That makes a lot more sense!
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I knew what you meant, ha.
This is going to come off harsher than I mean it, but I am always amazed at people’s unwillingness or inability to press a couple buttons. Put it in resistance mode, add a few watts, skip to the next interval.
Realize that TR workouts are written for the mass audience, not for YOU individually. If you want workouts written for you individually, pay for a coach. Otherwise use TR and accept the minor tradeoff of having to tailor to your preferences by customizing with the tools at your fingertips.
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Timely topic - I have Manresa on my plan for Thursday and it features 18.5m x3 of recovery at 40%:
This is start of the build, but it does not strike me as a particularly interesting or productive workout.
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People seem to love to complain. 
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What exactly do you expect for a 1.5 Workout Level Anaerobic workout?
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“Productivity” is based upon your Progression level. If you feel this workout is beneath your current abilities, use the Alternates to select one that suits you better. This is a known option when people have PL’s that may not match their current ability for any reason, as well as you always having the choice to tweak to your needs or preferences.
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“Interesting” is always a funny complaint to me. Considering that we hear plenty of criticism of TR’s massive library for having too many workouts, complaining about the apparent failings of any workout in the catalog is just odd IMO. If we listened to some around here, there would no more than 7-10 workouts to choose from, and I’d argue that would be far less “interesting” than most workouts in the TR library. Keep in mind that any of these workouts are a stepping stone in the process and can be swapped as needed if/when the rider wants.
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I don’t know, I think it’s about as harsh as you intended.
– I am amazed at people’s [un]willingness or inability to be helpful rather than expressing their amazement by couching ‘corrective’ behavior in parochial advice. 
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I think it’s fair to ask the question. I think it’s fair to ask about the science of 10 minute rest intervals at 40%. 
I also think it’s fair to expect the default plan to not waste someone’s time (time crunched and all that blah blah).
Sure…not everyone has the breadth of experience with TR or training in general. And asking the question normally indicates a willing ness to learn / understand the process.
BUT…when it is then explained multiple times, and the person keeps doubling down and saying “Nah, man…this is stoopid”, well…you may get responses that seem harsh.
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It’s been some time since I’ve done an anaerobic workout, but an hour of rest for 9 minutes of work seems excessive to me.
I have the utmost respect for you chad. a chad among chads. 
But…it’s ~18 minute rest periods at 45%. I mean. Come on now. I’m a 1 on vo2max. If it prescribed me that I’d lose my mind. Well okay, so first I’d be incredulous, laugh out loud, shake my head, and then I’d change it. But I know better. My heart rate would be <100bpm for an hour during that workout. I don’t know, potayto potahto I guess.
I would like to say that I don’t expect all of the 1800 workouts in TR to be hitters. heh.
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It is 1 workout in a progression of workouts…I think some are putting way too much weight / emphasis on this one particular workout.
Again, as you progress through your PL’s, the recovery periods become shorter and the work intervals get harder. This is essentially just an appetizer / teaser workout.
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As Chad already suggested, workout alternates is the way to go.
Go into the alternates for that workout and scroll down until you find something that looks sufficiently challenging for you. Starting build this week I’m in the same boat and have been given a similar workout. I know, based on previous experience wit TR anaerobic workouts, that I should at least bump it up to a level 4 workout. So I will do that.
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Then make a swap just like I outlined.
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TR has it’s features and limitations. Knowing & understanding both, then considering the stuff you bring to the table is necessary to make the most of TR in the least amount of time. It is a tool that assists our training but it is not entirely automatic or beyond question.
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I have great results with AT generally speaking, but I still do a few tweaks in each phase to suit my needs. IMO it’s reasonable amount of effort on my part considering how much better this is vs the old canned plans that took way more work from me to get training that was reasonably customized.
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I don’t know what else to share other than what I did. It’s an entry level workout and people are free to use the tools in TR to act otherwise if/when they want. As Power mentions, it’s literally 1 workout amongst 45XX and it potentially serves a purpose for some users.
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There’s no need to get so defensive, I’m not attacking you personally or TR’s workouts, just sharing opinions.
I thought it was a timely discussion based on the workout scheduled for me. I stand by my opinion that the workout rest intervals are ridiculously long for this workouts. Warm-up contains 30s @ 120% and 30s @ 13% then provides 13:30 of rest at 40%. Even for someone new to training, IMO that seems too easy.
I’m fully aware of the alternatives function, use it as appropriate, and will use it in this case.
I’m not defensive, just sharing opinions like everyone else.
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I honestly think something has gone wrong with your progression levels if you have been prescribed that as part of a plan 
Maybe, maybe not. He is apparently starting Build phase and considering that most of what I have seen and experienced in Base doesn’t include any Anaerobic workouts, a low PL seems likely. If that matches, then TR giving a low PL version as the first workout in that phase makes perfect sense.
The issue is whether the PL is really accurate for any given rider at any time. That’s subject to having actually done some work that AT recognized (inside workouts & outside workouts mainly). If someone has ability from other sources, that PL is potentially incorrect and lacking.
I have not trained with TR since 2020, so I’m basically new to the platform as far as it is concerned. I took some time to recover during Oct/Nov (~2-3hrs/week riding), but I still ended at almost 400hrs for the year, so I’m far from a beginner. I started again with TR on Nov 22nd.
It may very well be that something went wrong, it may be a limitation of the software in not taking my past activities into consideration, or it may be me overestimating my own ability at this time of year. TR actually had me on Anaerobic PL ~4-5 until sometime last week when it suggested 15+ adaptations, which I accepted. I’ll definitely select an alternative that looks more doable.