Saw something on my TR AI-based training plan that gave me pause and was hoping to better understand the logic behind it. Some background: I am a masters level cyclist returning to racing this year after a 2.5 year hiatus. My toddler was born in the spring of 2023 and I intentionally took 1 year off, and hoped to start back to training last year, but in the spring of 2025 was diagnosed with pulmonary sarcoidosis and had to take a step back while I waited for the meds to work. Fortunately am in a good spot now from a pulmonary function standpoint, though a bit heavier due to 6mo of prednisone, and docs have cleared me to ‘return to sport’.
With the help of TR, I’ve gotten back to an FTP on track with this time of year back when i was training regularly (250ish). I informed TR’s plan builder that I was hoping to do a race on 2/1/26 here in CO (OMW), as well as several other events throughout this first season back. I labeled Sunday as an A race. It planned for me to do two workouts this week with long suprathreshold interval repeats, including one tomorrow, 3 days before the race. This seems a bit antithetical to what I’ve historically done on “race week”, tapering in intensity but not volume in the final 4-5 days before a race.
Are there new data or approaches that could be driving this planning? Would be interested in learning more. As an aside, I’ll admit to feeling a little crispy right now, my CTL has been in the negative 20s for a few weeks, and mentally part of me is wondering if it wouldn’t be best to disregard and modify the plan in response to how I’m feeling.
