Trainerroad is the first cycling app I started using when I started seriously training for triathlon in October 2020.
Five years later, I came 3rd overall and won my age-group in an Ironman 70.3. Just a month before that, I was 2nd at middle distance national championship and 6th overall in that race.
This is absolutely incredible!! Thanks for sharing!
I started TrainerRoad back roughly in July 2023. I was 59 when I started and am now 61 years old. I remember vividly my first try at the FTP test- I hated it. I started with an ftp of 166 and I was overweight at 195 pounds.
That first year I re-entered the Hilly Hundred in Bloomington Indiana which I used to ride a lot in my younger years. There are a few hills that are quite challenging and that first year several of them I was unable to make it without walking.
Fast forward to this year, I have increased my ftp to 260 and dropped my weight to 175. I was easily able to complete all of the hills this year and all the hill Strava segments I was within the top 25% for my age group. Some of those I am in the top 10%.
My hope is next year to finish all hill segments in top 10% and maybe even challenge for a KOM for my age group.
I am very grateful to TrainerRoad for giving me such a nice structured and achievable plan to keep me motivated and improving.
Thanks,
Mark Winely
I cross posted this in the training forum but maybe this is a better spot for it? Either way, I am 100% all in on the gains Trainer Road has given me!
TL;DR…Trainer Road Works
Fall of 2024 I started listening to the Trainer Road ‘ask a cycling coach’ podcast and I was hooked. With a few local Bikepacking races (with some podiums) and zero structured training under my belt, I thought this was a good opportunity to not only take a crack at the Tour Divide, but go into it as bike-fit as I could be.
I am 36 years old and work as a firefighter in Bellingham, Washington. My recreation background is in bigwall climbing, alpinism, fast packing/trail running, and of course riding bikes. I am no stranger to sleep deprivation and long multi day pushes where physical exhaustion and high consequence decision making are the norm, so the Tour Divide seemed right up my alley…if I could muster the pedaling chops.
How I set up my ~6 month training plan: (running from December 1 2024-June 13 2025.)
I opted for a gravel, high volume, masters plan. I selected my A race as the Tour Divide with a June 13 start and posted it in my calendar as a stage race taking 18 days, with a scheduled 18 hrs a day of riding. On the TD this would average out to about 150 miles and 10,000’ of climbing a day.
Having no structured training background, I took my first ramp test on Zwift November 1 with an FTP result of 281 watts. I set trainer road to AI FTP detect, and over the next 6 months I would see an increase of 74 watts, with my FTP going into the Tour Divide sitting around 355 watts.
I ate like an absolute clydesdale during the training. I not only wanted to gain strength and power, but I also didn’t mind having some spare calories in store for what I was going to be doing. I’m 6’3” and was hovering around 15-20% body fat. I started at 235 lbs Dec 1 and by race day was 243 lbs. I was a very mortal 3.22 w/kg, and by the end of training my legs felt indestructible.
Over the next 6 months I followed the Trainer Road recommendations almost exactly, with a few ‘bikepacking’ specific adjustments which were as follows:
I added into my calendar 2 different weeklong bikepacking training trips at the ⅓ mark and ⅔ mark of my training plan (in Arizona and on Vancouver Island) both around 600 miles with about 60,000’ of climbing. These weeks did not have any Trainer Road rides planned, and I used that time to stack long days and dial in my bike setup and bivy kit, as well as work on increasing my resupply efficiency and general on-bike shenanigans and bush-mechanic aptitude.
In between each of these trips I added in 1-2 ‘big single day’ rides that were around 180-215 miles and 10-14,000’ of climbing. While they interrupted some of my training plan, I let the AI coach just adapt everything based on my TSS etc for a given period and never really got too concerned with how it changed my calendar.
Due to my 24 hour shift work as a firefighter and constantly battling bad sleep, I was very thankful I could move my workouts around all the time. I found that I had a really difficult time doing Vo2 max rides or harder on days after shift. Sometimes I was able to pull off on-shift trainer rides and would move days around to do something like James (and hopefully have minimal interruptions for calls). If I had a really bad night at work I could adjust my workouts around in the coming days and the AI would then adapt accordingly. It was incredible.
