Hey Dan!

I spoke with Coach Chad a bit and he had a few suggestions.

Firstly, we want to dispel the myth that a climbing course merits a climbing road race plan. Both the Rolling and Climbing Road Race plans are “race” plans. They account for massive fluctuations in power output which is not inline with the steady-state demands of a properly and evenly paced bike leg (that’s also followed by a run). The steady state approach of the Half Distance Triathlon plan is much better suited to your event and would be our recommended plan in this case.

That being said, there are a few other things that you can do to better prepare yourself for the climbs that take place in the race. For one, you should use a compact crank with a wide range cassette in the back. You should do some research and see the maximum cog size your derailleur can handle, and buy it. This extra range will allow you to stay within your power targets, even when the road tips upwards.

There will likely be times when even your low gearing can't save you, and you will have to lower your cadence in order to stay within your power tagets. In preparation for this, you will want to integrate a bit of slow force work into your training regimen. Slow force work is comprised of tempo to sweet spot level efforts, but in a 55-65 rpm cadence range. You can integrate these up to once per week during a workout that has intervals within the Tempo/SS range. Pay special attention to your knee alignment and make sure that your knees are tracking perfectly straight, without lateral deviation. If, despite keeping careful watch on your form, your knees begin to hurt, then abandon the slow force component of the workout and complete the intervals at a normal RPM.

I hope this helps, feel free to reach out if you have any more questions :)

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Bryce

Is there a way to turn off recording of speed and distance in TrainerRoad? I know that (or at least think I know that) my actual speed and distance is 0 (at least relative to the piece of earth on which my house sits). And yet I really do not like cluttering up my Garmin Connect account with a bunch of speed and distance data that has no relationship to reality. For example, it makes the search and sort functions bring up rides based on this specious data. My solution to date has been to record my rides on both my 520 and TrainerRoad and then delete the TrainerRoad activity from Garmin Connect. The downside to this solution is that I lose the interval data that TrainerRoad so nicely records. It seems like there should be a toggle in my profile that gives me this option, but I haven't found it.

Thanks

Hey Hugo!

First off, I'd like to commend you for your strong grip on reality and your refusal to accept false mileage XD. Sadly, there is no way to toggle speed and distance on/off, however, there are certain setups that will allow for removal of speed/distance data (specifically #2 below). I'll give a quick rundown of the possible setups and their options.

1. VirtualPower. There is sadly no way to remove the speed/distance portion of this setup since the speed sensor is the foundation of your power source.

2. Power Meter + Standard Trainer. In this case, unpairing your speed/cadence sensor will allow for a zero speed/distance reading.

3. Smart Trainer. In this case, the trainer reports a fairly arbitrary speed reading and there is nothing we can do to remove that data, unfortunately.

I'm really sorry I don't have better news for you at this time, I'll pass your feedback onto the guys that make the decisions to see if a speed/mileage toggle is something we may want to add in the future.

Have a great day!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

I would add that some smart trainers (or at least my Kickr does this) seem to determine speed based on a combination of cadence and gearing, regardless of power/resistance.

This means that you can get much more realistic speed readings by shifting to a lower gear.

OK.

Now that TR has its advanced analytics and auto-upload into Garmin, perhaps this could be added to a wish list for your development team. It seems likely to me (but I have no real basis for this opinion!) that this would be a trivial change.

Bryce,

I have my bike, equipped with a Power2Max power meter, on a generation 1 wahoo kickr. At the end of my workouts, it gives a synopsis of the workout. One of the categories is power source. I get one of three answers. Power2Max, Saxonar Power Meter, or Wahoo Kickr. Why is it not consistantly gathering my power from my Power2max? And what is the Saxonar Power Meter? I have the power match set to auto.

We have some major development projects coming up such as the addition of Calendar view and increased flexibility of Training Plans, but we will certainly keep the ability to toggle off mileage in mind :)

Happy training!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Bryce,

I think Coach Chad mentioned this in podcast sometime, but I am not able to remember which one. I use a KK Road Machine dumb trainer and virtual power. My question is about how to approach the really short intervals. For example, in Williamson the intervals get shorter and shorter. In Whiteface, there are 15 second intervals. Do I shift and power up to the power level before the interval starts? This then cuts into the recovery time for the interval.

Do I start at the prescribed time, but push the power over the goal so that the average hits the goal? This has me digging really deep and often struggling with completing the interval. Especially later in the workout.

I have tried both ways and neither stands out as an ideal solution. What does TR suggest?

