Chad,

Is there a way to follow a polarized training scheme with TR? If yes, how to combines the different plans?

Hi, let's first address the higher volume/higher performance question since determining the volume of which plans you'll use is probably more important than the plans themselves.

'Greater stress' is a very relative term meaning that entry-level riders can see a low-volume plan as totally sufficient in pushing them outside of what they're accustomed to when it comes to training. As we become more experienced and retain a high level of training consistency, high/er volumes are likely necessary in order to spur continued training adaptation and keep furthering the challenge.

The tough part is determining just how much additional stress is productive and doesn't cut into other facets of your lifestyle, keeps you motivated and healthy, keeps your performance on the upswing. This can come in so many forms though, and this makes it tough to just say "add more easy mileage" or "do a block of VO2max work" or "follow a bike-only plan for 8 weeks". But those are my three most common replies when I'm asked for recommendations on nudging up the workload with the intent of improving FTP.

I occasionally steer riders with a lot of time and a spotty history of aerobic base work - whether long/slow or short/intense - who will spend long durations on the bike in competition (typically full-distance or double-IM triathletes) toward a longer, slower base approach. This is in line with our Traditional Base plans but assumes you'll spend 10+ hours/week on the bike indoors (closer to 15+ outdoors) in order to see noticeable improvements in aerobic capabilities via the low-intensity route. Does it work? For most, but it requires a lot of time in the saddle which I've never been a big fan of.

The VO2max work is almost always a great way to realize a quick gain whether it's used to set the stage for future training, add some late-season power improvement or to create some room for subsequent FTP improvements. And for all these reasons, the VO2max Training Camp will be the first one we release, though it's still months from being available.

So for the time being, and with so much time ahead to prepare for an event that's nearly a full year out, I think dedicating 8 weeks of concentration to the bike is a really strong solution. You can either dive right into a Sustained Power Build for a couple months or mix things up a bit with the 40k TT plan - which, incidentally, contains a pretty healthy dose of VO2max work that you won't see in the Sustained Power Build plan.

The 40k TT Specialty plan is my recommendation for most triathletes looking to boost their cycling capabilities in a bike-focused manner, but I also recommend it whenever I hear "the bike is my weakest event", "I just want to raise my FTP" or something along those lines. Certainly don't fully neglect your run/swim training, but keep them on a back burner with just some easy aerobic maintenance/skills work while you chase bigger more recognizable improvements in sustainable power on the bike.

So to tie this all back to the volume dilemma (tri-lemma, tee hee), you'll have to compare what you've been doing to what you plan to do such that the increase in stress is subtle and on-paper-manageable. You'll have a good idea of whether or not you can actually handle more work (or if you need less stress) as the early weeks wind toward that first recovery week, but I caution against any more than 2 days of high-intensity work plus some added weekend intensity for those who are handling the weekday intensity well.

I recommend starting with the mid-volume plans and seeing how you feel coming out of week 4 before deciding to bump up to high-volume. Those first 3 weeks can be misleadingly manageable bringing riders to think that they can maintain that higher-volume trajectory only to leave them dragging ass when weeks 5 and 6 ramp things up even more.

So get through the first 4 weeks of mid-volume and then you can start making decisions like toning down the Wednesday Tempo ride to Endurance levels or skipping any Monday or Friday workouts or toning down the intensity on Saturdays...or going to the high volume plans or even just picking high-volume interval workouts but maintaining the mid-volume structure.

In any case, play it cautiously and keep the increases realistic and mildly incremental - no big changes all at once.

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

Hey there,

On the heels of that last reply, I almost always try to break a full 52-week year into a couple or even 3 seasons where I chase shorter-term fitness goals leading toward shorter-term peaks. It's so much easier to keep athletes motivated when the goals are more immediate so working toward, for instance, a cyclocross fitness peak then a mountain bike peak followed perhaps by a late road or triathlon peak can keep things nicely varied and really motivated throughout.

