I just finished Cloudripper -3. Between the second and third over/under interval the workout instructions say "Hop up, stretch, do whatever gets you ready for the next interval” (I’m paraphrasing b/c I can’t bring the instructions back up).
I had to use the bathroom, but not horribly so. I was planning on just holding out until the workout is done, but if the instructions were saying I could hop up and stretch I figured it would be fine if I ran to the bathroom really quick.
I went, hopped back on, and finished the workout. Afterwards I was looking at the workout results and saw that my score was penalized b/c of pauses.
I had a pause at the very beginning warmup because my fan wasn’t pointed at me so I stopped to adjust it (now that I know that pause counts against my score I’ll just restart the workout next time b/c it was so early) and once after the last over/under that is perfectly fine to count against me b/c I was verytired.
But the one between the intervals I was very surprised at b/c going by the workout instructions I thought it would be fine.
I’m not overly concerned about it, regardless of reason I did paused during the workout so fair, but what I am concerned about is what to do if the instructions say it’s ok.
I’ve seen that in several workout instructions where it says “do what you need to do to prep for the next interval” and shaking out legs and stretching are normally parts of the suggestions. Should I only do that if I absolutely have to and ignore it otherwise? Like I said earlier, if I had know it would count against me I wouldn’t have stopped at all for at least two out of the 3 pauses. If that is the case it may be worth adjusting the workout instructions b/c it seemed (to me at least) that pausing during those recovery intervals wouldn’t count against me based on what the instructions said.
You only get penalised for hoping off your bike during the rest intervals if the workout pauses so you end up with a longer time between work intervals.
I often have to jump off my bike to adjust fans etc during the rest intervals but because the timer is still running I get no “penalties”
Interesting note about the instructions saying pause, but also if you NEED that pause then that would in fact mean that your workout was impacted, even if it suggests it.
That being said you got 3.6 out of 3.6 threshold on a 3.6 threshold workout. You got full credit and a bump in AL for endurance and tempo, and unexpected credit for vo2 and anerobic. The only thing down is the secondary sweet spot which pre update you would not even really have received credit for anyway.
so yeah it says you got dinged but you also really didn’t get dinged.
There is also the factor that this would only really matter if you were selecting workouts manually with WL levels. The system is still going to see this as a you did the threshold as you should have and will pick your next workout based on the work you did, the level doesn’t matter.
I get that people who are used to taking breaks have had their eyes opened as to the impact it causes, but is it really surprising that a person who rides it straight through and a person who took a break didn’t put in the exact same effort? I don’t mean to single you out, but I’ve seen a lot of posts like this and I’m just surprised by how many people find this confusing.
I’m not surprised, I said as much in my post. I just thought in a workout where the instructions say you can stop to prep for the next interval it would account for the stop bc it’s being suggested, and if you are penalized for the stop (even if it’s small) you’d think the instructions would either not suggest a stop or would have some text saying “only if you really need to” or something.
That is, I’m not complaining about my score, I’m just surprised by the juxtaposition of the workout instructions vs the evaluation of the outcome. Ultimately next time I won’t stop.
Something to keep in mind is that the instructions for a lot, if not all, workouts predate the new version of TR. So, when it says you can pause or hop off the bike to stretch that was back in the olden days of non-AI looking at the work you did.
Blergh, Sorry I think me being too verbose with my post is losing the message.
I get that my score wasn’t affected much, and the bit that it was affected I’m not concerned about b/c I did stop a couple of times.
It’s the instruction’s phrasing vs the outcome notification that seemed off. If a workout will ding you for pausing having instructions that suggest that pausing is fine seems counter intuitive.
I do get your point. The AI showing how every little thing impacts your “post ride evaluation” is definitely an eye opener for many. Just remember those instructions are several years old, and despite there being a years old thread where people share errors in the text, I don’t think they get updated very often, if at all.
Yeah fair the points about the instructions being from pre-AI and may not completely mesh with the AI evaluation makes sense. I’ll keep that in mind in the future.
I always took that phrasing to mean that the o/u segment is more important. If you are struggling with them then rest harder between that is better then not taking the break and failing the work section. It’s not saying to do them if the intervals are going great it’s saying take a pause if you are worried you can’t do the work.
There was a sweet spot one that said something along the lines of if you struggle during the first SS interval and need a longer warm up then reduce the intensity for the first interval. I would be surprised if TR lowered my score if I followed those instructions.
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