I’ve read a lot of the threads on the new update and i haven’t really found the answer to my question. Wondering if anyone else is finding the same situation.
A BIT OF MY BACK STORY
I have previously used TR since almost its inception (I think my first subscription cost $7 a month if that gives you any idea.) I’ve been around thru all its updates and it always just sort of built on what had previously been going on. I’ve been training and racing for well over a decade at this point and year over year have built the ability to handle some pretty big weeks. at its peak in 23/24 i was regularly doing 15-20 hour weeks. then the bike industry got weird and i had to leave the shop i was working at and start my own shop. anyone who’s started a business knows the effort and time that takes so I (being in my mid 30s now) kind of shelved structure and racing for a while to get my new shop off the ground. I still rode every day. still had some pretty big weeks and did some club racing. i was just doing it for the love of the game and not thinking about it too much. mostly rode with no computer. didn’t think about progressing. just tried to free that mental space to get the pirate ship out to sea.
things are a lot more stable with the bike shop now and I have more time and energy to put back toward the bike. this lined up perfectly with you guys dropping the new update so I was like hey, ill jump back on there and see what the new system in like. my old profile was on a previous email that I don’t have access too so I just started completely new profile. I’ve tried “twisting the knobs” to try to get the AI to give me more volume. I understand it doesn’t have much or any training history to look at so its starting me off really slow. I actually like that feature and think it protects people from their own short term motivation.
my question is how to deal with this and how long it takes for it to recognise the volume that is challenging for me. i dont want to go straight back to 18 or 20 hours (not sure i could at the moment, also not sure if i want to). but 8/9/10 hours feels pretty easy to me and seems like a good place to start and slowly drift to 15 or so. right now its giving me like 5-7, which even with harder rides feels like a recovery week. Do i just plow thru and over the course of a couple more weeks it kinda figures out that i am always in that 10ish hour area with no problem hitting the workouts? i havent been able to find a volume button, something like the old high/mid/low volume options. there is that “check volume” button but that seems like a bail out button for people who are fealing like they wont be able to tread water. i need the opposite. is there a way to bump up the volume or again do i just kinda plow thru, add the workouts i feel reasonable, and here in 2?4?6? weeks it will kind of learn my abilities and quit giving me rest days and keep me in that 10+ hours a week range.
Welcome back to the forums, as you’re under a new ID you’re showing as a newbie.
If you linked your Strava it will learn from your recent volume/intensity/consistency, but it sounds like it will learn as much from your training going forward against a Custom Training Plan.
The new system works best if you don’t try to force time in the saddle or force intensity, or lie about RPE to trick it into giving you harder stuff.
if like me you are ramping up after time off, with a few weeks consistent training, consistent data it won’t be long before it gets the measure of you.
In the mean time, I’m in a “principles” mindset at the moment so I’d ponder on the concept of minimum effective dose.
im pretty good at self-metering. i just don’t want to have to infinitely manually change workouts back to what was scheduled or ignore red/yellow days and look thru the library to add workouts that AI took away. i don’t mind doing it for a few weeks while it learns what i can handle. like i said i know some of this would be solved had i ridden with data for the last 3 or 2 years and it could see what i was doing but i just needed a brake from thinking about numbers and uploading things wile i was trying to build a customer base and figure out vendors and taxes and such haha. i guess the question is just a conformation that water will eventually find level and it will be back to just open app, do workout, beers with the boys, like it used to be. if i have to from here on out fight against AI and sort of manually add volume, ill just dust off The Cyclists Training Bible and self coach again
honestly the “FTP” and RPE seem pretty accurate. workouts are hard but not brutal, but also couldnt go much harder and recover day after day. its the volume that is in question. that was what i was finding reading everyone elses complaints. most others were in the “AI FTP is making my workouts seem way too easy” category. the workouts feel fine for me as far as difficulty or FTP settings. i just dont need a full day off the bike after a 90 min sweet spot workout or threshold session. i wouldnt want to do them back to back but to cruise 90min or 2 hours at zone 2 the day after an interval session is completely within my abilities. just unfortunately i went to “soul riding” for a little wile and didn’t ride with a computer or upload to strava for a couple seasons. i know i lost FTP, the tuesday club races had me realize that, so i think the ftp estimate is close or a good place to start to ramp back into but i never quit riding so im used to doing 7-10 hours a week on the bike and i dont want to be infinitely self coaching against the AIs calender changes
I think you’ve got a couple options to do a month or two of higher hours and get the system to recognize it.
I would turn off red light/yellow light. Stick to 3 hard workouts on the calendar. Add in your own Z2 volume for what feels comfortable. Could select workouts from the library with duration or ride outside. Just get it to see it in the calendar.
Other alternative would be just pinning your workouts. Adding in dynamic endurance for how long you’d like to ride up to. I think dynamic tends to be conservative to start so you may want to go with the previous option until the system sees what you can handle.
Also check volume is good for adding volume to your workouts. I probably hit it every month or every other and it always adds. I’ve got dynamic endurance up to 4 hours on my weekend ride, so far it’s only put me at 2.5 hours but haven’t used it for a long time.
option one is sort of what i was planning on. just plow thru. change the workouts back to what was originally planned and sort of reject the “fatigue recommendation” and fill in the RED days or like 30 min rides with regular 90min endurance rides. just looking to see if anyone could confirm that after 4 or 6 weeks or whatever it kind of learns my “volume ability” once i have some “online training history” in the books
I took the plough through approach at start of the year. It was recommending 5-6 hours, I know I can pretty quickly get to 10-12 hours productively so just added in lots of easy to endurance volume. Did make an extra effort to keep those rides genuinely pretty easy (aiming for bottom of Z2) in first few weeks so I could really nail my 2 hard days. Still had a bunch of yellow days but managed to move things around so I only trained hard on a yellow a couple of times. It adapted pretty well, I’m back to pretty much only getting yellows after hard workouts now and it’s recommending me more volume.
With minimum effective dose, you only need the training stimulus you need. And you optimise the recovery, to get the gains.
The old zeitgeist was, get as much training stimulus as you can, rest if you have to.
I’m on only four hours bike a week, but adding in 30min recovery rides, checking fatigue management and how you feel will help build you/me up slowly over time.
cool man, thats what im looking for. just wanted to hear someone a little further down the path than i am confirm that is does sort of learn and go back to set it and forget it
I’ve turned off auto adjustments and use it for guidance. As a triathlete who has done very little recently my calendar is all red and yellow, and it is discouraging those natural urges to go straight to a 10-12 hour week, and focus on routine and recovery instead.
Yes, this is the answer. You can tell TR what you’re going to do. First go to settings on that screenshot and choose how many days per week you want and how many of those will be harder workouts. Then adjust the times as you want. It will warn you, but if you can do it, then do it. Eventually if that is true, it will learn this about you but even as someone who was doing 15 hour weeks regularly, I still have to make adjustments when I create a plan because it will never just give me that kind of volume.
ok cool man ill give that a try. I’m not sure if I’ve gotten that message before. maybe i did early. ill keep plugging along and give this recent advice and changes a try.
Keep in mind that what we’re prescribing is a lot different than the type of soul riding that you’ve been doing.
10 hours a week of soul riding is not the same as 10 hours a week of structured training (especially indoors).
You may not immediately feel fatigue from your training, but it’s less of a flash fry and more of a slow cook that will catch you a week or two or three down the road.
We have a “check volume” tool that you can use to see if we recommend changing your training volume at any time.
Just click on the title of your plan in the top left corner of your calendar and then click “check volume.”
