had a target event, say in 6-8 weeks from now, what would you recommend then?
Looking forward to any input on the subject!
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