Hey Chad -

First, great software.. I'm new to TR as of last fall, and have logged 60 rides.. really enjoying it.

I just finished up Sweet Spot HV1 and have started on Sustained Powerbuild HV and plan on finishing with Rolling Road Race HV for Lotoja in Sept.

On Lotoja's website (left column, Training Tips), they have some training guidelines, based mostly around long distance:

Build up to a 100 mile ride by end of June
Build up to 140 mile ride by end of July with back to back 75 mile rides
Build up to 150 mile ride by end of Aug with some big back to back weekend rides

Does my TR plan sound sufficient to take on Lotoja? Should I try to add more volume in on top of the TR plans?

This is my first time focusing on FTP as well as CTL and TSB from TrainingPeaks, etc so I'm a little unsure if the plan suffices, or if it needs more.

Thanks, I appreciate the ability to ask questions directly here!

First off, thanks for the support and compliment - never get tired of hearing that stuff.

Secondly, I think you might be better served with the Climbing Road Race plan. While I know nothing more about LOTOJA other than its crazy distance, I'd bet you're not going to attack any of the climbs and that's where the RRR plan differentiates itself from the CRR plan. I expect your effort will average somewhere in the neighborhood of .70 IF, so aerobic endurance and muscular endurance are your biggest concerns; both are addressed with the SSB --> Sustained Power Build --> Climbing RR path but it's certainly your call.

Finally, don't get too hung up on the TSS/volume of the plan as I've coached a rider (60+ years old) to and through LOTOJA a few years in a row on rarely more than 10 hrs/wk and he put in faster times every year. Your biggest concern is knowing you can last for the entire duration at your anticipated pace, but that doesn't have to include doing it prior to your event. That's not so say don't do it though, just don't panic if for some reason you can't find the time to log 100-, 140- and 150-mile days.

But if you do have the time, extending your long Sunday rides is the best way to test out your endurance, dial in your nutrition, brace your muscles (and taint) for the challenges of many hours in the saddle, etc. So feel free to ramp those end-of-weekend rides to higher TSS values indoors or do them outside and tack on some extra ride time until you feel confident that you've got the endurance necessary to make it 200+ miles in a single day.

Good luck, David!

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

Hey Chad,

I love trainer road, I wish I would've known about it sooner. I started specifically training for Racine 70.3 in February. I was sort of on a Joe Friel plan for the first 13 weeks trying to use trainer road for the bike workouts. After that, I decided to use just the TR plans. I have 6 weeks left until that race and I'm on the mid volume half iron specialty plan at the moment.

Here is my situation though. My company signed up a few relay teams for Miami 70.3 and I have the distinction of riding for one of them. Needless to say the level of interoffice smack talk is reaching ever increasing heights. I have 14 weeks between Racine and Miami. I've never done a half before so I don't know how long my recovery is going to take, I'm assuming a few days. I would love to get a few weeks of traditional base in since that is what helped my running tremendously over the winter.

What is your recommendation for a 14 week somewhat periodized training plan for what is essentially a 56 mile TT? My original thought was 6 weeks traditional base, followed by 7 week sustained power build, 1 week taper

Hi Chad,
Im done my triathlon season with great bike splits after training with TR this winter.

Im working on getting my FTP up for the rest of the year. I want to get it as high as possible before the end of the year but I seem to come up with a goal of 300w. Im at 236w right now and Im bike focus until I reach that.

Which plan should I do to help me get there? I just started sweet spot based medium II then planning on jumping to 40k time trial plan.
Appreciate your suggestions. Thank you very much!

Chad,

Given this, is there any reason why the "Personal Record" list doesn't include 8 minute power explicitly? Since FTP can be set off of 8 minute power, it would be useful to see that explicitly in person record.

Also, it would be great if you could choose a time period for Personal Record. E.g., all-time, last 180 days, etc.

Cheers,

Matthew

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Matthew
Twitter: @AlphaDogCycling
Instagram: @AlphaDogCycling

Hi there,

Sounds like a workable plan, but if you're only concerned with the bike at Miami, you might consider using the 40k TT Specialty plan (in place of the Sustained Build) since it's all about improving your highest steady-state power (and it includes its own taper ;-) Best of luck in both races!

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

Hi,

That's the approach I'd take and it's the one I recommend. The 40k TT plan is, again, all about improved steady-state power. The only change I'd add is to insert the Sustained Power Build before embarking on the 40k plan since it will broaden your fitness base even further before you head into your specialty training.

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

Hey Chad,

Thanks for responding!

The reason I didn't first think of doing the 40k TT plan was that the longest rides I saw are only 90 minutes, and with an ftp of only 215, I don't see myself completing the 56 miler in that time lol. Are there any changes you'd recommend to accommodate the longer event?

