Hi I gave my iPhone connected to the PM via Bluetooth. Make sure you have background app refresh enabled in settings. I load the workout and make sure PM is connected. Then put the phone in a ziplock and in my back pocket. It works with the screen off and even when I have a different app running in the foreground.

+1

I hear you. Right now we're focusing on getting a new mac and android app out. That's on the long list of polish we have for the app after our platforms are all updated.

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

Please tell me the new app is going to know what program I'm following and knows what workout I have next up in the program?

Yup. We have that on the website today. We should be have a beta on that on windows any day now.

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

Sweeeeeet! That was my only complaint about trainerroad. ;)

At the risk of re-asking a question that was probably asked somewhere in the 112 pages of this thread, what do you guys recommend as a program to follow after your 'A' race if your season isn't over (i.e., you have some other races over the following couple of months). I've been following the Half Distance Tri plan (base, then build, then specialty) leading into my 'A', but once that race is done, what is the best program to follow to maintain fitness over the rest of the season?

What!? You don't want to comb through all 112 pages of this thread? ;)

Typically, I steer riders toward a "re-Build" where you pick a portion of your Build plan and repeat it such that your Specialty plan (or a segment of it) aligns with your remaining events.

This allows you to back things off a little bit (and you can back them off even more if time allows by adding 1-4 weeks of aerobic maintenance via a Traditional Base block - Trad Base I or II keep things reasonably light) and then get back into a shorter Build period before you jump into a repeat or a new Specialty plan.

So for example, say you have an event in 8 weeks. You could do the first half of Sustained Power Build and then the second 4 weeks of your Specialty plan if you want the full, 2-week taper or the first 4 weeks if the recovery week will serve as enough of a taper.

Perhaps you have an event 6 weeks out, consider 2 weeks of Trad Base II followed by the first or second 4 weeks of your Specialty plan. Make sense?

There's lots of flexibility here but the key is that you tone down the stress long enough that you're ready for the hard, race-specific work you'll face when you "re-Specialize" leading up to those subsequent events.

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

Hey Chad, or Nate, this may be a dumb question. I have a long ride tomorrow, 5 hours and due to a concussion no other choice then the trainer. I had a thought to make it more interesting I am going to tie it into the tour, i.e when theyou hit a hill up my intensity, when they go down I ease up a bit...sounds dumb. But you get the point,
What would be the best way to do this and still have the benefit of erg mode? Free ride and just adjust with the keyboard on the fly?
Again sorry for the dumb question.

Sorry to hear about the concussion — that's never fun.

Not a dumb question, in fact it's a pretty genius way to knock out a 5 hour ride. :)

You could do a couple things here:

If you can get your hands on a .gpx file of the stage you'd like to ride, you can use the BestBikeSplit service to create a ERG or MRC file for it. You can then use that file to to create the course with our workout creator. You could also try and use mapmyride.com to create your own .gpx file then do the above to create the workout. I actually tried to do this myself for stage 9 but was only able to create the file for the portion within Spain (majority of the stage). Mapmyride couldn't map the roads in the small country of Andorra (where stage 9 ends). I'll DM you that file if you'd like to use it with BBS to create the file. If you go down that route, this article will help you create those workouts: Create a custom workout from an ERG/MRC file.

Or

Like you already said, enter a 'Free Ride' and your electronic trainer will automatically enter 'Slope' mode (or your trainer's equivalent). You can then adjust your slope according to what's going in the stage. You won't be locked into your power target with this as you would in ERG mode though. :/

You could also go to the tour's website and check out the stage profile and try to create your own workout in the workout creator to match it. That way you would get locked in and could make minor adjustments to the intensity to try and better match the efforts.

Hope this helps!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Hey guys, any ETA on the updated version of TR for Mac? My wife uses the Windows version which just seems a little more polished and handles devices better. No rush, both versions are excellent!

We're aiming to have an open beta of it in a few weeks. Full production release by end of summer/early fall.

The mac app looks just like the Windows app :). I've been doing some of my workouts on it already.

And for those wondering...Android is very far along too.

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

Hi
I am interested in using TR but with a Computrainer (we have had a two bike setup forever and don't want to fork out the money for a Wahoo Kikr). HOw would that work with Trainer Road? Thanks!

Great news, thanks for the update!

Thanks for your interest! We'd be stoked to have you training with us!

Go ahead and follow the link below to our Help Center article on the CT. It'll tell you everything you need to know about how to get it up and running with TR: Computrainer w/ TrainerRoad

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to hit up our support team at support@trainerroad.com. They'll be happy to help you get started. :)

Hope this helps!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Simple question (I hope): I have used erg mode about 99% of the time and am happy with that. On occasion with the old Flash app I would ride in slope mode. It was very intuitive and I knew what % grade to use for what I wanted to do. I went to use slope mode the other day on the Windows desktop app and low and behold, it isn't there. How is the resistance load defined? Is it a percentage of that particular smart trainers max resistance capability? I had a difficult time finding the right % that felt like it had the correct range within my 53/11-23. Also, at least with a Microsoft Surface Pro, the resistance slider control was a challenge. The slider is too small and changing just 1-2% is impossible without stopping.

