Greg left a YouTube comment saying he needed help with recovery and that his family says he doesn’t take it seriously enough (hehe), so we dug into his training calendar and found some actionable ways to improve his training and recovery, as well as a bit of race file analysis and look into research on blood donation.
Let us know what you think Greg could do better, and if you want your training calendar reviewed, let us know in the YT comments!
I have a zwift race i recorded if you want ta analyze it. I enjoyed your race discussion on this podcast
Hey team,
I think it would be interesting to have my training analyzed.
I say that because I had a very good year. I followed the plans best I could. Started 2024 with injury/sickness lowest ftp in years to then reach my highest ftp since 2019/2020.
I don’t wanna boast but it is just a different view.
Thanks for reviewing my calendar and training. I posted answers and responses in the YouTube comments. I will try to respond to anything folks ask here as well.
It was amazing watching Jonathan and Nate comment on my training.
Are you as jacked as they guessed? haha
If you are looking for someone to do a Zwift race analysis, I wouldn’t mind. I’m a current TR athlete and many of my races. 
Did you take their recommendation of moving your strength days to your harder intervals days? How do you feel about having two full days off?
My wife immediately said yes.
But … I’m a very small guy, and 52 years old. I’m just really fit.
You can find me on Strava to see for yourself.
I just redid my calendar this morning.
Changed my event tyoe to Grand Fondo
Changed my strength days to my hard days.
I suspect I will over do it on the Strength side. I’ll let everyone know how it goes.
Answering questions that were raised in the episode …
Why does your family say you don’t take recovery seriously enough?
Until a few months ago, I did more strength training … a lot more. I used to do 200 push-ups, 200 v-ups, and 40 pull-ups before breakfast … every day. In 2022, I began having issues with the connecting tissues in my joints. Then I switched to mixed calisthenics. By July of 2024, I was doing an hour workout, with no rest between sets, 6 days a week. I stopped to improve the recovery for my cycling training to meet our A race goal.
Weight -
My “Race weight” is 60 kg. My ordinary weight is 61 - 62 kg. In February 2024, we switched to a keto / carnivore diet with 1 24 hour fast per week. I struggled to maintain weight. When I hit 57 kg, we dropped the weekly fast.
Blood donation-
I donate every 8 weeks. I have a trainerroad forum post detailing it. The percentages are what to turn my HIIT sessions down to. My endurance rides I usually just leave at 100%, and try to give an accurate RPE. Recovering from blood donation - #94 by PecanGrower
Iron supplements-
I have been taking 40 MG per day. After my last blood donation, I switched to 20 MG.
Hotel Peleton -
So … if we drive, we take the bike and trainer. I flew, so … trainerroad said I was supposed to ride those days. 
I have many Trainerroad rides done in a hotel room on our trainer. The last was just after the Skiing they taljed about.
Weekend rides -
The ZiaVelo ride is only on Saturday, the Zwift race I do with my Zwift club is only on Sunday. You have me seriously rethinking my priorities though. It would be tough to give those up, as they are great motivators for my wife and I, as well as great social interaction (our team discords the Sunday Zwift race).
Plan Builder -
Our A races are done on a Tandem. We are racing to win and we will have to attack the other tandems, but it is more like joining a breakaway, and not repeated solo attacks. Lots of tempo to hold the lead group. I will switch to Grand Fondo and see how it goes.
Training Volume -
Prior to TrainerRoad, my goal was to push my CTL to 100, and maintain a TSB of -10 to -20 … all the time. I have very busy December’s, so each year I would fall back, then rinse and repeat. TrainerRoad has me much more consistent and a sustainable volume, even in December/ January. I also know now that CTL isn’t a one-stop-shop metric. Thanks @TrainerRoad !
Race -
This was a chase race. The first “attack” was jumping into the overtaking cat behind us. I held them as long as I could, separating from the other lead riders in my cat. The second attack was jamming up the last hill with a faster bunch. I did not win the race, but I was first in my cat. Zwift cat enforces me as a B with a ZRS of ~400.
