Using a plan vs just Train Now?

TrainerRoad Software
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What would be better for me, doing a training plan or just using Train Now?

I just re-upped on TR. Last time I was using TR was 2017. I’ve been on other platforms since and have come back to TR to check out the AI guidance.

I’m 71, ride mtb and some gravel/road. I mainly wanna ride outside and try to maintain and maybe build some fitness. I do indoor workouts (and have stuck to structured plans) during the worst of the winter.

I thought it might be beneficial to sign up for a plan and then ride outside (or on Rouvy) as the opportunity presented itself, but according to TR:

  1. Unstructured Outside Rides don’t currently affect your Progression Levels and won’t be considered by Adaptive Training when it adjusts your scheduled workouts
  2. We only recommend associating outside rides with planned TrainerRoad workouts if you have completed the exact structure of the planned workout.
  3. Unstructured outside rides are incorporated into AI FTP Detection, TrainNow’s daily “Recommended” workout label, and Red Light Green Light.

So, as I read that, maybe I’d be better off just using Train Now to provide guidance as to what to do next wrt to type, TSS, IF, ride/workout/recovery. Does Train Now account for having checked “Make it a Masters Plan” or is there some other accommodation (e.g. additional recovery) for age? …Or would I be better off signing up for a plan?

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I would do the plan. I’m in my 70’s. I have done both. The plans will give you guide lines. Train now will also give you some guidance but not as thorough. The plans are totally customizable now.
In the plan or train now, you can change any scheduled workout to one that better fits your time, strong or weak points. Add unscheduled rides too. If you don’t like the plan you are in you can delete it and create a new one.
As far as unstructured outside rides. I pick a workout that gets close to the time an overall level that my ride will be. Push it to my Garmin. Record the ride. Mostly this is Z2 rides. Occasionally a 1 hour fast group ride.

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I’d second @TrekCentury’s opinion.

If you start up a training plan, you’ll get more guidance than TrainNow alone would provide. While unstructured rides won’t affect your Progression Levels, they will now have an impact on your overall plan thanks to Red Light/Green Light. If, for example, you go on a hard group ride and have a tough interval session scheduled the next day, RLGL will recognize that and suggest changes to your plan for you. That hard session will get rescheduled to a later date, so you’ll still maintain more of a sense of progression than you might get with TrainNow.

TrainNow doesn’t have as many accommodations built into it as our training plans do at this time. It will simply look at your recent riding and recommend a workout based on that. If you care less about training/progressing with a specific goal in mind and prefer to do workouts “ad hoc,” then TrainNow can be a good tool for that.

In short, we think that following a plan (even if it’s not to a T) will make you faster. :slight_smile:

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OK. When I re-upped with TR 4 days I go, I started a plan so I’ll see how that goes. If good wx persists, I’ll likely be doing more rides outdoors than structured workouts in the plan. Although I have in the past, I don’t do structured workouts outdoors so the rides won’t correlate with plan workouts to any degree. I’ll be looking to see if and how the plan changes in response to this. According to https://support.trainerroad.com/hc/en-us/articles/4404974155675, this is one of TR’s highest priorities.

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