Nate,

I know this may not be a big issue, and should be easy enough to correct, but some of the "tips" in the plans don't match the workouts.

For example in this plan: https://www.trainerroad.com/...triathlon-low-volume

Week #3 the image shows Stromlo -1 for Tuesday but when you expand the tips for the week, it has Jacks -1 listed for Tuesday.
Week #4 the image shows Fin +1 for Tuesday but when you expand the tips for the week, it has Jobs -1 listed for Tuesday.

So do we follow the images or the tips?

Full Distance, Mid Volume Week #2 has the same type of issue and I think I saw somewhere else as well, but can't seem to locate it.

Thanks for passing this our way! We'll get this fixed up ASAP.

In the meantime of us getting that changed up (and if you run into any in the future), go ahead and follow the images. :) The weekly tips are what'll need to get adjusted.

Again, thanks for catching this!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

What you're experiencing sounds consistent with ANT+ Powerbeam Pro? In which case, we've been looking into some of the changes that you've mentioned. We have a fix for this that'll be in our next beta release. Instead of being labeled slope like you were used to on the older AIR app, it'll be labeled as standard mode. But have no fear, the resistance settings will be exactly as they were in the AIR app (0-9).

The beta can be downloaded from http://www.trainerroad.com/download/beta. The fix will be pushed in the next update to the beta.

To answer your question about how it is now, you're correct, it's a % of that particular trainer's max resistance capability. But again, it'll soon be back to what you've been used to.

Edit: Thank you for your feedback on the resistance slider! We've been thinking about adding something like a + / - next to the slider to help make this easier. Mind submitting a request to our user-voice site: https://trainerroad.uservoice.com/forums/131395-general? This will help us see how many users are being affected by this. :)

Hope this helps!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

I have a Tacx Neo. The only buttons I'm aware of are +/- to %FTP which is great for erg, but I imagine in resistance only moves target & not the resistance.

Correct! Sorry for the mix-up — as of right now the only +/- is for intensity. :) When you adjust your intensity, both the power target and resistance would be adjusted. If you adjust the resistance setting, only your resistance will be affected.

Hope this helps — cheers!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Thanks Nick.

I'm finishing up with the mid-vol oly plan build... Owens. Are you serious? I could only manage 6x3'@120%. Should Owens really be an achievable session?

I'm going to die when I try Elephants +1.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

Coach Chad - hoping for some advice on what to do next!

I got TrainerRoad at the end of February with zero cycling experience. Did Week 1-4 of Olympic base (high volume) then Week 1-8 of Olympic speciality (mid volume) leading up to my first tri, and Week 4-8 of Olympic speciality (high volume) leading up to my tri last Sunday.

I have five weeks until my last event of the year, a sprint - I read your "re-Build" note on the previous page, so will try Week 1/2 of sprint build followed by Week 2/3/4 of sprint specialty.

But after that? I've got a 40-week offseason. What should the plan be for a guy who likes to do Olympic triathlons and road races & crits? Do people just generally repeat base programs multiple times until moving to a build as the year gets closer?

Thanks!

Yep, Owens is a brute but it's got a couple things going for it. Firstly, it's usually saved to latter parts of a training plan when your FTP is likely to have risen a bit which effectively reduces the intensity (a little). Secondly, the idea is to figure out your repeatable power. Maybe that happens at 115% FTP and you reduce the 120's and 125's a bit, maybe you can push it all the way up to 125% FTP and then nudge the lighter efforts upward.

In any case, the intent is to force riders to spend a lot of time (roughly 24 minutes on tap of which you can spend a high percentage at a really high O2 uptake since the recoveries are pretty short) really taxing your heart, lungs and muscles.

On top of all this, there's a fair amount of psychological/motivational design at work here where you start at the low end of things, drive your effort up over the first 4 intervals allowing you to explore some "limits", and then you get the hard stuff out of the earlier rather than later in the second, closing set.

As far as Elephants +1, workouts like Owens can really set the stage for something a little closer to FTP. While they're twice as long in duration, dropping down to 108% FTP after doing 3-minute repeats as high as 125% can be a rather illuminating affair having seen what you can actually do if you really push yourself. Again, being toward the end of a plan means your FTP has probably lifted a little and these could actually be closer to 105% - really tough but not unrealistically difficult if you're managing your recovery well.

Good luck! It will all be worth it.

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