Hey Joe!

In this case, I would not recommend skipping the last 4 weeks of Build. In general, we recommend working from the ground up, and getting as much of the plan done as you can without skipping steps.

Go ahead and check out this article in our newly redesigned Coaching Help Center, it goes into specifics on how to plan your season with sub-optimal amounts of time :)
Not enough time!

As for your question regarding the elevation, this is not a big concern, especially since you won't be training with power. At elevation, it is normal for your power output to drop a bit, and you would need to adjust the workout intensity down a few percent. Since you will be training by RPE for the most part, you should be good to go.

I would definitely recommend jumping on a stationary trainer if possible to help maintain your cycling fitness while you travel. Even if you do the workout by RPE, it will still be much better than not riding at all :) Not to bombard you with articles, but here is an article from a few weeks back that explores options for keeping up your training while travelling:
How to maintain fitness while travelling


Good luck with your season!

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So I got the powermatch set to auto and it worked great. If you could eventually get the P1 pedales to read individual power that would be great, but in the grand scheme...probably not the difference in me wearing the yellow jersey July 23rd

Thanks for the info! Much appreciated!

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Ask me how much I love my Kiwami LD Aero Trisuit

You're welcome! Happy training! :-D

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

Link for "Not enough time!" was cut off in your post. A search gave me this - https://support.trainerroad.com/...423-Not-Enough-Time-

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I'm closer to the feathered end of the spear than the point.

Terribly sorry about that! That is indeed the article I was referring to.

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Probably not a TR question but asking here in case anyone else has encountered this issue as well. I have a gen1 kickr and when doing workouts occasionally the power reading on my computer drops, but intensity on the trainer stays at the desired wattage. I've connected to TR through the USB and BT with similar results. Driving myself insane trying to figure out what's causing it. Only power reading drops, not hr or cadence. I've disconnected anything I think could be interfering. I've contacted Wahoo and they says it's the computer, but I've used 2 different computers.

Very likely wifi interference

Lots of reports of people having problems with the Wahoo ANT+ adapter since the December 2017 iOS update. I've seen the same thing. When you plug the adapter in you get a message the iOS does not support the device. Plugging and unplugging sometimes gets it to work. I've also had to shutdown iPad completely and reboot. Usually I can get it going again but it's finicky. One of the ANT+ to Bluetooth adapters is going to be a more convenient option long term. http://npe-inc.com/cableinfo/

Bryce/Nate,
Do you ever get people from your high volume programs from sprint/oly burn out a bit from so much v02? I am 3/4 way through the olympic tri high volume, and am feeling spent even after an easier week this week. I came into using this program already doing a fair amount of v02 work. In fact i would say i have done v02 sessions for atleast 1 workout a week for about 12 weeks already. Tomorrow i have mist+3 which is 3x(3x3:30 120%), and frankly, im dreading it. I have lost that 'i want to attack this workout' feeling. Even after a forced easy week last week, im still struggling to face more v02 stuff. My oly distance a race isnt for another 8 weeks. Should i take a few easier weeks of sub threshold style stuff or try and battle this out? Thanks guys.

In a recent podcast episode the average FTP was mentioned and it was discussed that it was more likely ~240 than the 350+ numbers that often get quoted in forums.

I was thinking that it would make a really good podcast discussion or blog entry as you must have a stack of data that can by broken up by age / gender to see what the typical numbers are.

Just an idea

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My foray into time trialling at the age of 60
https://sixtyplustimetrialling.wordpress.com/

Hey Nate, are you guys going to address the ramp test experiment that's been going on in the next podcast? It would be interesting to hear some of the thinking going into the structure of the test and findings thus far if people have tried all three in a set period of time (two weeks?) and witnessed divergence in FTP from 8-min to 20-min to ramp X.

Hey RJ!

This is definitely something that our Support Agents can help you work through :) They have a lot of experience troubleshooting Device Dropouts, so I would recommend reaching out to them at support@trainerroad.com.

Cheers :)

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

High volume plans are the hardest plans we have, so it is certainly possible to accumulate a bit too much fatigue depending on your training history and ability to recover from high amounts of stress. Are you in the Base, Build or Specialty phase of the Olympic Plan?

It would likely benefit you to reduce the intensity on your VO2 max workouts, at least until you get your legs feeling a bit fresher. A 5% reduction will not alter the intended purpose of the workout, but will give you a reduction in intensity that will allow your legs to recover more quickly afterwards. If you are feeling especially fatigued, you may want to do another recovery week or half-week before jumping back into intense work.

Best!

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Hi TR,

I just did Antelope +5 and the workout instructions are off. Can you please fix them? I think there is repeated text at the beginning. Also, at one point it says that 3 of the intervals are done. I'm pretty sure this happens after the 4th.

Thanks!

Hey Johnny!

