Hey Bryce,

Probably a bit late to ask as I just completed my A 70.3 race, but I have a couple questions to help with next season.

I got to the end of the Build stage, everything was going great, but I realised I needed to work on my bike handling again as I hadn’t ridden outside in months. I decided to do every ride outside in Specialty, but didn’t include any structure, I just found as many hills as I could and rode 3 times a week.

Given the lack of structure should I have tested my FTP again close to race day? Having blown on the bike, I assume on race day my FTP wasn’t in the same place it was 8 weeks ago.

When moving to Specialty next time, how many of the rides should I keep on the trainer? I only have time for the low volume plan.

Overall I got a better result than I would of without TrainerRoad, but I think it could have been better again with more structure in the final stage.

Thanka

Getting in one outdoor ride per week should give you enough practice to be able to handle your bike effectively on race day. I would pick the most steady-state ride prescribed each week and complete that out on the road, while keeping all of the structured workouts indoors on the trainer :)

Happy training!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Hey all,

I'm in week 3 of the low volume 70.3 plan. I really like it so far.

I did the ramp test to estimate my FTP. Now the VO2MAX workouts on Tuesday are quite manageable and I can do up to 135% of my (estimated) FTP for 3 minutes.
But when I do the sweet spot/over-under workouts, it's killing me. I can finish them at 100% intensity but it is so much harder than the other workouts.

Is this common or is my threshold power so much worse than my short duration power?

Hey Chrissie!

Some riders can certainly be more suited to one energy system over another, however, your descrepency is a bit bigger than most.

One thing I'd like to mention is that over-under workouts should be kiling you. These are some of the hardest workouts to complete, both mentally and physcially. They are definitely the hardest workouts for me to finish each week. However, Sweet Spot intervals should not be turning you inside out. It should be tough, but not totally exhausting. Would you mind sending me your username in a Direct Message so that I can take a look at your Career and see if anything pops out to me?

Thanks!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

I already do 100% of my cycling on TR but I would like to try following their run and swim plan as well, starting with their sprint tri. What are your experiences with the run/swim parts of their plans? any suggestions on how to incorporate their workouts into Garmin or Basic Trainer Peaks?

Thanks.

With MacOS being a variant of UNIX, would it be safe to assume that Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora, etc.) may be coming as well? ;)

No :(. There are no plans to support UNIX. Just not enough market share.

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CEO at TrainerRoad
Co-host of the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast

Hmm, was afaid of that. Was hoping wouldn't be too much of a port from MacOS to Linux.

Was worth a shot.

Thanks.

I use the Android app on my Galaxy S9. Once I start my session I sometimes flip over to Netflix. However I find that the Bluetooth/ANT peripherals seems to disconnect as soon as I change app. Once I flip back they reconnect again. The app itself keeps running because the time on the workout increases. I am sure this used to work for me, but that may have been on my older Android phone. Is this expected behaviour?

This is not expected behavior. It should stay connected to your devices even when the app is backgrounded and your working is playing. This could be a setting on your Android phone allowing background services that run. Could you email support about this? support@trainerroad.com. They should be able to help you.

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CEO at TrainerRoad
Co-host of the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast

When I run TR off my iPhone, when I flip through apps when riding (iTunes or Spotify)...TR continues to work. Like Nate mentioned, check your settings.

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Inside The Big Ring: Podcast & Coaching

First of all, thanks for the new calendar functionality that's currently in beta-testing, I've signed up for early-access and cannot wait to give it a try! I'm very impressed with the diligence and focus with which you guys keep making TrainerRoad better for users; it's very refreshing compared to some other platforms that have just completely stagnated over the last 5 years or so.

As a lot of people have mentioned on the Facebook thread, the multi-sport calendar looks like it will supplant a lot of the functionality that I use TrainingPeaks for and I'm sure this has a lot of people thinking about using TrainerRoad as their primary training platform.

In this light, I have a quick question for you guys and/or the community at large, which might not be to be what you want to hear at first glance but stick with me!

How accessible is my historical training data on TrainerRoad if my subscription lapses?

I've had a continuous TrainerRoad subscription for something like 3 years now, my annual subscription is due for renewal next month and I'll certainly be signing up for another year; however I seem to vaguely recall from some time before this, that if your subscription lapses that you can't even log in and don't have any access to your historical data on TR, is that correct? Obviously I'm going back a few years here so could easily be mistaken (and apologies if I am) but is this still the case? I'd love to make TR my first-and-foremost training platform, but if this is the case then it could prove to be a bit of a roadblock down the line.

Thanks for all the hard work in making TrainerRoad as great as it is!

Hey Awenborn,

Unfortunately, with the way that our software is currently configured, if your subscription lapses you will no longer have access to your data. We will save your account information and ride data indefinitely, but in order to access your info you will need to re-subscribe. The issue is that we do not have a free version of our software, so an individual either has access to all TrainerRoad features, or none of them.

The good news though, is that if you decide that TrainerRoad is not for you sometime in the future, you can simply export all of your workouts into TrainingPeaks which does happen to have a free version of their software.

