I’m about to embark on my training for the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder in July. This will be the 3rd year I’ve done it and I’m trying to fine tune my training plan. The race is a 5 day stage race that ends up being approximately 350 miles with 35K of elevation. For me, this ends up being about 6 to 9 hours a day on the bike. Last year, I augmented a low volume plan which consisted of 2 to 3 days a week on the trainer and 1 to 2 days outside for long rides to get the volume in that I need for such an event. My question is this, last year I noticed that when I did a 6+ hour ride on Sunday, every week the plan called for me to rest on Monday (red) and would adjust my Tuesday workout to a recovery ride and remove what the harder structured workout for the week (VO2 Max or Sweet Spot) is typically. In the end, I need to very long endurance rides over the weekend to get in the work to be prepared for the event, but it really messes up the structure of my structured plan dramatically. I’m not comfortable just following the TR plan as I have a hard time believing that just three to four 60 to 90 minute rides a week will be sufficient conditioning to prepare me for 5 hard days in the saddle. I’d like to hear suggestions as to better integrate a structured plan into my quite necessary long weekend rides?
With the new release coming I think it would a waste of time for anyone to give a work around.
This is an area where I think TR has always been too conservative. Some of my best and most impactful workouts peaking for Leadville the last 2-3 years have been on Red Days and I’m routinely running into them as my volume and load gets higher.
Personally, I’d just keep the long endurance ride easy - start around 60% FTP and try not to go hard on those rides. If you’re able to keep doing your interval workouts and execute them as planned then you’re good.
Just my opinion but long endurance rides should be the priority of your training program. Those are long days, and consecutive. Build your training and recovery around those and if it means less intensity so be it.
The problem is that at this point it is hard to determine if the new launch will truly be a big upgrade or if it will be just somewhat of a re-branding with incremental improvements?
Do you have your Training Approach set to Agressive?
Yeah. I’m hoping for the former. When I came back to TR for their then new adaptive training, I was disappointed as it seemed like a hodgepodge of disjoint features. It did kinda improve over time, but I found it complicated and was unsure of how added features like “solo/group ride” etc figured into to the plan. What I was hoping for was a platform that would look at everything done to date and suggest what would be best to do next and in the future based on my objectives. This new launch does sound much more like that.
Hey @Spot7768 
By looking at your training history and schedule patterns, I feel that if you set more consistency to the days you train vs. the ones you don’t, you could be avoiding these Red Days. For example, you could follow this schedule:
Monday: OFF
Tuesday: Interval Work
Wednesday: OFF
Thursday: Interval Work
Friday: OFF
Saturday: Interval or Endurance day
Sunday: Long weekend ride
This way helps create more consistent training by intentionally alternating on and off days, rather than stacking back-to-back sessions that lead to repeated Yellow or Red Days. It also makes it clearer which days are best suited for quality training and which should be reserved for recovery, allowing you to manage fatigue more efficiently and sustainably.
Thank you for your thoughts! I certainly have not been consistent during the last few months if that is what you looked at. The schedule you suggested is exactly what I did leading into the event last year when I noticed the pattern of consistently having to miss my stretch workouts on Tuesday. I’m 59 years old, so I’m following the master’s program, which means Thursday is endurance. When I end up missing the stretch workout on Tuesday because I’m in recovery modem that means I’m only getting in a stretch workout one day a week on Saturday unless I go outside. In the end, I’m curious how much conditioning I’m missing with this pattern?
I’m not certain? Although I’ve been a fairly active TR user since 2017, I am 59, so I’m working under the Master’s Plan. I believe this does provide for longer recovery times as the workouts after my intervals are usually endurance workouts.
How aggressive do you have adaptive training set?
I had a similar problem to yours (still do to an extent), but once I moved it one click more “aggressive” from “balanced” it seemed to level out.
who knows what the upgrade will bring, may wait do that, otherwise you might also try turning off adaptive training and going more on feel. With a properly laid out plan and progressive overload I’m not sure anyone needs as many adjustments as adaptive training makes. YMMV
Welcome!
I looked at all of 2024 and I didn’t see a consistent pattern of ON/OFF days… I still think if you try and stick to a set schedule of what days you train and what days you don’t every week you will be able to achieve consistency in Yellow/Red Days so you don’t miss out on key workouts.
Also, it’s key to note that since September there has not been much training in comparison to the rest of the year, so starting a plan now, our Fatigue Detection system will likely ramp you slowly. Meaning you may see more Yellow/Red Days that will decrease as you keep training.
Lastly, you could also set your Training Approach to be more Aggressive as @PURNRG is suggesting!