But even if you don't vary your disciplines, maybe you're all about Half-Distance triathlon, try building toward different events at different times of year such that you can reap those cyclical improvements without burning out but instead building each cycle on a higher level of fitness than the one before.

And once you've got your base fitness in check, you don't really have to devote much more time to this phase over the rest of your year. Whether you're a longtime athlete who only needs 4-6 weeks or you're jumping right into a full-distance tri from straight off the couch starting with 16 weeks of base, it's really about cycling your Build & Specialty training while recognizing where overlaps exist.

For example, if you just did the Climbing Road Race specialty and then you're shifting your focus to HIM's, you might not need a big dose of Threshold/muscular endurance work and can instead address your aerobic capacity with 4 weeks of a Short Power Build before switching over to a Triathlon Specialty.

So a typical 2-season year could look something like this:

12 weeks SSB I & II
8 weeks General Build
8 weeks Criterium Specialty
4 weeks repeating the taper weeks and racing most weekends
2 weeks Traditional Base (more for active recovery & aerobic maintenance than base fitness)
4 weeks Sustained Power Build
8 weeks Olympic Distance Triathlon Specialty
4 weeks repeating the taper weeks and racing every other weekend
2 weeks Transition

So as far as a rule of thumb, plan multiple peaks (or "seasons" in order to accommodate other disciplines) and work toward each peak as though it were the only thing on your race calendar. Don't hesitate to then exploit that peak fitness with some short, hard taper workouts mixed with a fair amount of racing if it suits you. Then back things off a bit, relative to how exhausted your first "season" left you, and then do it again.

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

Polarizing our training plans really just requires making the easy rides easier, and perhaps longer.

So keep your 2 weekday high-intensity workouts (a staple of almost all of our training plans) and make sure the rest of your workouts are done at IF's lower than .70, maybe even below .60 depending on how long your endurance rides are. You may find that even the Saturday dose of intensity is more than you need if your other low-intensity volume is high enough, in which case, Saturday becomes another long, low-intensity affair.

The key is to keep the hard stuff hard but productive, so some honest-to-god suffering is required. Then keep the easy stuff easy, really easy and exploit the potentially restorative, efficiency-enhancing nature of easy, aerobic time in the saddle.

Typically, a polarized training model is reserved for high-level athletes who are at the upper end of their capabilities, but it can be a workable approach for all levels of athletes if those bits of high intensity are the real deal.

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

Thanks once again, Chad. That is really helpful (and I think could be a blog post).

You gave me some advice on here in the Spring and with TrainerRoad I PRed my 70.3 bike split last month by 15 minutes.

The software and your training plans are top notch but I think your accessibility on here and the podcast really take you guys to the next level as a company. Keep being awesome.

Hi, I am having difficulty pairing my computrainer with trainerroad. I contacted support but the usual fixes do not work. I watched the video and it mentions modifiying a config.txt file to change the com port. The problem is, I can't find it. Traineroad never created a config.txt file in my documents folder.

Are you on Mac or Windows? Also, when you can, double check the firmware version for us. You should be on at least version 43.45 — if that's not the case, you'll need to contact Racermate to upgrade. Can you also confirm which FTDI adapter you're using? You can view them here: Adapter Identification Chart
You'll want the 'type 7' to ensure a smooth interaction with TR.

If you wouldn't mind, shoot us another email at support@trainerroad.com with your ST username in the email, and support will be on the lookout already having an idea of what's going down. We want to get you back on the bike ASAP. :)

Talk to you soon,

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Not sure if this has been asked before, but is there a possibility to add a manual offset for virtual power? I have a power meter on my tri bike and I've been able to roughly determine the difference between virtual watts and actual watts with my trainer. There are times where I would like to use my road bike which doesn't have a power meter instead of my tri bike with trainerroad, it would be nice to have my virtual watts (roughly) be the same as my actual wattage and not have to change my FTP settings.