I also added in cross training any time I had the energy. I put an emphasis on yoga and bouldering in the climbing gym, but also tossed in weighted hiking, trail running, and general strength training.
There was certainly a learning curve aspect when I first got on the app. Figuring out the difference between a sweet spot 5.0 and 8.0 was eye opening, as well as when to accept an adaptation versus when to ignore. There were times I stressed about doing an indoor ride versus an outdoor, but as time went on I found a symbiotic relationship with the platform. Indoor rides gave me solid sit bones, incredibly high quality riding form, cadence drills, and consistency benefits. Knowing when to balance that with the benefits of outdoor rides was a give and take relationship I built over the first few months and came to appreciate.
After the first six months of using Trainer Road, my stats looked something like this:
4,653 miles ridden since December 1st
16 hours a week training: or 382 hours and 14 minutes total training time
193.8 miles ridden per week on average
74 watt FTP increase (from 281 watts to 355 watts)
217 miles was my longest mileage day
14,601’ was my bigliest climbing day
The route ‘Ring Around the Ritas’ in Tucson was the single burliest day
72 hrs 16 minutes for my longest training week (tucson trip)
8 hrs 42 minutes for my shortest training week (Hawaii trip for anniversary)
14 degrees : coldest temperature recorded
104 degrees : hottest temperature recorded
The days I got to be on my bicycles : funnest days!
Spoiler alert: I ended up scratching from the Divide after 11 days, due to a waterborne illness from the bacteria Campylobacter. I was on antibiotics and it took about 21 days to recover, but those 11 days on route were epic. I got sick due to my water filter having cracked, presumably on one of my earlier training trips.
My first inkling something was wrong was when I was sticking to my power/HR/nutrition/hydration plan perfectly on Day 1 and feeling incredible, but started getting sick a few hours after my first ‘wild’ water top off. I was then sick for the next 36 hours, and put my head down and pushed through. By the start of Day 3 I was feeling significantly better and started putting down bigger days to try and catch up to my original time plan. By Day 11 I had caught up to my original time plan, but the next wave of sickness hit and I was down for the count.
Some stats:
Avg daily mileage 163.1 miles
Avg daily TSS 334
Avg daily calories burned 6,279
Avg climbing per day 11,001’
for all of you data nerds the daily stats were as follows:
Day 1: 113 miles, 11.5k
moving time 12:30, elapsed time 15 hrs
Avg speed 9.1 mph, avg power 144w, NP 195w
(nausea and vomiting started at mile 100, I stopped at 10pm on the backside of koko claims and tried to recover, vomiting started a couple of hours after my first water top-off with my cracked filter)
Day 2: 138 miles, 12.1k
moving time 14:40, elapsed time 16:50
Avg speed 9.5 mph, avg power 116w, NP 156w
(more severe nausea and vomiting, 3L water of ~600 calories consumed over the entire day)
Day 3: 160 miles, 10.5k
Moving time 14:20 elapsed time 16:40
Avg speed 9.6 mph Avg power 108w, NP 154
(felt recovered, started trying to catch up to my original timeplan)
Day 4: 148 miles, 13.8k
Moving time 16 hrs, elapsed 18:15
Avg speed 9.3 mph, avg power 120, NP 160
Day 5: 137 miles, 13.5k
Moving time 15:11, elapsed time 17:40
Avg speed 9 mph, avg power 100w, NP 157
Day 6: 165 miles, 12.1k
Moving time 15:30 elapsed time 17:15
Avg speed 10.7 mph, average power 122w, NP 172w
Day 7: 185 miles, 8.4k
Moving time 15:10 elapsed time 17:45
Average speed 12.1mph, avg power 103w NP 154w
Day 8: 135 miles, 11.2k
Moving time 14:20, elapsed time 17:20
Average speed 9.4mph, avg power 98w NP147w
Day 9: 194 miles, 9k
Moving time 15 hrs elapsed time 17 hrs
Avg speed 12.9 mph, avg power 96w NP 150w
Day 10: 146 miles, 9k
Moving time 13:22 elapsed time 16:23
Avg speed 11 mph, avg power 102w, NP 156w
Day 11: 110, 10.3k
Moving time 11:40 elapsed time 14:45
Avg speed 9.4mph, avg power 87w NP 146w
(8pm early stop in kremmling, CO and proceed to become extremely sick in a hotel room for 3 days with constant diarrhea and a fever of over 101. The initial diagnosis was giardia)
Day ‘15’: 55 miles, 4.2k
I tried to ride more and just leaked all over my chamois. I spent another few days in silverthorne trying to recover more, but I ran out of time. When I got back home and was still having issues, I finally got my test results back and it turns out it was campylobacter and so I was put on a different antibiotic that worked much better.
