Don’t be too proud and accept At downgrades
Don’t push levels too much even when the workouts feel easy let AT handle it
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Actually definitely this - and I’ve additional one. If in doubt, mark as “too intense” rather than trying to justify sleep/ nutrition/ motivation unless it really was one of those not the workout being too hard.
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I learned that I need the volume of mid, but the intensity slowly burns me out. If I replace one of the higher intensity workouts with a long z2, I feel good and make better progress.
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I learned that mid volume AND low volume are too hard for me.
Maybe it’s age-related (42), but for the last 2-3 years I was coming into the race season way overcooked when I should have been primed.
Last season I tried backing off one of the SS rides and turned down some of the others. This had me feeling much fresher going into tough workouts.
This season I’m going to try polarized and see how that goes. Something has to give b/c the repeated intensity just doesn’t work for me.
If learned that if you have a lot of time, you still don’t need high volume plan, its better mid volume + something (extra group rides or cross training or Z2 fondo). If you think you need high volume then you may want a coach.
Agree with the “don’t neglect strength training” and “trust trainerroad process” post. Whole trainerroad ecosystem (software, forum, podcast, blog, etc) its a wonderful product.
I recommend it, specially to time crunched cyclist, but, actually, I don’t use trainerroad anymore, I had the time and used a High volume plan, too much intervals and intensity it got me bored and loss motivation, hire a coach it was too expensive 
, quit the coach and now I do my own training with strength training, some intense day but most of the week long “easy” days. I’m on pretty good form, but I still thanks trainerroad because I started obese and take me frome the sofa (0 w/kg) to the road (3.7 w/kg when starting my new training method, haven’t measured my FTP recently, because my former coach used actual lactate threshold, but I will do a FTP test finishing this block, I miss AI FTP detection 
).
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Are you too young?
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I’ve learned that;
Consistency is key to success
I’m good at Sweetspot and Threshold, struggle with vo2max and suck at sprinting.
That I can ride the 4.5 hour training session (Disaster)
That i hate riding outdoors(in the cold or wet or both)
That I haven’t managed to complete “Build” phase (cant maintain onscreen watts without blowing myself apart)
2023
Heading into Build after an easy week.
Planning races
Looking forward to more good stuff from all at TR 
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- I learned that life makes it really hard to be consistently, and that I need to be better that. And that can look like moving a workout, or decreasing it in intensity or time. It doesn’t need to be all out.
- I learned I’m not as slow as I thought I was when I had to take a break for four months due to some really serious trauma. TR kept adapting, and it only took about a week for it to really figure out where I truly was.
- I learned my cat likes to walk under my pedal, as does the roomba.
- I learned a lot from the podcast, including that just having a bike station with power meter pedals gives me the most flexibility
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I’ve had the same experience with build…I’ve never gotten through more than a few weeks without blowing up/breaking down.
I learned that if you stop using TR for a while you get slower. 
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- I have learned that for me, FTP tracks volume with extreme correlation (watching 4 years worth of FTP vs TSS graph)
- I learned that although I love doing intervals, I can sustain insane volume and TSS on long slow distance as opposed to intervals
- I learned that there is a hidden cost to marginal gains (sauna, cold plunges, strectching, even strength): they all add to overall stress and take away from volume you can sustain on the bike. Pretty obvious in hindsight, but there is a time delay in experiencing the consequences so it’s never obvious during a training block
- I learned that consistency is king (duh!). I also learned that try as one might, life will always sabotage consistency (illness, kids, work,…). I learned that approaching this with flexibility (how can I adapt and restart seamlessly after interruptions) is much more likeky to succeed than trying to maintain iron consistency in the face of adversity
- I have learned the value of preoaring everything the evening before so I can stand up on auto-pilot at 5:20 and start oedalling away while essentially still sleeping in the saddle
Most of these learnings are distilled from different concepts addressed on the podcast. So I am extremeky grateful to the TR crew for helping making me a better cyclist!
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1000% relate to this. There are plenty of fine options, and I’m lately finding it hard to commit. I think it’ll be Xert this season unless TR gets WLV2 done.
I learned that there is no magic formula when it comes to training (except consistency) and AI isn’t the panacea that I imagined it could be (at least yet). I also learned that if you’re in touch with your body and have a decent understanding of basic training principles, self-coaching can be very effective.
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