Hey! Super sorry for the delay — I passed your post along to our Head Coach Chad and it slipped my mind relaying his thoughts. He said your approach really looks great! He commended you on laying out your season with your priorities in mind.

Hope I wasn't a day late and a dollar short! ;) Happy Training!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

I am using a set of p1 pedals and am on a 1 year old cycleops fluid 2

I find that the power reading goes up gradually after 10 minutes.

I am on the same gear, same cadence and the power reading reads about 10w higher 10 mins after i first start

alternatively, i can use a lower cadence on the same gear to hit the same power readings after about 10 mins

any idea why does the resistance/power seem to go up after some time?

I also have a Fluid 2. I'm using a 4iiii crank based power meter. With the Fluid 2 the resistance is lower than normal for the first 5 to 10 minutes until the oil warms up. This means initially you can spin at a higher cadence than normal to achieve a set power level then as the oil warms up you can maintain the same power level as you gradually lower your cadence. I use the first 5 minutes as a pre workout warmup. This warms up the oil plus my power meter. I then calibrate the power meter then start the Trainerroad workout.

Does this help?

Hi guys -

Any suggestions on where to go once you do Sustained Power Build? Once done I will still have a bit of time before specialty if peaking for the right race and didn't know if I could go straight into one of the triathlon plan builds (is it okay to go back-to-back builds?) or should I go back to a base plan for a while? Something else?

Thanks!

awesome thanks! was wondering why the resistance seems to go up later

is it necessary to only calibrate after 10 minutes? i usually calibrate it cold and start the workout immediately

Thanks for clearing that up @3DKiwi!

You can calibrate your PM whenever you want as it is just a 'Manual Zero' of the device. You don't have to "warm it up" to get consistent results like the trainer. :)

Don't hesitate to let us know if you run into any other questions or concerns!

Cheers,

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Howdy,

Our Head Coach's recommendation is to progress through the entire Base/Build/Specialty cycle, then depending on the time-frame until your event, do one of two following options:

1) If you have enough time before your event after completing the full BBS cycle, dedicate a week or three to some low-intensity work and follow that with a partial revisitation of a Build phase. Go for the first half if you're still fatigued from your Specialty plan or the second half if you're feeling fresh. This will set the stage for further increases in fitness that you can (if time allows) refine before your event by completing as much of your Specialty plan as time would allow. You'd just want to schedule week 8 (the taper week) into your training plan one week before your event to effectively taper for your event. Note: you may have enough time to not require any adjustments to the second revisitation of your Specialty plan. You may also be time constrained as to not be able to put more work in a Specialty Phase upon a partial revisitation of the Build Phase. In which case option 2 may suit you better.

2) If you won't have as much time after completing the full BBS cycle to revisit a Build and Spec phase, but want to maintain your fitness you've established for your event, simply repeat one of the last two weeks in your Specialty plan for up to 5 weeks. This would allow you to hold onto that fitness you've worked so hard for. :)

Also, here's a great article written by our Head Coach that goes into this approach a bit more in-depth as well: How to adjust your training

Let us know if this makes good sense, or if you run into any other questions or concerns.

Happy Holidays!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Thanks Nick!

I really appreciate the detailed response.

Happy holidays and really enjoying Trainer Road during these cold months

You're very welcome! We're glad to hear you're enjoying it.

Please don't hesitate to drop us a line at support@trainerroad.com if you run into any road blocks. And our podcast is also a great resource for current training topics and frequently asked training questions if you care to have a listen one of these days. This is of course assuming you're not already an avid listener. ;)

Submit your questions here or have a listen on Soundcloud/iTunes or virtually any podcast service you may use.

Thanks again,

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Is anyone else noticing the buggieness of the updated Mac desktop application? It works, its just doesn't feel as smooth as the previous application. When you click on things there is a noticeable delay, its like your using an iphone from 2 generations ago. For example when you click the devices tab and then click a specific device to say "zero" your PM it takes considerable time to open. No my computer is not old or slow or low on memory. One more thing I liked about the old app was that it would go Full Screen so as to block out the Widget/application dock. Any suggestions? Otherwise I do like trainerroad, and it has made me a stronger cyclist.

