I am by no means an expert but feel that +/- 4 watts is well within the measuring tolerance of your equipment. Looks like your FTP stayed constant. Nothing to be bummed out about.

well that certainly helps me feel better about this. Regardless, i'll take it as good motivation to improve

Hi Nate, been approx 8-9 months since above. Has there improvements been made since with powermatch to prevent "flooring"? Or the improvements been only made in the beta?

Yes, this is fixed on iOS/Android/Windows along with the Mac beta. You won't see them in the old legacy AIR app. All new development is happening on the new platforms.

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

I wouldn't be too hard on yourself. I'm in the same boat. Worked hard. Saw a slight drop in ftp. Although some of my race performances improved. I'm working with a coach this year for my first IM, so hoping for some gains. Also working on nutrition and making sure I'm not overtraining.

Thanks Chad, for getting back to me this quickly! Sounds like a solid plan.

Great to have my question answered on the podcast. I really enjoy listening to it during the long, steady rides. This way you guys make me both a faster AND smarter athlete :-)

Yes, I'm time constrained, so that'll be SSB and not traditional.

Two more questions though:
1. I want to put some emphasis on the bike for this first part of the season. Any tips on what to do during the SSB period?
2. During the Ironman race I did earlier this season, I didn't perform on the bike as good as I wanted and hoped to. My IF was 0.6, which was lower than I had planned (0.7). Reviewing my race, I guess it mostly had to do with lack of experience on this distance (like I said: my first Ironman) and lack of focus. Maybe being used to being "locked in" the workouts with TrainerRoad and a Wahoo Kickr didn't translate that well into race performance. Have you got any tips on how to improve this?

My guess is you simply didn't assess to your current capabilities, and this commonly comes down to one or a combination of three things:

1) You weren't sufficiently recovered following your recovery week.
2) You simply had an off day. Sadly, sometimes the tougher days fall on an assessment day.
3) When expecting improvement, riders often pace poorly by going out too hard based on these high expectations.

But another factor worth throwing in here, one that often hampers an early-week assessment is coming into it a bit unprepared for the "discomfort" of testing. Often enough, a recovery week followed by a day off (Monday) is relatively so much easy riding that it leads to some flat all-out performances. If you think this might be the case, flip-flop your Tuesday & Thursday workouts such that you have a hard workout in your legs (even if it's at your old FTP) before you try to assess FTP improvement.

It's also possible that you were still carrying a little too much fatigue coming out of your rest week, too much to demonstrate your improved FTP. This can happen after just 3 hard weeks of training, so it stands to reason that it's even more likely to occur after 5 weeks of training (especially if you did a higher-volume version of SSBI).

If you think this is the case, consider recovering for an extra day, most likely on the bike at a low intensity (40-60min <60% FTP) and giving it another go the next day. It's more important to get a good estimate of FTP than it is to get that next Sweet Spot workout in your legs, especially considering you have 5 weeks of training still ahead.

Finally, what I don't think matters is your workout's time of day unless you skipped dinner the night before. The total workload of an FTP test is roughly 30 minutes of high effort and 30 minutes of recovery-level effort and you don't need much sugar on board to fuel that much work.

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

You're very welcome, Lars.

1. Just doing SSB implies an emphasis on the bike, but if you can incorporate a long ride every couple of weekends, something in the neighborhood of 3-5 hours, that would be the single addition that's like to carry the most base-benefit. Just make sure that the following week's workouts don't suffer as a consequence to this addition.

2. Quite the opposite, Lars. Being locked in forces your muscles to contract so frequently and consistently that you're not only incurring more work than you'd get when riding outside (unless you're on a long, steady climb), but it familiarizes you with the challenge of keeping your "foot on the gas" for longer durations, something pretty vital in a triathlon bike leg.

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

Thanks Chad for the awesome response!

I'll be stopping my current plan as im only 2 workouts in, and re-assessing before continuing on. You've certainly provided me a wealth of knowledge. Looking forward to the next podcast.

Cheers,

You're very welcome. Good luck!

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

Woops, sorry, what I meant was if you have any suggestions for running during the SSB phase. But for some reason that word was removed by autocorrect :-S Thanks!

I'd base (get it? ;-) that on your running history. Which is to say, unless you have a long one, just do some low-intensity mileage to build up your durability and save the little bits of speed work for the Tri Base plans.

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

Haha, very punny ;-) Thanks, that makes sense!

Hey Nate,

I tried pairing my Tickr X to the trainerroad app on my Iphone and it didnt sync up or even see the heart rate monitor. I paired the Kickr and RPM sensors with no problems...have you seen this before? any ideas on trouble shooting or what could cause this to happen?
Thanks

Double-check to make sure the Tickr X isn't paired to any other apps or a head-unit. Bluetooth sensors can only connect to one app or 'head-unit' at-a-time — TrainerRoad acting as your head-unit. Also, make sure to be wearing the Tickr X when trying to pair it as well. It could be worth checking the batteries as well. :)

If you're still unable to get it paired up, shoot us an email at support@trainerroad.com and one of our agents will be happy to look into your issue further.

Thanks!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

I am having the same issue. I have a Quarq Riken PM, a Tacx Vortex Smart, and am running TR on a MacBook. When power match is on, the brake on the trainer is applied when in the warm up section (seemingly at random). Once I unpair my Quarq from TR, the ERG works flawlessly other than the 10-30 watt mismatch between TR and the power displayed on my Garmin 500 from my Quarq. Could this be an issue of updating the TR app on the MacBook? I'm fairly certain the firmware on the Vortex has been updated to the latest edition. Thanks in advance.

Chad, good morning! My racing season has ended back in October and I am a few weeks away from starting my SSB1 / 2 , SPB HV and then 40K TT plans in preparation for the upcoming year. I have been doing random Sweet Spot , Threshold and a couple of VO2 efforts workouts in these weeks leading up to the start of Base Building. Workouts I have CRUSHED in the past, have become difficult to finish and I have bailed out on 2 of them thus far. I did an FTP test at the conclusion of the season a couple of weeks ago, and was still holding good end of season power @ 325 watts / 4.07 watts per KG.

I believe the issue is a mental block more than physical to be honest. When or If you get to this point, what should one do? My cycling performance is very important to me and I really do not want to go into my Base Phase in my current state. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am really trying to avoid significant FTP loss, for fear I will not get it back and then some. My goal is to increase W/KG by race season in April / May.

Also, love the Podcasts and all the valuable info you guys are putting out! 5 Stars!!

Sounds like you're just a little burnout, both because the motivation doesn't seem to be there but also because the workouts are grinding you down well below the point they should. And while I completely understand the fear of losing precious bits of FTP, that's all it will amount to if you decide to back things down for a couple/three weeks.

As long as you're still on the bike, logging some consistent endurance work (and you can even ditch that for up to a couple weeks without seeing a big decline in your deeper, harder to build types of fitness), you won't see much, if any, decrease in your aerobic capabilities which is the biggest concern and the most important aspect of FTP.

Moreover, you might see a steady decline in FTP if you keep pushing this hard and carry this condition into your B/B/S cycle rather than taking some time to let your mind recover and body heal. Besides, it sounds like you have a ton of time to get fit and a small drop in FTP will get replaced more quickly than you think, assuming your body is legitimately ready for the stress.

And even if your FTP falls a bit, more thorough between-season recovery will give you a far greater chance of pushing to new heights over the course of this next season. So while it's a hard thing to do, you have to make yourself take it easy between seasons. How long is up to you, but flat workouts and low motivation are an early sign of potentially much worse things to come, especially at the onset of a challenging heap of training.

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

Chad, thank you so much for your help in this matter as I greatly appreciate your valuable advice regarding training. I will change things up a bit in the weeks prior to the upcoming B/B/S phases. I find it difficult sometimes to back off the intensity in training for fear of losing fitness. Taking the next few weeks to re-calibrate will hopefully rekindle that intensity, as I'm sure it will.

Thank you again!

Hi Chad-

I'm just about to finish up sweet spot base 1 and really like it. I'm going right into sweet spot base 2 and my A event (half ironman) is 31 weeks away. If I finish sweet spot base 2 and then go right into build and specialty, I'm left with 9 extra weeks. Obviously, the specialty should lead right up to the race. So my question is how should I allocate the extra 9 weeks? Another round of sweet spot base? Should I do two separate builds back to back (sustained power and half-full tri or 2x half-full tri)?

As far as background, cycling is my weakest of the three sports and I have a moderate FTP I'm looking to push up but cycling endurance is my biggest limiter. My A race will be flat, windy and hot.

Thanks. Love the plans and the podcast!

Hey Nick,

It worked...I think I had the wahoo app running in the background which didnt realize would be an issue. connected no problem this morning. Thanks

Sorry to hear about the issues. :/ Like Nate mentioned, new development efforts such as the improvements that've been made to PowerMatch are being made to the new versions of our apps. So you do need to update, but to the new version of the Mac app. The new version of the Mac app is still in beta though, so download the beta version here: Download Beta

Let our support team know if you run into any other questions or concerns at support@trainerroad.com.

Thanks!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Right on! That tends to happen from time-to-time. :)

Feel free to let us know if you run into any other issues.

Cheers,

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Nick,

Thanks for the quick response! I checked my Mac TR version and it is 2.7.7 which, I believe is the latest. I ran into another problem earlier today as well. I was using the android app and it seemed to be working well with power match. However, when the power increased in TR (for interval), it took up to a minute for the trainer to respond and increase the power to match TR. Once it caught up, it worked well. Hopefully there is a fix for the issue. Thanks again!

9 extra weeks is a perfect duration to take one easy week, even after a recovery week, and do something like Trad Base I, II or III depending on what sort of workload you're used to keeping in mind that recuperative low intensity and consistency over this week are the real goals, intensity is not. You can also tack this low-intensity week onto the end of my next suggestion...

Then you can use that additional 8 weeks to slot in some focus on the bike (with necessarily less emphasis on your run & swim, temporarily) and try something like the 40k TT specialty plan or even the Sustained Power build plan if you plan to use the Tri plans afterward - don't want you to repeat the Tri Build plan back-to-back is all.

Best of luck!

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