No worries! A manual offset for VirtualPower has been the topic of conversation in the past, but we've all been very focused on the revamping of the Mac app and release of Android so the manual offset still only applies to users with a power meter and electronic trainer. Others have requested this as well — you can up-vote the request here. :)

Totally understand on you wanting your VirtualPower numbers to be in the neighborhood of your power meter's wattages. That said, since we don't have the option to manually set an offset (yet?) you can take solace in the accuracy of VirtualPower. When I say accuracy I mean that your VirtualPower numbers will always be consistent (given you maintain tire pressure and roller pressure). Although your VP wattages may not be precise and match your PM's readings, they will still be consistent and comparable; meaning you can rely on the comparable data to track your improvements.

We'll keep everyone posted as to any updates to this feature.

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Nick, bought a new laptop and installed the most updated version of Trainerroad on it. It synced all my custom workouts but when I create any new ones and publish, they don't transfer to Trainerroad. Emailed tech support and they said to try publishing multiple times. Tried that but didn't work. Any other suggestions.
Opened Trainerroad on my old laptop I've always used. Wanted to see if the workout uploaded to the older version of Trainerroad. Noticed on the bottom it kept trying to reload workouts. Eventually it would say Failed to upload submission, or something like that?

Sorry for the frustration. :/ It has to do with the syncing between the AIR Workout Creator, the site, and the new version of the app. Try hitting the refresh icon next to the filters and search box on the 'Workouts' tab of the new app. If it's still not showing up, try logging out/back in to trigger the app to search for new workouts. Let us know if this gets you some better results!

The 'upload error on submission' message on the old app could be caused by a database being corrupt, internet connection, and even firewalls/proxy servers. But that message should flag when something is failing to upload rather than a created workout being synced to the app. In any case, if you use the filters to view your custom workouts it should be in there.

Let us know if refreshing or logging out/back in gets that workout in the new app. If you want to work out any of the issues regarding the old app, let support know and they'll get that upload error message sorted out.

Thanks!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Tried the refresh but no luck. Also logged out of Trainerroad and Workout Creator. Logged back in but no new workouts loaded. Created another custom workout and tried to load it. Still nothing. Even logged back out and back in both programs but nothing. Any other thoughts. Adobe Air is up to date.

Ah! Ok. In that case, I think we need to delete your app data file. Here's how you'll do that:

• Open up the File Explorer (the manilla folder icon)
• Enter %localappdata% into the text field towards the top of that window
• Scroll through that list of folders and find 'TrainerRoadData'
• Delete this entire folder
• Reinstall the app from here: Download

This will get rid of any potentially corrupt app data and should do the trick getting those custom workouts syncing properly. Let us know how it goes when you're able to give it a shot.


Thanks!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Thanks. I think I did the same early this morning. Went to Control Panel and uninstalled. Then did a search of the hard drive and deleted anything that said Trainerroad. Re-installed. First it found 6 custom workouts, refreshed then found 7, then 10, 15, 18, 21, then finally all 39. Had to run to work after that but appears to be working now.
Got home from work, added a new custom workout and published. Wouldn't transfer over. Did what you suggested and reinstalled. Had the same issue as above. I get up to 31 or so workouts and the program locks up. Have to con-alt-del. When I re-open, it seems to work. I'll have to create another custom workout and see if it comes over.
Created another workout and it won't come over. This is getting frustrating. Are you seeing this problem with other people?

Could it be my computer is 64bit and the program is 32?

Right on man, you're most welcome. Glad to hear we're back in action! Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you run into any questions or concerns down the road. We'll be happy to help. :)

Cheers,

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

If you get a chance, look at my edited post. Having the same issue again when I got home.

Dangit! I'm going to send you a direct message to avoid muddying up the thread. Again, sorry for the hassle here.

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Sorry if this question has been asked before, but 117 pages is a lot to go through.

I'm looking to signup for for TrainerRoad, but had a question about the workout creator before I actually signed up.