Ah, gotcha. No worries there since this is about conditioning and not strictly time in the saddle. However, you're more than welcome to extend the longer endurance rides to eventually match your anticipated bike leg duration (or even exceed it) weekly or every other week. There's certainly a psychological component involved with enduring the entirety of your projected finish time, but I promise the capability will be there regardless. ;-)

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

It's because I was dumb when I set up the PRs a few years ago :(. We've got plans to revamp this so that you can view a PR at any second, like 2:32 if you wanted. We'll also add the ability to look and compare PRs based on time range.

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

Nate,

That's great news. Any idea on when this (and other requested features - hint workout queues / being able to do multiple workouts in a row as a single file) will be available?

It's weird: TrainingPeaks also doesn't show 8 min power as a point on its power curve either.

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Matthew
Twitter: @AlphaDogCycling
Instagram: @AlphaDogCycling

I've learned we shouldn't say thing other than what we're working on now.

So right now we're about 80% of the way there for a revamped Mac app beta and 50% of the way there for an Android beta. We should also have training plan selection and execution in Windows in a week or two (it's in final testing) and iOS training plans in about a month. All of our development resources are focused on those things right now.

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

Strange for sure. :-/


In case you haven't seen it, take a peek at our Help Center article on the CT when you get a sec: Computrainer HC


If you're still having issues getting the calibration going, give support@trainerroad.com a shout. They'll be happy get you back on the bike mate!


Let us know!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

does F3 put a Kickr into calibration mode? I have been manually pausing the ride, going to devices -> trainer -> calibrate. Would love to just hit a button. I use the windows application.

What app are you using? On windows and Mac you can push "m" to switch modes.

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

Windows -- not trying to switch modes. Trying to do the calibration spindown on the kickr

F3 doesn't, that's exclusive to the CT...but simply pressing the 'C' key will do the trick. :)

We have quite a few other keyboard shortcuts too that you can peep by clicking on the hyperlink: Keyboard Shortcuts

Happy Training man!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Thanks!

Being in the software industry I feel for you.

Keep up the great work

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Matthew
Twitter: @AlphaDogCycling
Instagram: @AlphaDogCycling

Hi Chad. I see you have been giving people pretty good training plan advice. I thought you might be able to point me in the right direction.

I am a cat 2 crit racer. At peak fitness right now. Was planning on coming down and rebuilding for late July. But crashed and broke my arm this weekend. Surgery tomorrow, hope to be on the trainer middle of next week and racing again late july.

I'm relatively weak in 5-10 minute power. FTP is OK. High anaerobic is good. Ability to recover quick is great right now.

Crit plan seems to have too much intensity, especially in the setting of already being at risk for getting stale, plus the stress of the injury.

So, do you think one of the base plans to maintain feel or ease into a build plan with goal of building low VO2 power would be a better approach? I see both sides.

Thanks for your contributions here

Andy

Hey Andy,

So sorry to hear about the injury, but it sounds like you're able to get on the trainer so all's not too bad, eh?

I agree that a Criterium plan isn't the right move for the moment. When it comes to choosing between more base conditioning or build work, I'd guess that you already haven't a sufficient amount of aerobic fitness in place if you're able to hang on during Cat 2 races. So if you do any base work, I'd limit it to a couple weeks of low/moderate intensity based on how you feel post-surgery.

Then, since your limiter is high-end aerobic in nature, I recommend taking a look at the Short Power Build or even the General Build and choosing one over the other based on which workouts are more in line with the sort of efforts that cost you position or run you down over the course of a crit, maybe ones that limit breakaway attempts if that's the sort of rider you are or want to be.

Alternatively, you can plan a short block of VO2max work (something I'm designing right now but nothing anyone should plan around) where you focus on 2-3 minute VO2max efforts that incorporate equal amounts of rest (even up to 1.5x) and range somewhere between 20-35 minutes of intervals per workout. I wouldn't recommend any more than 3 days per week if you plan to do this for a few weeks, and you can fill the rest of your time with Endurance and Recovery work.

But the idea is to train consistently at high percentages of your pVO2max and rest well enough that each interval's quality remains high - you can trim the rest periods later when you return to a Specialty plan.

Best of luck and a speedy recovery, Andy!

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

Doing the Olympic triathlon high volume plan. Week 4 has me doing Phoenix +1 and Phoenix +2 on Saturday. Is the intention to be doing these back-to-back for a 3-hr ride, or splitting them into AM or PM?

Hi Ned, where are you seeing this? It's likely to be an error in the way the workouts are listed because that Saturday should only show Phoenix +1 coupled with a run.

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

Thanks for the response! Seeing it on my iPhone app - here is a screenshot.

http://i.imgur.com/0cJLsii.jpg

I just tried to replicate this with my iOS device and everything's showing up peachy. :-/ While we wait on some more insight from the team over the weekend, let's update the app real quick from the App Store to see if that clears anything up.

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad