Hey there, I‘m completely new to TrainerRoads as I want to give it a try over the next few weeks.
I‘m cycling for about two years now and I‘ve been using Wahoo Systm for my structured training during fall and winter. I‘m happy with the software as I did some proper gains over the time imo.
I did a FTP test over there yesterday and I‘m now sitting at 3.6 W/kg. Profile: Puncheur. My weakness are the sustained efforts.
I would describe Systm as pretty MAP heavy while it sprinkles many recovery rides in between.
Now I set up TR for the upcoming weeks and I set up a race in May. After analyzing my Strava, TR recommended to do only 3 workouts a week. These workouts are almost all Sweet Spot and Threshold workouts.
This would mean, I would do only around 3.5 hours of training a week. I would be willing to spend 5-7 hours though.
I wonder: Are there no benefits for me to do some LIT workouts in between and on Sundays (my planned workouts are Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday)? In theory I would have time on Sundays…
Worth mentioning: Last weeks were pretty inconsistent on Systm due to light sickness.
It seems when TR is starting new users out it likes to be somewhat conservative. A lot of people think oh I ride 5-7 hours a week vs TR being 5-7 hours of actual training.
That said the system will respond to what you do so I would say throw in an easy endurance ride on the day after your last interval set. Could try out the new dynamic endurance feature which will build you. Do that for a bit or add in your own easy endurance and then hit check volume. It should respond to what you have been doing and what you can do.
I haven’t used System but a lot of my teammates do. From what I’ve seen I think you will get better training from TR and it will continue to get you fitter and fitter if you do the work, fill out the RPE survey and put in your correct plan dates.
Just add in extra endurance rides since you know you can do it. Then “check volume” after a bit. The system will ultimately realize that it’s no problem for you and prescribe more.
Looking again at my own data, I see it’s pretty inconsistent at the moment. Maybe it’s the right approach by TR, to be conservative at the beginning as @Elgro said…
Edit: Not sure if the image upload works properly right now. Here is an overview:
Jan 26 - Feb 1: 1:20h / 65 TSS / 2 Workouts
Jan 19 - Jan 25: 3:44h / 179 TSS / 4 Workouts
Jan 12 - Jan 18: 6:45h / 356 TSS / 6 Workouts
Jan 05 - Jan 11: 4:55h / 241 TSS / 4 Workouts
Dec 29 - Jan 04: 1:33h / 56 TSS / 2 Workouts
Dec 22 - Dec 28: 5:07h / 259 TSS / 4 Workouts
Dec 15 - Dec 21: 3:44h / 155 TSS / 3 Workouts
It’s hard to say without seeing the calendar, you can also make it public and share a link to it here.
You look inconsistent from those numbers, so your primary gainz will be from regular three quality per week, and avoiding wildly varying loads of indeterminate quality. See how it goes for a month before you make any changes.
You should now be able to see the screenshots of my calendar. I think there was a technical error earlier.
I’ll trust the system and definitely give it a go from next week onwards! I’m not used to seeing only SweetSpot and Threshold workouts, as I often read or hear that ‘that’s too much stress’. But I guess it should be all right with only three workouts a week. As long as I make progress — the predicted AIFTP is +6.4% after nine workouts — then I’ll be more than happy.
If you do do some extra LIT training rides, make sure that they are easy enough so as not to compromise the quality of your interval sessions or your recovery from them. Unlike what I have done in the past.
What we’re seeing from your training history tells us that starting with three hard workouts a week is ideal for you.
One cool feature to be aware of is the Check Volume tool.
At any time, you can click on the title of your training plan in the top left corner of your calendar and then click “Check Volume,” as shown below, to see if we’d recommend changes in volume based on your recent training history.
If you’re doing well and consistently knocking out your workouts with good quality and adapting, there’s a good chance we’ll recommend some more volume though easy rides between those harder days, similar to what you’re looking for.
Maybe it’s the right approach by TR, to be conservative at the beginning as 
