TrainerRoad - Feature Requests of what athletes expect / want in the future

There is a scheme for auto detection - every 28 days - but maybe it is an idea to automatically just before (ond week or so) an A race update your ftp. For me ive had my A race last Sunday and can ask for a new ftp 4 days after my A race which I trained for.

probably one for the new feature request thread….. why would you want your FTP updated just before your A race?

As I see it, its been placed in the new feature request part. Regarding your question why, as an A race is the most important race and you want to race at a certain pct of your ftp to get the best results and race your personal max effort.

I meant the main feature request thread… but i’m not the police :slight_smile:

AI FTP on its own isnt really meant as a predictor of max efforts - but I could see why some people would like this.

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I can see where this would be helpful when you are trying to pace at say .68 IF. It would be nice to have your most up to date AIFTP to set your Normalized Power target.

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Do you race looking at your head unit and only riding to a very specific power number? I don’t see how having a more up to date ftp will change what you are capable of on race day.

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TR doesn’t prompt you during a specialty phase of a plan, assuming you have an event, to do an
AI FTP detect even if you hit the 28 days.

They also only bump you up by a limited 2% if you do a level 9 (of certain types) instead of telling you to run the AI FTP detect.

Based on that I doubt they would release a feature that is specifically having you run AI FTP the week before a race since they already go out of the way to make sure you don’t bump your FTP a week before an event.

https://support.trainerroad.com/hc/en-us/articles/14410344648091-Why-Isn-t-AI-FTP-Detecting-my-FTP-During-the-Specialty-Block

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Thx Mrtophr1980…

Your last point, let me explain why it is useful (for me).

You train for an A race. For this race you want to be at the start line with your all best ftp (for race were a high ftp is crucial) and so it is for me highly need to know what your ftp is at that moment.

My example now is that 4 days after my A-race I can ask for an ftp detect. For sure my ftp is higher and so I could have not race my best….

Hope this explains my reason for asking this feature….

I recently had it line up where it would come up the day after my race so I definitely understand why 4 days after seems like they should just give it to you early. In my case this was a race that I was specifically trying to target basically holding FTP for the whole race (15 mile gravel hill climb I finished seconds under an hour last year). I too was tempted to contact support and ask if i could get it run a day early. But that would have been some system guessing what I might be able to do based on efforts that were not my race. Would I have been willing to train on that number? Sure. But I don’t think I would have trusted it to race on as a power target. I ended up holding within 1 watt of my preexisting FTP for the 55 min it took me this year. The next day it bumped my FTP up about 7 watts. Could I maybe have done that? Possibly, but I also think it could have blown up on me.

The reason that they don’t prompt it race week or end of specialty is because that is the power you have been training at and presumably digging deeper into your time in zone at that FTP. The final phase isn’t really meant to bump your FTP. A bump a week out when you are starting your taper is potentially going to push your taper zones higher and not necessarily work out the way you want.

I fully understand why you want it, I have also come to appreciate that they seem to go out of their way to stop people from shooting themselves in the foot during that last week.

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Having a different value for your ftp in trainerroad won’t make you faster or slower on race day though? Having ai tell me my ftp is 400w or 415w won’t change how I race on the day at all.

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How about TR approved coaches? I know we can message the team but they just help with specific questions and you dont form a relationship with any of them like you do a real coach.

Could TR have a 1 to 1 coaching arm where you can work directly with someone in synergy with the software. It should be a bit cheaper than standard coaching as the software should take a lot of the planning out of it for the coach. But it would be great for when a plan isnt quite getting the expected results, or you are trying to balance racea/riding/training/life and are not sure of the bestway to handle things. Also good for those that need extra motivation, either motivation to actually do their workout or motivation to actually recover.

In my experience, most of the coaches out there use Training Peaks and they don’t have easy access to TR unless you give them your login, and even then they want the data, and any notes/comments in TP. This wouldnt be a problem if using a TR specific coach. There could be different levels of coaching….daily check ins and discussion all the way down to a monthly catch up and discussion on how it’s going. It would benefit TR too, as they would have people paying to give them real time valuable feedback about their own program and plans. The coaches would hear and see ALL the reasons why something did, or did not, work for the athlete, rather than just a struggle survey.