@jonathon I have my doubts that you’ll enjoy Beach Rd, it’s sketchy. If it were me I’d just get to the mountains (Bright) asap and ride around there. Mt Buffalo is a ripper, and you could check out Tawonga Gap while you’re before 3 Peaks.
I feel like the calendar displayed on YouTube underplays the amount of your training…”beginner abs, 8mins” on your strength workout for example…!
Enjoyable show, thanks for volunteering.
“Beginner Chest and Abs”
That’s a great point Joe. Let me explain what that is.
I have used the “Home Workout” android app for a few years. Until last July, I was doing a full body routine 6 days a week. That was ~45 minutes of exercises, with a 5 second timer between sets. That was the limit of how “hard” the app would let me go. For reference, the chest days had about 300 push-ups of various type mixed with leg work.
To reduce my training load, I scaled way back.
“Begginer” describes the mix of body weight exercises, and the total number of sets, but not the reps.
I have changed that to “Intermediate” now that I am stacking on the hard days, and added 40 seconds more rest between sets.
Here’s the change:
Beginner Chest & Abs
20 sets
13 minutes exercising
15 minutes total time
Intermediate Chest and Abs
28 sets
22 minutes exercising
48 minutes total time
If a list of the sets and reps is helpful, I can post that.
@Nate_Pearson and @Jonathan asked about a live stream of the race. Delivered (Thank you Rhino Racing)
This is a chase race. 5 categories based on ZRS. I am racing with the Ds (Yellow Jersey, top right to start. My Zwift name shows as “G. Daviet (Rhino)”.
My Cat starts @ 2:45.
The first “attack” discussed happens when the C Cat catches us. I push to hold them in the climb, then sit in. The C Cat is in blue. You can see them overtake us @ 25:10 in the lower left. I am the only D to hold on over the hill.
The second “attack” happens as I struggle to hold the lead group of Cs over the last hill. It starts @ 32:00. My whole goal is to make it over the top with the lead riders. In the climb, the C Cat coverage moves back amd forth bewteen lower left and upper left.
And finally, you can see me start my finishing sprint @ 37:45 in the lower left.
I finished 1st for my Cat, and 14th overall. The Zwiftpower event is:
And I’m sure the big cadence drop Nate pointed out is simply out of the saddle hammering, rather than sitting and grinding in a high gear?
No aero penalty in Zwift for standing.
Yes, the low cadence was out of the saddle. However, I think Nate had a good point about torque. I am going to try keeping my cadence higher during high power punches.
Long time listener. While most podcasts are pretty solid, I really took this one to heart. I spent a year not on trainer road, hammering away on another platform, running, lifting weights, setting steps records on my watch, etc. It was fun, but I was essentially the same cyclist as when I started the year, only a year older. As a masters cyclist, I can ill afford to waste a year putzing around.
Then I came back to TR and started getting lots of yellow days, so I started hiding stuff from the AI to not yellow. Still, if I was even a little honest on the surveys, my hard days were getting cut back. I had the right tools, but I thought the rules didn’t apply to me.
Since this episode aired, I have recommitted to improving my cycling with intention. I’m still digging out of the hole I am in, but the AI is working to ‘meet me where I’m at’ and we can move forward together. I’m also moving from protein, protein, protein, to protein, carbs, carbs and it seems to be helping as well.
I look forward to becoming the cyclist I want to be with the help of TR.
Just listened to it today. Ya know, I was having a perfectly good day, I just had a great run, solid swim yesterday, tomorrow is the bike day.
And then I listed to it. Why, why did youse guys all attack me like that
I’m joking I’m joking I should throttle back too. I’m 56, male, only done this stuff for a few years, but in my defense I’m an empty nester. Overtraining has saved more marriages than it’s broken, at least in that demographic…
Everyone is different and comes into this with different experiences. Nothing wrong with training hard as long as you have a good balance with other aspects of life. If exercise makes you a better person, nothing wrong with that.
In college we would run a morning run and then come back for a workout in the afternoon… so even though I am a few decades older (“wiser”) an hour on the bike for an endurance ride adds very little fatigue or stress. If anything it helps reduce stress from the workday, keeps my blood pressure in check and gets the blood circulating.
But that’s me.