Watching the "creating a workout" videos I noticed that the intervals made were based on a % of FTP. Is it possible or can you see, or even better set a certain wattage for an interval rather than a percentage of my FTP?




TIA

I started a couple weeks ago, and some of these workouts are totally kicking my butt. I am looking for both a little bit of a reality check as well as a recommend approach for completing the workouts.

I did a fresh FTP test when I started trainer road, and my FTP seems pretty much in line with what I measured before and how I had recently raced in a HIM and sprint. I have a hilly century in a couple weeks, so I jumped into the middle of the moderate volume century plan.

I have not been able to complete the big intervals in the "Kaiser +1" and "Givens -1" workouts. Those have 3 minute intervals at about 121% of my FTP. I can handle about a minute at that intensity, but I really start to fade fast after that. My old training program had high intensities also, but only for 60 to 90 seconds.

So, my questions are:
1) Is this normal to jump into the middle of a program like this and get kicked-off my bike on the long and hard intervals? Should I just harden up? Or, is there some setting that is inflating my interval intensity that I need to fix?
2) What is the best approach for completing the workouts? Should I back off the interval intensity, to something like 110% or 115%, until I can handle the full amount. Or, should I go the full intensity as long as I can hold and then back down to the rest interval level?
3) Should I just abandon this and shift to a different plan from the beginning, to build up?

After the I get through the two century rides at the end of this month, I plan to go to a long-range base building program looking to my next HIM in May of 2017. I would like to increase my FTP by at least 40W before that race. My primary focus during this time will be running for a likely BQ race at the end of January. So, the next phase of biking should build me up and compliment running, but not the the primary focus.

I am not the TR coach but from what I've read from Chad before -- the plans are designed to build -- so the intervals will gradually get longer and/or paired with shorter recoveries. The idea being that 4 weeks into an 8 week build your FTP has likely risen a couple %'s which makes these harder workouts more manageable. Jumping into the middle of the plan could be too much work too soon.

Also -- most of those V02 max repeat workouts come with instructions where if you have trouble completing them -- reduce the intensity a few %'s for the next round (down to a floor of 110%-115% depending on workout). Goal is to be able to complete each interval -- barely. You will often find a world of difference knocking 5% off.

Lastly, from Training and Racing with a Power meter -- depending on your power meter history you may want to see your power curve and thus your fatigue resistance over the time intervals (book I believe has 10s, 20s, 30s, 1min, 2 min, 5min, 10min, 20min by doing all out efforts at each interval and seeing your drop in power between (for you you may want to compare your 1 min all out to your 2 min all out effort). From there you can see if perhaps you just have below average fatigue resistance at a certain level -- it may not big a huge deal if your max 3 min power is below average if your 5 hour power is solid if you plan to do century races.

My personal experience is that if I haven't been doing the trainer for a while I need to build up to it. So when I start again I usually end up setting the overall workout intensity to something like 92%-95% and slowly build that up to 100% over the course of a week or two. I'm not sure if it is because I'm out of shape, or the mental aspect of doing intervals on a trainer but if I try to do my ftp right out of the gate I end up getting really frustrated.

No worries. :) Thanks for your interest — we'd love to have you aboard.

You sure can! You can see both the % of FTP as well as the wattage at that % for the given interval. When you're adjusting your intervals in the Workout Creator, you'll see a field towards the top of the window where you can adjust the selected interval stats. Here, under 'Start FTP', you'll see both the wattages and the % of FTP.

Hope this helps! Please don't hesitate to drop a line to our support crew at support@trainerroad.com if you run into anything else as well.

Cheers!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Hi TrainerRoad Team,

I have a 70.3 in 10 weeks time. I am just about to complete Week 5 of the Half Distance Base (Mid Volume) plan.

Given that I only have 10 weeks left, would you recommend the Half Distance Build or the Half Distance Specialty plan?

Thanks for the great product.