Were my adaptations good or bad?

[mattarmitage]

So Adaptive training. Great idea.
After my first workout i have adaptations to my plan. It looks like some more top end efforts have been added in to make them harder.

2 possibilities here,
a) I struggled on these so they have given me more to help me improve. (I did struggle but did complete).
b) I completed so have had the plan made harder.

Be nice to know which one it was

Maybe even if it was a “well done we have accelerated your training” OR “Oops it looks like you need some recovery”.

I guess it doesn’t affect my training but it does affect my brains need for information…

Thanks

[bobw]

Part of the “problem” with machine learning is that it’s not an algorithm with distinct steps - if this then do that then do etc. in the traditional programming sense that you can interrogate. You can’t really reverse engineer the result other than to look at the inputs and say “well with those inputs it’s been trained to give/we’ve seen output X”.

So it really comes down to a matter of trust and in that sense while it’s like a coach in that it’s adapting your training it’s not someone who can give you interactive feedback as to how they came to those adaptations.

[mwglow15]

@mattarmitage

a) I struggled on these so they have given me more to help me improve. (I did struggle but did complete).
b) I completed so have had the plan made harder.

Some things that might help point you to your answer is 1) what was the workout? 2) what was your previous progression level in that workout’s zone? and 3) what did you rate it in the post workout survey?

It’s my understanding that those things are the big drivers into whether you get assigned a harder or easier workout in future adaptations.

[mattarmitage]

@mwglow15

Some things that might help point you to your answer is 1) what was the workout? 2) what was your previous progression level in that workout’s zone? and 3) what did you rate it in the post workout survey?

1. Over/ unders in Mono
2. only my 1st workout after ramp test, just joined!
3. “Hard” - I struggled to maintain cadence although did complete at a grind!

I guess answering “Hard” is what they expect from an O/U type workout so maybe stepping me up to test my levels as Im new to this…?

Just a little ‘machine’ feedback would be appreciated and aid understanding of adaptations.

@bobw

So it really comes down to a matter of trust

Yeah, explanation and understanding would lead to a greater level of trust

[mwglow15]

Not sure if you have seen this but this is TR’s guide to answering those surveys.

How to Rate Your Effort

1. Easy
   This workout felt easy and non-taxing, requiring little effort or focus.
2. Moderate
   This workout was somewhat comfortable but required some focus to complete.
3. Hard
   This workout required effort and focus and was challenging to complete.
4. Very Hard
   This workout was very difficult to complete.
5. All Out
   This workout was extremely difficult. It pushed me well beyond my abilities and took a massive amount of energy and focus to complete.

So it is of course all subjective and there is some wiggle room. It’s not like if you answer Hard instead of Very Hard that all of a sudden you’ll be given some wildly different workout. But it may start to trend harder than it should but then you would just start giving Very Hard and All Out responses and it should tone it back.

@mattarmitage

I struggled to maintain cadence although did complete at a grind!

That sounds like it was probably in that Hard to Very Hard range. You can go back and change your post workout survey if you think you did it wrong but it was probably close enough. The plans are also inherently progressive so I would imagine that unless you put All Out for your survey you would still get a slightly harder version of the workout next week.

[GeorgeAnderson]

Courtesy of @mcneese.chad

[kevstraining]

@mattarmitage

Maybe even if it was a “well done we have accelerated your training” OR “Oops it looks like you need some recovery”.

When you preview the adaptions before you accept them you can tell if they are being made easier or harder by looking at the “level” number of the new workout compared with the old one - higher is harder.

[PhydomiR]

@mattarmitage

I guess answering “Hard” is what they expect from an O/U type workout so maybe stepping me up to test my levels as Im new to this…?

It doesn’t work like that. The awnser is purely how it felt to you. The system doesn’t assume anything because the same workout, between two persons with same FTP could feel easy to one and very hard to another.

From my experience so far with AT, it doesn’t bump me up more then the natural progression a plan already has build in, when I select hard. Not sure why it would adapt the plan after just one workout when you’re new.

[mattarmitage]

Ok thanks for the replies folks, it looks like i may have been overthinking it.

There are different possible outcomes for different reasons after workout feedback…

1. completed well- continue as is.
   2)completed well -accelerate training
   3)completed well - concentrate on weaknesses instead
   4)Did not complete well- Target weakness and do more of the same
   5)Did not complete well- Try a different approach or ease off a little.

It looks like 2 and 5 are the outcomes most of you would be expecting?

[PhydomiR]

Correct.

[mwglow15]

@mattarmitage

it looks like i may have been overthinking it.

Yeah and it’s easy to do that. My sort of quick check for that adaptations and whether I want to accept them or not is “would I be surprised by these new workouts if they showed up on my plan in the first place”. So unless the workout looks crazy hard (like I just did 4x8 @ FTP and it was tough for me and it got adapted to 6x15 @ FTP) then I will most likely accept the adaptation.

It can be easy to micro analyze the old plan vs adapted plan but in the end there are infinite variations of a Threshold workout and changes within a narrow range are essentially the same. Even for a coach it would be an educated guess whether to give 4x12 or 5x10 to an athlete and they would probably complete both and get similar adaptations.

[gjdev]

@mattarmitage

Ok thanks for the replies folks, it looks like i may have been overthinking it.

There are different possible outcomes for different reasons after workout feedback…

1. completed well- continue as is.
   2)completed well -accelerate training
   3)completed well - concentrate on weaknesses instead
   4)Did not complete well- Target weakness and do more of the same
   5)Did not complete well- Try a different approach or ease off a little.

It looks like 2 and 5 are the outcomes most of you would be expecting?

AT doesn’t decide to focus on weaknesses, or try different approaches. The plans are fixed in layout (what type of workouts you get when). AT only accelerates or decelerates the progression, based on how you cope with workouts.

[mattarmitage]

@gjdev

AT doesn’t decide to focus on weaknesses, or try different approaches. The plans are fixed in layout (what type of workouts you get when). AT only accelerates or decelerates the progression, based on how you cope with workouts.

Good to know, thanks