Starting weight: 243 lbs, weight at doctors office when I got home: 216 lbs
For the bikepacking race-plan/pacing side of things, I opted for this strategy:
I found I could hold 200w more or less indefinitely with an HR of 100 bpm. While my stats above do not reflect this per se, anytime I looked down that was the number I was shooting for, unless I was above ~7,000 (it then dropped to like 150-175w for 100 bpm) or if it was over ~85 degrees. On climbs I hovered around 250w. I had my computer setup to only show my routing map with HR and Power at the bottom. I wore a chest HR monitor and used a quarq spider PM.
Everyday I set an alarm for 5am, did all my breakfast, caffeine, packing, potty time, etc and was rolling by 6 am. I rode until 11:30pm, then set up camp wherever I ended up, and was in bed by midnight. Then up at 5 am to start it all over again.
I made this work a few ways:
-I brought a tent so i could comfortably sleep in the rain (and avoid the epic bugs) and have a dry sleeping bag
-I used a dynamo hub and could reliably charge a battery bank enough during the day to meet all of my electrical needs, so I never needed an outlet. (it was worth the 5w penalty to me)
-I carried 1 spare set of bibs and socks, and would wash the dirty pairs in gas station sinks every day and let them dry, so by the next day I could rotate into the ‘clean’ ones and then wash my now dirty ones.
-all but a couple of my resupplies were no more than 15 minutes of stopped time.
I found with this schedule my body adapted really well by day 3, and I never really buried myself, It felt surprisingly sustainable. I saw a lot of people blow themselves up having to ride until 4am because they had to get to a hotel to charge electronics or do laundry or dry their sleeping bag or whatever, and then they got all messed up on their sleep schedule. Or they had to stop early (for the above mentioned reasons) and ended up having multiple shorter days than planned. I didn’t stay in a hotel a single night and found I maintained well on having some semblance of a sleep schedule I could stick too. Had I not gotten sick the second time, I like to think I would have finished in just under 18 days, but so many other things could derail an effort like this that I don’t dare to assume.
Never in my cycling career have I put down back to back big days with this much consistency, and I believe I owe so much of that durability and repeatability to the Trainer Road programming.
Overall I was disappointed about getting sick, but so stoked that all of my training and preparation paid off immensely. I have never done anything quite like this, and it was a wild and formative experience. I am looking forward to going back some day, however, the training took a lot of time and focus and so I will not be going back in 2026 (I also would really like to stay married). Someday I will return, and I will be using Trainer Road to help me get to Antelope Wells.
If you have any questions or are curious about detailed gear lists, bike build, or personally built cue sheets, I am happy to share.
Cheers!
-Parker
That’s incredible!! Thanks so much for sharing! 
18.9% FTP increase with just over 1 hour a week structured training - it works!
After tearing both my calf muscles thinking I was going to run a marathon this year, I decided to use TrainerRoad as a way to support my rehab - building a cardio base, while I also used strength training for my injuries.
