I’m having some challenges with the system giving me easier and easier workouts and the training approach slider not seeming to have any effect. I’m wondering if anyone has any advice.
My challenges started 3 weeks ago when I had to do a gym session at home due to a snow strom and swapping Bulgarian split squats in for deadlifts, resulted in a failed VO2 workout on March 17th. Then at the end of that week I had to swap a couple of days for endurances rides due to a visiting friend. (The 5 minute rides on the 21st are power meter comparison tests)
Since then the AI has been telling me it is going to down grade me by 10ish watts at the next FTP update (which isn’t really problem, I can just override it), but also down grading my workouts. Changing my training approach to demanding or aggressive does nothing, I keep getting easier workouts. The upcoming week has me doing workouts 1-2 levels below my current Athlete levels (I know these are a legacy of the old system but they illustrate my problem). Short of just changing workouts (which I did on the 28th to get in a decent ride before the deload week) any suggests on how to reset the AI off this course and get it back to giving me the challenging workouts I was getting before.
If it was me I’d have clicked on those and excluded them from AIFTP, just to be sure.
I think your idea is sound. If you’re feeling good on your next couple of rides choose a slightly harder alternate and nail it. If you’re feeling meh, follow its suggestion.
I would honestly follow the recommended workout, even if they are lower workout levels. You’re coming off a Recovery Week, and if you outperform your first interval workout today, the rest will likely change.
Also, TrainerRoad now looks beyond just workout levels, factoring in your fitness, recent training, and overall trends to pick the right workout for you that day. This sometimes means a lower workout level. Think of your training like climbing a staircase. The goal is to keep moving upward but not every step needs to be taller than the last. TR adjusts the step size based on what you’ve been doing lately, so you can keep progressing in a way that supports consistency and long-term growth.
All that said, you’re more than welcome to choose a Workout Alternate If the workout happens to be a bit much than what you were expecting the system will also adjust your training moving forward to keep things on track.
In short, either way you will still get adjustments based on how successfully you complete the workout. But I’d just be mindful of how much you’re changing suggested workouts to alternates as it can start to deviate the intended adjustments because the system has to recalculate for it. Although, this is (I think) the cool part of the AI Training window, as you can see how changes affect your future training!
I didn’t know you could exclude rides, thanks for the tip. I excluded the failed ride and deleted the short powermeter comparison rides but it hasn’t made any difference. I would assume this is because the system has been having me train easier for 3 weeks.
Well, after completing all of the interval workouts in the week the system has not fixed itself. It still plans to downgrade my by 6 Watts on Monday. Here is my week:
Two Sweet spots (the first of which I chose a harder workout because the system gave me something I knew would be bolder line easy) and a threshold.
The threshold showed a -7.9% aerobic decoupling (per intervals.icu). Given I have the 2 sweet spots in the legs, this suggest I am am where I need to be, or a little low with regard to FTP.
If the workout happens to be a bit much than what you were expecting the system will also adjust your training moving forward to keep things on track.
