People seem to love to complain. 
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I actually wasn’t trying to be critical of PL or my prescribed plan, but of the workout itself. It feels to me like there’s far too much noodling to make it productive, but perhaps there’s a time and place for this type of a workout for a specific type of an athlete. I think it would have made more sense if it was a 1hr ride.
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Right, as of now the only things that drive PL’s to increase is completing TR workouts inside or outside. Nothing else is considered for PL’s at this time.
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That limitation is more or less the reason that so many around here want the Workout Levels 2.0 that TR promised nearly 3 years ago now. That is supposed to assign PL’s to all the “unstructured rides” that AT & PL’s don’t see at this time. Once that is in place, at least some of these issues should be resolved or improved at the very least.
Not sure how anaerobic sprinting works in cycling, but in Track & Field, sprinters are are pushing near max effort for the interval. For a sprint workout they are usually taking full recovery (10-15+ minutes) because the next interval is again close to 100% effort. That recovery is needed.
As noted in my post above I am prefer an intensity more than 40% but if I was sprinting I would take full recovery.
@G650 although my training philosophy has evolved a bit since I posted this four years ago, for me, I start to cool off too much with a HR below 130 and find it difficult to get back on the power for the next interval, especially if it is VO2 or anaerobic.
Years ago, when I first used TR after another set of plans, I found the 40% recovery intervals way too easy, especially for anything longer than about three minutes. My previous plans “recovered” at 75% so that is what I was used to. In some training circumstances I think there is still value in that, but if you’re trying to squeeze every ounce of effectiveness out of an interval session, I can see where 75% “recoveries” are counter-productive.
Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast #114 and the associated blog deep dive why TR selected 40% for their recovery intervals. There is some science behind it, but I prefer 50-60% depending on duration, sometimes even 70-75% if it is really long.
As always, YMMV. However, as already mentioned, there are a number of things you can do, including the following. I’ve used all of these at various times depending on what I feel like doing.
- Modify the workouts in Workout Creator (@trainerrod a web-based workout creator would be a huge improvement, though
) - Manually increase the intensity in erg mode
- Switch to resistance mode and shift to get the wattage you want
- Pause the workout and skip ahead to reduce the length of the recovery interval
Here’s an example of me cutting two minutes out of a six-minute recovery before the work began this morning.
And here’s Bluebell but with 50% recoveries.
