On Tuesday my SS PL went from 9.0 to 9.3. This triggered an AI FTP update of +2 watts, resetting my PL to 9.1. I took two days off, then rode SS again today. Both days were AT scheduled SS days from plan builder. Today’s ride put me up to 9.4, which triggered another automatic AI FTP update, reducing my FTP by 7 watts.
This makes no sense for two reasons:
Automatic AI FTP update is supposed to result in lower PLs so that you can continue to progress. Reducing FTP via this method does not lower PLs, instead making workouts too easy at your current PL.
My FTP certainly did not change in any direction in the two days of rest between workouts. Whether +2w or -7w is correct I can’t say, but they both can’t be right, right?
What am I missing here? I feel like I’ve missed something.
TL;DR - Just go with it, enjoy the gains, it will be fine.
I ran into the same thing earlier this winter. My SS progression level was high enough that every workout was above 9, which triggered AI FTP detection, but I didn’t get enough of a bump to drop my progression level below 9, so the cycle happened again.
I just went with it, and eventually things evened out. If you’re not in specialty, you’ll get actual AI FTP detections and not just the automatic 2% increase. It kept my FTP the same at one point, and even recommended dropping it after a successful SS workout because I had struggled with threshold earlier in the week (rejected that one). I saw some big FTP gains doing hard SS, and threshold and V02 Max feel spot on in my current build phase.
Support recommended manually increasing my FTP pretty substantially so AT would lower my progression levels more and get my out of the cycle. I thought their recommendation was an insane number and didn’t do it, but that’s where things ended up leveling out in the end.
Current threshold PL is 7.1. My FTP stayed the same for a couple months so no PLs reset. This plan has a lot of SS it so that PL advanced faster than everything else.
At the time my threshold PL was only around 5.5-6, and I worked up to a 12.3 SS (Gibraltar +2). Sweet spot was feeling good, so I did a few stretch and breakthrough workouts until AT was giving me level 9-10 workouts on its own. Now that I’m in build and haven’t done SS in a few weeks it’s down to around 7.5, and threshold is up to 7.
This is my 2nd season on Trainer Road, and last year I struggled with long SS and threshold intervals, so I really tried to focus on them during this base phase.
Nice work on the training – getting into PL 9.0+ workouts is tough!
If you feel like your current FTP is accurate, then you could decline the proposed FTP updates until your next block of training. I could understand how having those updates after every workout right now could get annoying. Ignoring the updates will allow you to leave your PLs unchanged and continue along in your SST progression if that is your goal.
As @WillS said, things should eventually start to “even out,” especially as you get into your next training phase(s). You’ll still have SST workouts in Build and Specialty, but they won’t be your primary focus – that should help make this become less of an issue moving forward.
I think for now, leaving it as is and seeing what happens during/after your upcoming Build Phase is a good move.
Ignoring the updates will allow you to leave your PLs unchanged and continue along in your SST progression if that is your goal.