I'm sorry I don't have better news for you at this time, feel free to reach out if you have any more questions for me.

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Ok I figured it out. I was actually an ANT+ signal problem. I moved my phone closer to the trainer and things started working again!

To add to what Bryce said; you can also sync your files to dropbox. That way you have a history of all of your TR files even if your subscription lapses.

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CEO at TrainerRoad
Co-host of the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast

Hi lads!
I have my first oly if the new season in 8 weeks. I have completed both base sweet spot 1 & 2 mid volume... with only 8 weeks left to the big one should I go to oly build or oly specialty? Try look very similar?

Curiously have u seen any benefits from shorter v02 intervals say 50 seconds with 20 rest x10 for 3 sets as an example? But more like 130% ftp?
Read some interesting literature on that the other day which says even for time trials of 40kms it has performance increase compared to , say 5 mon v02 intervals?
In any event thanks for the direction Bryce

I've had an outdated version of software for a long time and just updated it. I noticed the ability to adjust the target power is gone. Any idea when that feature will return along with the ability to adjust where you are in the ride?

Hey IamSparacus!

The best choice for you, since you just finished Base, would be to jump into the Olympic Build Phase. Our plans are designed to be completed in the "Base/ Build/ Specialty" order, so you will get the most out of your training by building from the ground up. You can learn more about the reasoning behind this in this article from our Help Center:
https://support.trainerroad.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005927423-Not-Enough-Time-

Where you will deviate from the Build phase, however, is during the final two weeks leading up to your event. This is where you will begin your Taper, which will allow your legs to freshen up leading into your event. Your two week taper will consist of Weeks 7 and 8 of Olympic Specialty.

As for your questions regarding shorter Vo2 Max intervals, I am unfortuantely not qualified to comment on their effectiveness relative to the Workouts prescribed in our training plans. There are many effective workouts and training regimens that can lead to successful results. What I can say though, is that Coach Chad has based each of our training plans on extensive experience and research. As new methods are tried, tested, and proven, Chad integrates this new knowledge into the Plans, which allows them to constantly evolve and improve.

Best of luck with your upcoming event, feel free to reach out if you have any more questions!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

There are some intensity buttons on the bottom. You can use those to adjust the power target :-D.

Is that what you're looking for?

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CEO at TrainerRoad
Co-host of the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast

Nate is there a timeline for when beta testers will all get access to calendar? Really hoping I don't have to pay another annual fee to renew my "other" subscription that just lapsed over the labor day weekend, and not wanting to build out an excel model to track everything in the interim.

Hey TR coaches,

Just did my A race for the year, an Olympic distance tri. Next year, my A race will be the same race at the same time of year (so I have about 52 weeks). Can you help check my plan please?

Right now my swim and bike both aren't where I want them to be. Here's what I was thinking I'd plan for the next year:

33 weeks - invest in building a solid base of skills and fitness in swim first and bike second
Swim: Priority #1, in the pool 5 times per week
Bike: 3 blocks of Low Volume Sweet Spot Base (I, I, II), followed by 1 block of Low Volume Sustained Power Build. Maybe cut anything low intensity here because I'll be primarily getting aerobic fitness from swimming in this phase.
Run: minimal


14 weeks -
Swim: decrease the pool work down to 3 times per week
Bike: Olympic Distance Base, then Olympic Distance Build...low to mid volume depending on what the schedule will allow
Run: build back into running shape, starting at 10 miles per week and building up to 30 mpw.


8 weeks -
Swim: even less pool but more open water as the weather begins to allow
Bike: Olympic Distance Specialty Block
Run: 30 mpw plus track work


So overall, trying to use swim and bike fitness to count for most of my work, with a goal of building a lot in the "off season" so that when I am training all 3 disciplines closer to race day I can count on my bike and swim skills being strong.


Does this make sense?

Should be soon. We're adding around 200 people a day and we haven't had any major bugs yet to slow us down.

I actually just checked your account and it looks like you're in! :-D

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CEO at TrainerRoad
Co-host of the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast

Yep that’s it. For some reason my workout window won’t let me change the size so it was being cutoff by the MacBook icon bar.

One thing I'd like to note, is that your current plan is a 55 week plan, so over a year's worth of training. You will likely need to trim at least 3 weeks off of your Phase 1 Plan in order to complete the training within 52 weeks.

One thing that pops out to me is that 30mpw is a bit more than what our plans prescribe. Is there a specific reason that you want to be getting that extra mileage?

Other than that, your plan looks really well thought out! I few more miscelleneous tips I have for you are:

1. With a season this long, it is important to listen to your body. If you're feelng a bit over-fatigued and need a little break, it will benefit you greatly in the long run to give your body the rest that it needs.
2. If you like, you could mix in some Traditional Base during your Phase 1 training. So maybe instead of repeating SSB I, you complete 6 weeks of Traditional Base before jumping into SSB I.

Happy Training!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Apologies in advance as i am sure that this has been asked and answered but the thread is very long! Using a dumb trainer with powertap and ant+ dongle on a PC . Would like to move to IOS app but obviously there is no USB connection for the ant+ dongle. Is there a way to make this work?

Thanks