What's the best device to use trainer road on? I have an ipad 2(ant key needed?), 2010 Macbook pro, and 2010 Lenovo Thinkpad. Any input appreciated. Thanks.

I have a questions regarding the full distance triathlon plans:
The Base Runs are RPE 6 - that means Half-Marathon pace. That seems way too hard.

Hi TR,

Im building my season towards my A event an Ironman in late august 2017.

I started the half distance base plan on sep 4 and finished in november.
I have on your advise now started the Sweet spot base plan (low vol). And almost done with the first 6 week block.

If i continue with block two (6 weeks) then a build/speciality full distance plan (8+8 weeks) thats a total of 23/24 weeks (still missing a bit of block 1 sweetspot). And i have 32 weeks untill the Ironman. Leaving me around 8 weeks spare. Ofcourse it will not fit perfectly so more realistically its like 5-6 weeks to spare.

So my 2 questions:
1) Where should i put these extra weeks? A 3rd base that i only do for e.g. 5 weeks, extra build/specialty?

2) Do i risk of overcooking my system since i have started training for an event almost 1 year before?

Anyone have any tricks for stopping sweat from causing chaos on the touch screen on a phone mounted to my handle bars?

Trying out the android app and moving away from my computer setup for certain situations but the sweat drippy onto my phone (in a lifeproof case) and it starts taking on a mind of its own. Anyone solve this?

Nick

I am halfway through my sustained mid-volume build plan (after SSB mid volume) and am trying to figure what plan to do next. I'm still in a bike focus. I swim 2-3x/week and run 2x/week off the bike for 5-10' to maintain some run sensation but find that my legs are so tired that running b/t riding days just makes me too tired for the next bike. I don't plan on starting multisport training till March (8-12 weeks) and would like to continue to build my FTP. What would you recommend next to further make increases in my top line power. My upcoming season included Triple T on June 2 (approximately 22 weeks), HIM on 7/30 and IM in late Sept.

thx again

Kar-Ming

Thanks for your getting in touch!

Based on the devices you listed, I'm not entirely sure you'll be able to use either the Mac or the Lenovo. But if you cross-check the OS on either machine with our minimum hardware + system requirements page, you'll see if they have the necessary specs. You can find those here: Minimum System Requirements and here: Minimum Hardware Requirements

Your iPad 2 is for sure good to go, but like you eluded to, you'll need the ANT+ key since it doesn't support native Bluetooth. That also means all the devices you plan to train with will need to be ANT+ as well—just something to keep in mind if you're purchasing any new sensors. Here's a link to the ANT+ info if you go that route: ANT+ info

If you're unsure on any devices that you have or plan to get, you can check their compatibility with TrainerRoad here: Equipment Checker

Please don't hesitate to get in touch with us at support@trainerroad.com if you run into anymore questions!

Welcome aboard—Cheers,

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Hey Kar-Ming,

I'm struggling with the same issue myself and I've dealt with a number of athletes who carry too much fatigue into their runs and wind up with injuries at worst and low-level run performance at best.

My recommendation is to keep the focus you mentioned on your cycling with perhaps just those short post-ride runs such that you get all your fatigue in at once and then recover effectively enough to keep your cycling fitness on the rise.

Ideally your cycling fitness will rise enough over time to more effectively integrate your run training with your bike workouts, i.e. raise your general work capacity.

But if not, feel free to move things around and make the training schedule work for you. Maybe run the day before your bike workouts or find a way to shift workouts to different times of day in order to tack on another 12 hours of recovery between hard workouts.

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

How many people are using either the IOS app or the Android app? i tried the IOS app with airplay mirroring to apple tv, and performance was almost as bad as my cycling. Initially I tried while running spotify, but that was unusable, constant audio jitter (with an offline playlist - not an internet problem). I tried closing out spotify, and just mirroring the screen, and that too was pretty unusable. I've got an iphone 7+, so shouldnt be a CPU issue, does airplay screen mirroring just suck that bad? The app did work fine with just local display on iphone.

I also tried on a cheap android tablet (insignia 8" from best buy) and incredibly enough, that user experience was even worse (took 2 minutes just to load the app that then crashed 3 minutes into the workout).

I love the OSX app, but am wondering if its just my mobile app experience is tainted

Use both Iphone and Ipad TR App. Works great. Funny how humans just like to follow the lines much like hounds at the race track chasing the rabbit.

Airplay mirroring is sucky, but if you're wifi is strong then it's better (use 5Ghz and strong signal)

Hi,

I have been successfully using TrainerRoad for 2 seasons now, great software and training plans! This year I will do my first Full distance triathlon, and I will start now with structured training.

I have 26 weeks to my goal race, and your whole Full distance training plan is 28 weeks (12 weeks base, 8 build, 8 specialty). From which phase should I remove those 2 weeks? My instinct tells me to do 10 weeks base, but which weeks should I remove?
Until now I was in the off season, training a bit less than I should and without a training plan, but still training quite regularly and keeping in shape. I was mostly doing low intensity stuff.

Is anybody here using Trainer Road with Elite Real Turbo Muin b+?
I was wondering what is your experience with this combo, whether my case is unusual or the problem I am dealing with is typical for this app-trainer.

When in ERG mode with Auto Power match, 5s power smoothing, trying to keep steady cadence across the whole session, I am not getting quick enough power adjustments. Sometimes it takes 3 min to reach power target. The problem appears when going up and down with the power target. It also from time to time stays forever at 30-40 Watts off the target, despite hearing the motor making some adjustments.

When my power was leveled with power target I played with it a bit,
Despite changing the cadence and gears trainer was always adjusting resistance to power target, working quite nicely.
But when the bigger power changes are in place it is struggling.

I am in touch with TR and Elite support, but so far no solution found.

Can you recommend me any app where I would be able to check how this trainer works with, especially when controlling and adjusting resistance?

Many thanks

Sorry to hear about the frustration here! There are quite a few users who successfully airplay mirror to Apple TV, and since the experience on Android was also troublesome, I believe there may be some interference with your devices and training environment. Shoot us an email at support@trainerroad.com when you get a chance, and we'll be happy to help you get to the bottom of it.

In the meantime of us hearing from you, a good solution could be to just run TR on your phone/tablet then just throw spotify on the Apple TV. :)

Talk to you soon,

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Hi,

Glad to hear you've been using TR with great success! Now let's see about this next season. :)

I just took a peek at your career, and considering you've been keeping things pretty consistent in December logging some miles, I think you'll be just fine shedding those two weeks from your Base phase. Normally that wouldn't be our recommendation, but I think you can consider the work you've been doing over the month of December to fit that category of 'base' anyway. It looks like you hopped right into the second week of the plan, which should be just fine, and feel free to drop any other week with the exception of week 8 and 12 since you'll want the recovery there.

Hope this helps—feel free to let us know if anything else pops up.

Thanks!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Hey Chris,

Sorry to hear about the issues here. I have a couple recommendations for you to try out in the meantime of hearing back from our support agents:

When looking at the workout 'Mills' done on New Years Eve, things are looking really solid; Quick transitions from recovery interval to higher-intensity ones. Then compare that to 'Lamarck' done also on New Year Eve and you'll see that lag in resistance change in the beginning of the interval you noted earlier. The difference between the two workouts is the power during those recovery intervals. Notice that they match well during 'Mills' and not so much on 'Lamarck'.

The reason why you may have been able to hit the recovery target in one workout versus the other, is likely due to what's known as a wattage floor. This just means that the gearing ratio you were in didn't allow you to go as low as the demands of that recovery interval. When this happens while using PowerMatch, you run the risk of this slow transition out of the recovery interval just like you're experiencing.

Try getting into an easier gearing ratio to make sure you're always able to match your power to the target in recovery intervals. This will help in the smooth transition into those higher-intensity intervals. Give this a shot and let us know if you get some better results.

Looking forward to hear how it goes—cheers!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

TR,

I'm about to start the Build phase of the oly plan.

Would it be detrimental to substitute some of the workouts in the plan with sufferfest workouts? I'd target sufferfest workouts with similar time and TSS.

Thanks!