To fit around life, I created a very low volume plan (initially 2hrs per week) with a rolling road race goal set for the marathon date, and trusted the magic. With a focus on high cadence (min 95rpm), three and a half months in my rehab was going well and I shifted gears and decided I would walk the marathon instead of run it. I dropped my structured training to 2x 30min sessions a week to accommodate a long walk on the weekends.
Fast forward to this past weekend and I walked the postcard beautiful Queenstown Marathon in New Zealand injury free, a whole hour faster than I thought I would!
And the kicker, in the 7.5 months of following my TrainerRoad plan my FTP has increased 18.9%, my power profiles look awesome, and I’m excited to ride bikes this New Zealand summer too…TrainerRoad, it just works!
Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing! 
Nice work on your journey so far!
I’ve done structured indoor training since 2021 and have used semi-custom coaching plans, Zwift, and Wahoo Systm. I started TR in October and while its too soon to report massive fitness gains, I already feel like this is the most sustainable approach I’ve taken. TR is great at keeping the hard days hard and the easy days easy. Left to my own (or on other training plans) I inevitably hit a stretch where the burnout hits and it’s a chore to get on the bike. Fatigue builds up and I go through stretches where I’m always starting workouts already tired.
What TR has made me realize is that at 57, my recovery needs are much different than they used to be. Ending my first TR training block, I have felt fresh going into the hard days and haven’t felt like I’m just hanging on by the time the easy days arrive. This balance has also allowed me to incorporate strength training that enhances my performance on the bike rather than makes it feel harder.
When I started structured training it was all about chasing FTP. Yes, I got better and fitter, but the last couple of years that hasn’t felt sustainable; either I’m riding too hard and burning out or riding too easy and seeing my fitness go way down.
My goals are podium finishes in Zwift C races and establishing a baseline of fitness I can carry through the year so the valleys at the end of my season aren’t canyons 
. With TR’s adaptive training I’m getting a range of workout challenges, improving zones that are weaknesses, and most importantly, on a path that feels sustainable for year-round fitness. Will I get back to my FTP from 5 years ago? Maybe, we’ll see. But I see improvements, feel great, and feel like I’m working smarter, not just harder.
Thanks for sharing!
We’re glad you’re enjoying the product!! 
Hello Ladies and Gents
I will be 55 in a few days, i started riding my bike at the age of 8 in France in a club, never had big success, I hope you all had a super season, mine was incredible, last winter i decided to give a try to TR after 3 longs Canadian winter on Wahoo System. I followed a FTP increase plan watching good old Magnum PI TV serie, i have to admit that the winter went super fast, sticking to TR plan was for me a stress free and no brainer. Spring arrived and i said to wifey, « i need a new bike », her answer « ok » (yeah like that, no argument… she is wonderful and a keeper) so i looked searched and purchased a SL8, after 5 years on an handmade Marinoni Columbus i was a little scared.
I started riding my SL8 April 11st and stop October 29th, 9730 km of pure joy, i never rode so fast all year long, never pushed so many watts it was one of my best season on a bike, guess what i am back this winter and i what moooore power!!!
Thanks for reading, thanks for all the good people at TR that always answer to my question, this is really appreciated.
Cheers and have a great holidays season
Stef
Hello all, I hope you’re having a blast using TR, just as I am!
I came to cycling from basketball, when my knees and explosiveness (a.k.a age) couldn’t keep up with my desire to progress, meaning that I’m a rather typical example. My first “real” bike was an endurance-oriented alu road bike, which may be called an allroad bike nowadays. Anyway, I used it to go on a long tour along the Danube river after getting to know it for a couple of months. I’ve since started cycling for sport, done more, longer, and more challenging tours, added some mountain biking in the mix (local XCM racing), thrown some gravel in the touring department, and quite recently, started doing some stage races on the road.
My journey in TR started at the beginning of 2024, as preparation for my two-month solo self-supported bike trip in Norway. As my ambitions had grown taller and steeper than ever, my conditioning needed to match them, and so it did. After half an year, I was feeling light on my feet, whilst also strong and stable, i.e. I was peaking and I knew it. My adventure was a blast, the body kept up with the spirit splendidly, and soon after returning, I couldn’t wait to get some rest and get back at it. A few weeks later I became an Everesting Roam finisher and started thinking about cycling as my main sport.
