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!

What's your recommended plan for weight loss?

A quick question.

I am currently signed up for the year, but in reality rarely use trainerroad in the summer months.

If when my renewal comes up I change to monthly, and then cancel my subscription in the summer, does that wipe my history, so next winter I'm starting from scratch or does my history remain but I can't do new workouts?

I am so frustrated with Trainer Road last 2 rides in the 3 hour range during the last 15 to 30 minutes trainer road quits ride stops screen goes blank... Trainer road also has no way to reload the ride and resume where you left off! Is anyone else having these issues and what is the fix? Thanks in Advance:)

Watt overload bro. Back it down, you're smoking the software!

Hi Nate,

Sorry if this has been covered before but this thread is massive. I'm wondering what's going on here? I have a Tacx Vortex that was in Erg mode controlled from my computer. This is during the 8 min FTP test and it was cycling between actual effort and decreasing the resistance. You could hear is going RRRRrrrrRRRRrrrr and was obviously pretty regular (red). Then towards the end it felt like it finally disengaged to actual effort (green) but then never reengaged to Erg mode, i.e. after the green circle, it said it was in Erg but was actually in resistance.

I think Zwift was doing something similar during Erg workouts, so maybe it's my trainer, but I thought there was a difference in how TR worked with the powermatch thing. ANy ideas on how to fix this?

Thanks

Based on that graph I think it's your trainer. Power match only adjusts targets by 5 watts at a time every 10 seconds (max, sometimes it's slower than that).

That's an interesting fact. Never knew that. That would explain why when doing doing VO2 max intervals on a Kickr Snap why it took 30 seconds to a minute to settle down to target power after initially going way over. The bigger the increase in power target the longer it took to settle down. (The Snap was replaced then went back for a refund. Back on a Fluid 2 trainer and power meter.).

Hi Chad.
I am a podcast listener and stalk this Slowtwich thread constantly. I have used the full distance mid-volume base/build/specialty plan twice with success - but now I have a special snowflake question for you: I only have 24 weeks available until my next full IM event (4 weeks short of a full base/build/spec cycle). My first thought is to trim the 4 weeks out of specialty weeks 3-6 so I get the full benefit of another base/build cycle and still get the two week taper. Would you agree or is there a better fit for my available 24 weeks?
Thanks!

About half way through SSB II Med volume. The plan is to then do Sustained Power Build followed by 40K TT. I am trying to figure out what volume to do for the next two phases. The TSS and time per week on the Medium volume on both is lower - time on the bike being more significantly so. The TSS on the High Volume is a good bit higher, but the time on the bike is closer to SSB Med volume. Should I stick with Med Volume or could I jump to High?

For what it's worth, I do triathlons and at some point will be working swim/run back into my routine. Thought I would have already done it but a broken foot and sickness (not training related) has kept me isolated to the bike for the better part of the past 4-5 months. Commencing slow, short runs is on calendar for about 2 weeks out with the pool coming back next week.

Hey Nick,

I'm running my first marathon at the end of the month. I've been trying to do at least 2 challenging hammer rides with the local fast roadies during the last couple of weeks trying to preserve my bike fitness. Wanted to take a trainer break before having to spend endless hours on it during the season.

I plan on jumping right into the full distance BBS cycle after the marathon and was wondering how long to wait. I know I will probably tank an ftp test within the first 2 weeks post-race, so what timeframe would be realistic? How should I try to quantify how ready I am to fully jump in?

Thanks!

I have a two part question.
1. I will be coming off a winter running race and will only have 16 weeks until 70.3. I was planning to just do the build/specialty phase. Any big issue with this? My biking the past 3 months has only been 1/2 a week and really they were just recovery rides. I can handle relatively large bike volumes during tri training. Or maybe do 4 weeks base/4 weeks build/8 weeks speciality?? What combination would set me up for toeing the line on race day in top form.
2. The Friday rides on the plan are more of a recovery ride. Due to my schedule I would have to complete those on Mondays. Do you see any issue with this? I would follow the rest of the workouts on the prescribed days.

Thanks!

Hi Nick,

Hoping you can help with a problem I have running TR on my Kickr Snap.

Currently running the TR trial, as I received the trainer as a Christmas present. I've tried performing the 20 min FTP test twice: first time running on my 2014 Macbook Pro, with constant ANT+ dropouts and the TR app eventually freezing and crashing; the second time on my Surface Pro 4 which correctly picked up all sensors (no dropouts), but experienced extremely inconsistent spikes in resistance throughout the ride, but most noticeably during the 20min test. I can't really overemphasize how erratic the resistance spikes were; totally unrideable such that eventually I had to stop because the constant pausing as the trainer ground to a stop rendered the data/test useless, as well as causing me to blow out my legs.

Here's my setup:

- Garmin USB ANT+ Dongle on Surface Pro 4
- Garmin Vector 1 dual pedals
- Garmin Fenix 3 HR for heartrate in ANT broadcast mode
- Garmin Speed sensor (rear hub, accelerometer)
- Wahoo Kickr Snap firmware 2.1.5

Notes:

- I performed an advanced spindown when I received the unit 2 weeks ago
- I perform a normal spindown every ride
- I've turned off Bluetooth on the Trainerroad devices screen in order to reduce interference since all my sensors are ANT compatible anyways

Questions:

1. On the devices screen, the Kickr Snap appears to be listed twice: as a generic "ANT+ Trainer" and also as a "Kickr Snap" - which device should I pair with?
2. During the 20min FTP segment, from the documentation online it appears that the it looks like the mode of resistance should be "Standard" during the test. However during my segment in the lower part of the screen it looked as if I was set in "Resistance 20%". This occurred when paired to the trainer as an "ANT+ Trainer" as opposed to the "Kickr Snap". I assume being in the incorrect mode (resistance) contributed to the poor experience during FTP testing, but still doesn't make sense given the suddenness and magnitude of the resistance increase. For example, I'd be pedaling along ~200 watts, big ring, middle of cogs - perhaps watts would drop by 5-10, but cadence stayed the same - I'd then experience a crushing increase in resistance to where I could barely move the cranks fully standing up on the bike. It would also then be impossible to downshift to the small ring and larger cogs because of low chain speed. Lastly, this same scenario has also happened when in the small ring and largest cog; leaving me with no lower gears to bailout on - very frustrating!

Thanks in advance for your help - I was hoping to replace much of my outdoor training with the Kickr but it's been nothing but issues so far.

I'm going to send you a personal message to make sure you're talking about the plans in the context of our earlier recommendation made on page 124 of this thread. :)

Cheers,