Thank you

Hey, Bryce. I'm sure this might be buried in here somewhere, and hopefully there's a quick answer.....

While in a workout, ERG randomly shuts off. Sometimes I am able to re-select it from the dropdown box, sometimes I'm not. When that happens, power spikes, or resistance increases, I'm not sure how to label it. This happens several times in every workout. I'm set up with the PC app, Neo, and Tacx ANT+ USB antenna. The app is only connect to the trainer, not my bike. I use the Edge 520 to monitor the PM on my bike.

The other day I didn't have my laptop with me so I used the app on my phone. No problems. I guessing because of Bluetooth.......

Hoping you or someone has an explanation and solution.

Thanks.

Hi Bryce;

I am using Tacx Neo and what i have noticed that in ERG mode trainerroads adjustemetn is set up so tight that it feels like pedalling uphill or in loose sand; ie. there is no inertia. I get it only in Trainerroad - in other apps like Zwift or PerPro, Tacx this feeling is normal, roadlike.

Is it done on purpose?

Hi

Long story short - my subscription is lapsed but I am looking to rejoin for a brief over the summer period.

I need to put on some fitness for my A race which is a 70.3 on 30th June.

I let my subscription lapse to get out on the mountain bike in the summer evenings... But I crashed and I don't really have time to repair.

I am familiar with the plans - which would I jump back into for maximum benefit - 2 maybe 3 sessions a week.

(I am currently out at the weekends)

regards

I am doing the TR Oly high volume plans. Just staring the build this week. A new Tuesday night time trial ride is starting up and to the extent the weather plays along, I want to do the series. The TT's will start at 10 miles and work up to a 40k over the summer.

The TR Oly plan usually has VO2 type intervals for the Tuesday rides (first rides of each week). Where can/should I make an adjustment to incorporate the TT's? I will of course still do the FTP tests as prescribed. Should I just replace the current Tuesday workouts with the outdoor rides or do I need to substitute out a different ride and plug in the VO2 sessions back in later in the week.

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"It's good enough for who it's for" - Grandpa Wayne

Hey there!

It is tough to say where you should jump into a plan since I do not know what you have done so far this season. The first thing you need to do is determine if you are conditioned enough to skip the Base Phase. Check out this article to see if you fit thecriteria for being Base Conditioned:
http://blog.trainerroad.com/can-i-skip-base-training/


If you do not have adequate Base, you should go ahead and start in the Base Phase and work through the plan as far as you can. This will lead to the best results since Base is an absolutely critical part of your training.

If you do in fact have a decent base already, a good option would be to jump into Half Distance Triathlon Build. You have approximately 9 weeks remaining until your target event.

I would recommend the following course:
Half Distance Build (Weeks 1-7)
Half Distance Specialty (Weeks 7-8)

The last two weeks of Specialty Phase will act as your taper for the event, allowing your freshness to increase while retaining your high level of form.

Since you are only looking to ride 2-3 times per week, the Low Volume will be the best fit for you.

I hope that helps, let me know if you have any further questions :)

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Hey there!


Would you mind opening up a ticket with our Support Team on this? You can reach them at support@trainerroad.com. This is a potentially tricky issue that may require multiple troubleshooting steps, and the members of the Support Team are experts on issues like this.


The most likely cause of this issue is wireless interference since you only have the issue when pairing via ANT+. To learn how to minimize ANT+ interference, check out this article:
https://support.trainerroad.com/...2644-Device-Dropouts


If you take all the necessary steps to minimize interference and you still have issues, you can try using a USB extension cord. This places your ANT+ stick extremely close to the sensors, which greatly minimizes the impact that interference can have on your connection.


If all that fails, then a BLED112 Bluetooth Dongle will allow you to pair your Devices to your PC via Bluetooth, which should fully resolve your problem.


We look forward to talking more about this through our Support Team!

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Sorry should have said

Yes I went through SSB 1 and 2 over the winter.

Thanks

Hey Flynnzu!


With the Olympic Plans, the Tuesday is a VO2 Max workout, while Thursdays are slightly supra-threshold workouts. The demands of your local time trial series will more closely resemble the Thursday workouts, so I would recommend replacing those workouts with the Time Trial. If you have performance Analytics Access, you can simply assign your TT to your plan in place of the Thursday Ride. You can then complete the VO2 Max workout on Thursday rather than Tuesday.


Your week will then look like:
Tuesday: Time Trial
Thursday: VO2 Max
Saturday: Endurance
Sunday: Endurance/ Sweet Spot


If you are interested in importing your outside rides into TrainerRoad and do not have Beta Acess to Performance Analytics, feel free to DM me your username and I'll enable access on your account :)

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Hey there!


