Hi everyone,
I’m currently in Week 3 of my training block, with the recovery week coming up next week (Week 4). I’m a bit confused because my Progression Levels (PLs) for this week have actually decreased compared to last week.
Here is what happened:
• Sweet Spot: Last week I completed a 5.4 workout, but this week AT recommended a 4.3.
• Threshold: Last week I successfully finished a 4.3, but AT is now suggesting a 3.8.
Since Week 3 is usually the peak training week before recovery, I expected the intensity to stay the same or increase. Is it normal for Adaptive Training to lower the levels right before the recovery week?
Also, I suspect this might be due to my survey response. I marked last week’s Threshold workout as “Very Hard”. However, that was a temporary issue because I’m raising kids and didn’t get enough sleep that week, so my recovery was off. It wasn’t necessarily that the workout was too difficult for my current fitness.
Does AT take these temporary life stressors into account, or does it strictly follow the survey? Also, does the algorithm analyze heart rate data to adjust these levels, or is it purely based on workout completion and survey responses?
I’d love to hear your thoughts or if anyone has had a similar experience.
1 Like
I think you answered your own question. Your not getting enough recovery, because life gets in the way. So the system is pulling you back a bit to prevent it from giving you harder workouts where you’ll maybe end up failing. Keep doing the workouts and prescribed and you’ll be fine.
1 Like
You can’t separate the bike from your life, as much as you (or I) might like to.
Your current fitness is a product of two things: your physiology and your ability to express it. There are a thousands factors in both sides of that equation, and none of them can be ignored when assessing your last workout or deciding what to do next.
However, what you can do is cautiously self-assess before each workout and be prepared to pick an alternate based on how you feel each day. Or you can see how the warm-up and first interval go and make minor adjustments on the fly.
If you want to see the effect your workout ratings have on your prediction, you can always go back and change the rating, but if you’re always rating on the low side then you run the risk of lying to yourself.
4 Likes
I think the others are correct - i think its doing the right thing throttling your progression a little after a workout that was “too hard” - the system cant know the reasons why so it is right to be careful.
When you get to the workouts maybe pick a slightly harder alternate if you are feeling better. Or do the workout suggested (yes it could be slightly easier than optimal) but if you answer the survey honestly then your training should get back on track afterwards.
One thing I did want to double check though is ask if you have had a slight FTP increase between last week and this week? Because if you have then the PL decrease is perfectly normal.
Hey @BeomYeol welcome to the forum!
First I want to clear up that we may be confusing Progression Levels (zone levels) with Workout Levels, which are what you describing above 
Your Progression Levels haven’t changed, but the Workout Levels being prescribed did and will change. This is because TR looks beyond just Workout Levels, factoring in your fitness, recent training, and overall trends to pick the right workout for you that day (yes, taking into account all your training data like power, HR, survey responses, etc…).
I used the analogy of think of your training like climbing a staircase. The goal is to keep moving upward, but not every step needs to be taller than the last, hence why the lower Workout Levels you are seeing. TrainerRoad adjusts the step size based on what you’ve been doing lately, so you can keep progressing in a way that supports consistency and long-term growth.
Lastly, I wanted to mention that Adaptive Training has been phased out as we’ve replaced it with our very own TrainerRoad AI, trained in-house system. More info here: Introducing TrainerRoad AI
1 Like
Yes, my specialty block originally had decreasing WLs week-over-week. After giving me a much-too-easy and mispredicted as “very hard” Saturday ride, it re-planned to have an increase in the second week before decreasing again in the 3rd week.
The weak and misprediced Saturday ride has me spooked, so I’m putting my thumb on the scale and choosing an even harder workout this Saturday. I’m figuring that may fatigue me enough such that my lower Tuesday workout is warranted.
Also, aren’t threshold rides often supposed to be “very hard”? Feel like mine often are.