In 2025 this meant more focused racing: picking and choosing events and only circling out ones that made sense. More notably, I got my first ever win in a local climbing race (age group, not overall… yet), and I took part in my first ever road race, which was a 7-day stage race in the Alps - the Tour Transalp - a highlight end to end. My partner and I did quite well in the mixed category, with all the podcast knowledge coming in quite handy. BIG, BIG THANKS to Jonathan and all past and future guests! I’ve since seen my best numbers, and I’ve gone way over my targets for the year, meaning that I’m now fully hooked 
The goals for 2026 are clear: do the Transalp again (different route every year, this one’s gonna be even better than 2025!), give the climbing race another try, have a blast in the process!
The means are now clear, too: in hindsight, it was the consistency I had at times during the year, that made them as productive as it did. Then it is the gut training during the build blocks before A races, that shouldn’t be neglected. When I did, it showed! Then it is the heat adaptation for the events that require it. I’ve seen that to be a factor in 2025.
Bottom line:
“A man must know how to choose the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as far as possible”
Sending love to you all,
One happy cyclist
Amazing! Thanks for sharing!! 
That’s a big accomplish! +100watts and -25kg!!!
Amusingly after the last two years bs I’m exactly back where I started with my ftp! So I guess its a success of sorts as it’s not worse.
I 100% agree with more AI explanations.
Looks like they did 
First started riding a bike (I’m exclusively indoors only) back in March 2017, after getting repeatedly injured from running. I used to train at least at Elite level in my distant youth. So I thought I’d give indoor cycling a go to maintain my heart/lungs. So after lots of youtubing, I bought a cheap racing bike and a Kurt Kinetic trainer, set-up in my little 8x8 Shed in the garden (no heating nor AC in summer) and signed up to Trainerroad in March/April 2017, with a 199FTP. I didn’t do huge milage probably 4-6hrs per week but within 8mths I had circa 302FTP and was completing all my TR intervals at that level. Fast forward many years of on-off, start stops, I just bought a slightly more expensive Boardman Bike and A Wahoo Kickr (ERG is a Game changer) and again signed up to Trainerroad. My goal is to get back to a 300+FTP but I’ve been doing 1-2-3hr Zone2 for 6-9hrs per week to get my base back, I’m currently just shy of 250FTP the goal I’m working towards and it does motivate me, is that 300FTP in 6mths or a year!
I’ve got a feeling you’ll get there!
Thanks for sharing!
1 year followup from this post. 2 years ago I participated in my first-ever XCO race. Finished 18th place in my age group. Signed up for TR shortly after and improved my w/kg dramatically. Wasn’t able to participate in the 2025 race due to catching the flu on race week but crushed my course PRs during pre-ride the week prior.
I hit a build phase after recovering from the flu but got COVID 2 weeks before my A race in May 2025, still finished top-5 despite not being fully recovered, and took some time off from structured training. Still did TR for a bit and hit some workouts inconsistently over the summer but it was a few months before I got the motivation to start properly training for gravel season. I managed a top-10 finish in a local 54-mile gravel race (~150 participants) last Fall as well.
Fast forward to last week - opening weekend of our Spring XCO series and I managed to win my age group and set the 2nd-fastest time overall for my category, and honestly had the fitness to have pushed harder if I needed to, I had such a large gap over 2nd place that I backed off the pace a little on the 2nd and final lap. Our age group starts are spaced out by 2 minutes and I passed all but the top-2 finishers of the 30-39 group that started before us as well.
So in 3 years I’ve competed in 3 XCO races and thanks to TR I went from 18th, to 5th, to a decisive win last weekend. My FTP in that time is up from 213w in February 2024 to 271w according to AI FTP prediction (FTP detection is tomorrow). Just now starting build phase so my hope is to hit 280w this year, which I’m pretty confident in hitting by this fall before I do some gravel and XCM races.