The challenge here is that VirtualPower does not directly measure power. Instead, it is an estimate that is calculated from your speed readings. During accelerations, your speed is not a perfect representation of your actual power at that time. As a result, it can sometimes cause VirtualPower readings to appear "laggy."


For longer intervals, the lag is mostly unnoticeable since it is averaged out over the course of the whole interval. However, during shorter intervals the lag can have a much greater impact on your interval summaries. As you've experienced, this can sometimes be frustrating since the app doesn't seem to be recording all the work that you are actually putting in.


In terms of which strategy is best- shifting up to the power level before the interval starts or pushing over the power goal so that the average meets the target - the answer is actually neither. The objective of the interval is not necessarily to make the interval summary read the correct average, but rather to perform the correct amount of physiological work for that duration. What this means is that when the interval starts, you should hit the gas and focus on outputting as close to the target power as you can - even though the power display might be lagging behind. With a little practice, you should be able to dial in the intensity with the first few intervals and figure out what gearing and cadence corresponds to a certain power output. You can then use that knowledge moving forward to nail the rest of your intervals.


Doing it this way, your interval summaries may read on the lower side due to the lagging nature of the VirtualPower reading; however, the important thing is that your body will have worked for all 15 seconds of the interval and you will reap the appropriate physiological rewards of the workout.


Another factor that could effect responsiveness is if you have power smoothing enabled. Power smoothing will cause power delay in the case of short, intense intervals. This can be resolved by changing Power Smoothing to 0 in your app setttings, however, the lag due to the lagging speed reading is something that is inherent to Virtual Power and cannot be avoided.


I hope that makes sense, feel free to reach out if you have any more questions for me

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Get Faster with TrainerRoad

Thank you. I can generally nail the intervals after 1 or 2, so your comments make perfect sense. Getting the most out of each workout is what I am after and this helps me do that.

Thanks again.

Looks like TrainerRoad just imported the entirety of my Strava history. Didn't realize I had ever given permission to TrainerRoad to do anything but post workouts to Strava. Feels a bit intrusive and I'm not even one who normally cares about that. I haven't found any way to delete all of them either. I've now killed all my sync permissions in-case TR starts pulling from TrainingPeaks.

Hi Bryce, I've been thinking of doing a bit of a reset with my season, I've done all the sweet spot base and have done general build 1.5 times. I've done a couple of road races and may still do a couple more, but I've kind of set my focus on CX for the fall, plus I want to mix in long rides instead of thinking about build intervals lol. Anyhow, my CTL is at 85 and my TSB is slightly positive as well, I haven't done the projections with the SSB 1, but would you recommend with the level of fitness I have that I start with SSB 2 instead?

BTW I did the ramp test today, and I think the algorithm may be taking the final minute (like taking into consideration the few seconds at the end I slowed to a stop) rather than the best minute. Not sure if anyone has brought this up, hope this helps!

Just saw the update on the app/website, glad to see outdoor rides now sync into program!

Just wanted to throw out some props, I know it's been a long time coming, but happy it's finally arrived!!

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Ask me how much I love my Kiwami LD Aero Trisuit

I realize you synched before the article came out, but the article by Nate Pearson today on Trainerroad does state: "If your actives are on Strava, we'll start pulling in your past rides as soon as you sync with Strava."

They may want to make it a bit more clear with a disclaimer at the time of synching, but the article today at least mentions it.

As an improvement perhaps they could give options moving forward to synch moving forward only or to make it a manual process where it only imports selected rides. For now it appears to be an all or nothing set up.

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"It's good enough for who it's for" - Grandpa Wayne

Good podcast right now talking about the new additions, etc.

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Hi Bryce

Hoping you could give me some advice. Currently working my way through HIM base/build/specialty. Because of various scheduling issues, the start of my training week is on a Saturday which means that the plan ends two days before my race (race is 29 July, plan's race day would be 27 July). How do I schedule my final week or two to account for the extra days?

Thanks for the help!

I signed up for BETA access not that long ago an noticed TR pull in all my Strava rides (400+ rides) from what I can tell). Doesn't really bother me honestly because I signed up for it knowingly though to be able to import outdoor/non-TR rides. I'm guessing if you mark your rides private automatically maybe it won't pull into TR? (I would hope it works this way but I think the TR folks would be the ones to answer).

But yes if I was in your position I'd be annoyed too.