This is a good article that breaks down the average FTPs for different Categories of racing and includes both male and femaly data. It does not differentiate for age however.
https://decaironman-training.com/...mans/comment-page-1/

While we do have data that we could gather to analyze for these purposes, it would not be particularly useful without knowing the level that our users are competing at. The analysis would give a complete look on our users as a whole, however that may or may not correlate to the cycling community as a whole.

I hope that article is useful for you!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

I'll let Support know so that they can get things fixed up :)

Thanks for pointing this out! If you ever see any other typos in the future, the easiest way to let us know is through support@trainerroad.com.

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Bryce or Nate,

I started with Trainerroad 14 weeks ago. I'm really enjoying the structure and it seems to be working.

With workouts like Haku, Shasta and Berryessa the target is 200% FTP. I'm able to repeatably hold closer to 250% for the 20 seconds. Is it better to stick with the prescribed 200%, achievable 250% or should I be giving it all I can for as many intervals as I can before dropping back to the 200% target?

Thanks

Hey Dan!

With workouts like these, the goal is to put out your max repeatable effort. If you can repeat them all at that 250%, then by all means do them at 250%. But if they start at 250% and decline to 150% over the course of the workout, the you will miss the objective of maximum muscular recruitment.

Are these the only workouts that seem like you are being underchallenged? If all of your workouts seem a bit too easy, it may be time to re-test your FTP to account for any fitness gains you've made so far in your training :) If you want, we have a new Beta test called the Ramp Test X that will only take about 20 minutes to complete and should have your new FTP manually calculated within 24 hours.

Happy training!

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Has anyone moved back to traditional base with success? I know that the recommendation for mid-volume is to go with the sweet spot base program. The last 2 years, I've done sweet spot base and I feel like I'm digging myself out of hole by the build phase. I've seen others mention the same thing in this thread. Prior to the last 2 years, I've done traditional base and I had the best season I've ever had. I've added more volume this year as I've plateaued the last 2 years and figured maybe I need more volume, but it hasn't helped. I added more volume by doing high volume on the weekends. I'm 39.

Hi Bryce! On a whim I tried the ramp test this morning and had some questions to satisfy my curiosity. I found that my legs failed before my lungs. I frankly suck at anything over threshold, I haven't trained in that in a long time (I had a long layoff and have mostly stuck to sweet spot), and I'm bad at powering through when things get hard. What should be the first to give out, the legs or the lungs? I ultimately failed at what is my currently set FTP (270) but felt like my lungs could have made it to the next level, where I think would align with what I think my FTP is really at (275). This may be just thinking about vanity though!

Also, I didn't have breakfast, just a morning latte, I just assumed I have enough stores to do a short test, but would you recommend any specific fueling prior to the test?

Thanks!

Phil

Hey Phil,

Thanks for taking the time to do the new Ramp test and provide feedback, we really appreciate it :)

Regarding the legs vs lungs debate, this is largely individual and will vary significantly from person to person. In general, you may be able to tweak their respective fatigue ratios by altering your cadence slightly, however this will not work in every case. On a general level, a higher cadence puts more stress on your aerobic system while a lower cadence requires more force from your legs, and as a result fatigues your legs faster. If you feel that you may have been operating on too slow of a cadence, I would recommend trying to increase your cadence by 5 rpm or so to see if that helps even out the fatigue between your lungs and legs.

As for nutrition, the test is quite short so a coffee may have been enough, however I would generally recommend eating something with carbohydrates prior to an effort to exhaustion. This will give you some extra glycogen to work with as you enter some pretty intensive VO2 work towards the end :) A good option would be oatmeal with a banana and chia seeds, or whole grain toast with peanut butter or something along those lines.

I hope this helps clear some things up!

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Hi Bryce, thanks for being on here and answering so many questions. I have a more technical question, but it's not a support issue. How does TR determine my crank length? I have powertap P1 pedals, and to get the appropriate power they need to know my crank length. I can enter that on my garmin head unit no problem. But as far as I can tell there is no way for me to enter that information in trainerroad. I believe TR is displaying the correct power, because it matches my garmin, but TR isn't reading from my garmin, so how is that happening?

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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.

Thanks Bryce,

I think it's more to do with me being built more for sprinting than triathlon. I'm hitting the numbers in all the other workouts, but can't exceed them in the way that I can short efforts.

I'm happy to do the beta ramp test, just finishing week 3 of the half low volume base (for the 2nd time). Can I do the Ramp test in 10 days at the start of week 5 or do you need the data sooner?

Hey CCF,

The crank arm length is actually stored locally on the power meter itself. The Garmin is able to set the length, as is Pioneer's native application, but we do not have this ability. Basically, once you set your power meter up once, you should be good to go :)

Cheers!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Hey Dan!

If it works well for you to do it in 10 days, that's perfect :) We will continue to collect data until we reach our goal of 500 successful FTP tests on the Ramp Test X :)

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad