I’ve been using TR since 2013, I’ve seen a lot of positive changes and I have seen things that haven’t changed but need to in my opinion. This week I had Ericsson and Carson on the schedule. Both have one minute cool downs at the end of the workout. I know you can add more cool down time but shouldn’t the workout include a proper cool down? If TR wants you to get the most out of the software, shouldn’t they include the proper cool down to encourage proper recovery instead of leaving up to the discretion of the user? Both workouts have sort of a longer rest interval after the warm up, why not shift a few minutes to the cool down? I know they probably do it to make it fit into 1 hour or 1:30 slot for search function reasons etc. On the flip side of that coin, yesterday I had Tunemeh, it had an extremely long (15 min) 60% FTP interval after the warm up and then a 10 minute cool down all in a 90 minute workout, it seems that workout could be a 75 minute workout and have the the same effect. It seems there a few workouts that could be revised to remove “dead” time and add a few minutes of cool down that would benefit users.
I think (i.e. no proof) that it was originally to do with each workout being a defined length for search purposes. There are options on the workout page to filter for 1hr, 1hr15mins etc. So having a workout that’s 1hr5mins long would be missed. I suppose the database could be modified to have a “nominal” workout duration and the filter act on that rather than the actual duration.
I agree that the warm up and cool down durations appear to vary to keep the overall workout duration at a certain length (i.e. 1 hour, 1:30, etc).
I need about 15 minutes to warm up and about 5 minutes to cool down. I also don’t like recovering between intervals way down at 40%, so I modify every workout to include a 15-minute warm up (3-minute steps from 55-75%), recoveries around 65% (if longer than 2 minutes), and a 5-minute cool down ramp from 65-45%. See below for examples.
I think it is very individualistic. I have never really needed much of a warm up and often prefer a very short warm up ie 5 minutes or so. As long as I feel loose and have been up for an hour I am good to go. I have been like this all my life. 60 now and still dont find a need for a 15 minute warmup.
Cooldowns vary but some of these workouts that have a 2 minute cooldown which might as well be just get off the bike.
Whatever the current implementation is already does this:
I’d be surprised if the workouts were designed to match the filters, since client-side search seems like it would be easier to change than the structure of a workout and its backend schema. A big part of TR’s marketing is consistency for the time-crunched athlete, so I’d guess they try to keep workouts to an hour, or whatever the time bucket is, for consistency, and arrange intervals inside those buckets in whatever way makes the most sense.
Cooldowns definitely have great advantages and if you don’t feel like the workout’s cooldown is sufficient, you can always extend it using the workout feature.
TrainerRoad actually talked about cooldowns in depth in the #129 of the #podcast, I suggest you give it a listen - 65:00 onwards.
This! Agreed!!
This Dylan vid just popped up on my YouTube feed he makes some interesting points about the cooldown in general. I had it on in the background so I might have missed something but I think he says cool downs don’t actually do anything but there’s not enough science to say that for certain and they are still a good mental break. I know after a ride outdoors I like a relaxed cooldown through the local park just to reset my self. Although I am guilty of recording it as a separate Strava ride (initially that was a pre privacy zone thing but now it’s just about making the main ride look faster and not fretting about the average falling as I move round pedestrians in the park) 
Yeah the results surprised me. I always thought you had to cooldown based on seeing the pros hopping on their trainer’s after a race.
On the other hand, an extended warm-up does make sense. I notice when I do intervals after a base ride, my rpe is actually lower which I found a little bit surprising.
Does anybody else get a huge mental boost from extended cooldowns?
I find that if I end a gruelling threshold workout with 3 minutes cooldown I always remember exactly how much it sucked. But if I add 30 minutes at Z2 after that workout, I tend to believe afterwards that I didn‘t suffer that much after all 
I think it really does depend on the person.
I never do cooldowns or warmups and I never really did stretching (unless it was forced while in the military, lol) prior to any activities I’ve done my entire life. For the things I’ve done a lot of like Skiing, Basketball, Running, Cycling…I’ve never intentionally warmed up and never intentionally cool down.
I think my body just adjusts to how I am. No long term nagging issues (knock on wood) other than broken and sprained ankles from basketball (but that’s usually from playing with fish).
Until the Dylan Johnson video last night I never really thought about it much.
That lines up with something I heard a long time ago. I don’t know if it was a study or “Bro Doctor” science. But a doctor (or study participants, I don’t feel like looking it up) would intentionally drag out a colonoscopy intentionally, but making sure the last few minutes of it was extra gentle. Those people reported that the procedure wasn’t as bad to them, even though it lasted longer.
I extend both warm ups and cooldowns, but I don’t really consider my cooldowns to be cooldowns. I workout at 4:45AM, so the extended warm up is key to getting the body going after getting straight out of bed and it helps me get some caffieine and sugar in me before the intervals start. Regardless of that though, I enjoy the warm up, I feel like it’s an easy,relaxing way to extend a ride and I think the RPE of the work is lower.
As far as cooldowns go, I will increase the intensity into Z2 and ride the “cooldown” like any other Endurance workout. Like 10 minutes at 75%, 10 minutes at 70%, 10 minutes at 65%, etc. I usually won’t go much lower up until the end. The cooldowns where I’m at 40% or lower is pointless to me.
Good one 
At my peak, early 20s, I lived in the burbs and we were 10-15 minutes by bike to rural roads with little traffic and very few stoplights. I hated the way it felt to have a hard effort be interrupted by a light so I just got in the habit of riding casually to the edge of town. I wouldn’t even turn my computer on for that bit. It wasn’t part of my training.
Crossing that last city stoplight, I’d start the computer and start my training. I’d go through the same process at the end of my ride. So I’d get 40 miles of training plus another 5 or 6 of easy miles on both ends. Warm up, warm down.
I did it for practical reasons but I also noticed that my body was responding better after the long warmup. I was definitely getting a benefit. Not just my muscles but also my heart and lungs were primed before I asked them to do anything and my RPE was lower.
I never felt a need for or benefit from the cool down tho. On occasion I would keep the hammer down all the way to my front door and never felt bad afterward. When I ride on the indoor trainer, I’m always so tempted to skip the cool down and the only reason I don’t is I don’t want AT to think I couldn’t finish the workout. 
I think in most workouts, warm-ups and cooldowns are designed so that the workout hits a certain length. I think there is no evidence that longer warm-ups and cooldowns will hurt you, quite the contrary, me thinks. E. g. if you add 5–15 minutes at 50 %, that’s a few more minutes at Z2 in the bank. That’s always a positive in my book.