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It is not only the use of your full potential during a race, but also also in training. 400-415 is 4% this is indeed not a big difference. 255-219 is 15% you understand that if you have to do Vo2max training and the target is 15% lower than your real potential, you are training a different zone and not doing the Vo2max training which in race will result in a lower outcome.

When racing 15% lower then your potential, this means that you are not riding (e.g the 6 hour race) at 80% of 255 (204w) but you ride at 175w (219*0.8) which is a 16% lower outcome and result.

hope this explains my point a bit….

Your point is the system should work as it is?

You’re asking them to allow for an aiftp detection the day of/before a race so you can have a new number for the race but now talking about training. You aren’t doing vo2 max workouts the day before your race that you need to train at the new number, even if you were it wouldn’t help. 3-4 weeks out sure, but you’re also able to still get your aiftp then so it’s a non issue.

If you get a 15% jump in ftp the day before the race you absolutely should not be using that for 6 hours of racing. You are far too green if you’re seeing those kind of gains in the final 2-3 weeks of a specialty phase.

So either the system doesn’t need to change because you’re getting it far enough out to train. Or the system doesn’t need to change because the minor bump during a specialty phase won’t have any real impact on your power target for the race.

I think part of the issue here is that you are trying to use AI FTP for something other than its intended purpose. It’s not meant as a number to race to.

However, I think a neat feature would be that if you have an A race in the calander then TR could generate a basic pacing stratagy based on current/predicted performance.

Welcome to the forum!

We’re going to fix this. :mechanic:

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Let me explain…

First, Im not green :laughing: been a pro (traithlete) late 80’s early 90’s and started racing and training with one of the first powermeters available (srm)…

Your good point regarding my training vo2max remark, this was only to show what the result is when you have an ftp of 400-415 or 255-219. With the last you also in training do not hit the correct zone will with the 400-415 you probably do.

I fully understand that you should not have an AI ftp one day before a race (and I said one week not day). My point was (and from there it drifted) that you do your training towards an A event en if been consistent, this results in a higher ftp (if this was you goal as there could be other goals too). If ftp was your goal, then it would be good to know what your ftp is at that time (one week before a race)… i think you response is for all that has been written when the topic drifted …

Hope I explained and corrected.. thanks for your input…

Yes but that is irrelevant to race day, and ai ftp already detects changes in your ftp as well as updates quickly enough for that big of a difference to never be an issue in training.

You race to your potential on the day. It should not matter what tr or any other program says your ftp is, I’m not going to be staring at my garmin and then pull the plug from the breakaway because I am riding above ftp or something.

I’m a tt you will have a pacing strategy but should still be listening to how your legs feel.

As for your 220 - 255 example I am extremely sceptical that anyone would see that large of a change in a less than one month period unless they are brand new to the sport. Since ftp detecting can be run every 28 days I don’t really see a reason to update it right before a race.

What would you change about your race by getting a different ftp one week before it?

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Thx….

Regarding racing at race day, I only do mtb races and whn in a group, I can ride below potential. A break away, I for sure burn a match. But long climbs, I ride at a pct of my ftp to stay strong the whole race and therefore it is (for me) a need to have the correct ftp. I do stare at my Garmin …. :flushed_face:

Regarding the 255-219…. It went from 255 to 219 and Im not new in the sport or when using a pm. Think this is a bug as other software (i also use) give ftp number much higher, but I want to use and stick to TR :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:..

Tiny feature request: a little audio notification to signal the end of the workout.

Use case: in easier workouts I’m running my entertainment full screen on my laptop with the TR desktop app hidden in the background. While I get the beeps for the interval starts, there’s no audio to indicate that the workout has finished, and so I have to keep switching apps to check whether it’s done or not. A simple “done” chime would be very convenient.

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Yea, I don’t know why they don’t have the 3 second count-down at the end of the workout like they do for intervals. It’s a minor thing, but would be nice to have.

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