Trainerroad

After months of base phase (and one aborted build phase) I thought I’d give a speciality phase program a go. I chose one because it features about 5 workouts a week totalling roughly six hours a week which is similar to the duration and number of workouts I was doing in base phase . It’s been a change as it’s more over unders than sweet spot which has made me feel like I am having to work a bit harder. But quickly my weight has started to rise, it appears higher power demands make me gain mass (hopefully muscle not lard).

I am hoping ftp will increase further during this program and then I’ll return to base phase programs but at the higher ftp. Am assuming I’ll then be burning more calories but stop gaining mass and possibly return to the gradual weight loss I had been experiencing. Fuck this process can be slow and frustrating. Hoping I’ll be two stone lighter at the end of this year than I was at the beginning.

Last year I did loads of their rides outside. Mostly Richmond Park, but I also did some on the roads around the Fifield TT course.

Basically intervals that are longer than about 5 minutes I hate doing inside.

In RP I mostly used the flattish bit from the Roehampton gate via Robin Hood gate and the path across the middle, with a turn of two as necessary, and an uphill finish from either end towards Richmond Gate.

That works fine as there's very little downhill I can't pedal and I can get the right gaps between efforts.

Fifield area is pretty good as flat and quiet (mostly), but I did screw up once or twice by forgetting where certain towns were (I once rode half way across slough with my brakes on trying not to lose an interval).

I've used hillingdon a bit too, more this year when RP was closed.

I've got a couple of loops round Ealing (inspiration your missus) where I hardly ever have to stop but they are a bit too hilly to work for intervals. But I'm sure other loops could be made round flatter bits of London with a bit of local knowledge. Chiswick by the river probably has potential.

I don't trust myself to not do something dumb when I'm riding supra-threshold intervals. I don't want to be doing the Hillingdon short circuit, checking for riders coming, dodging peds that are always walking randomly all over it, etc. I just like that I can hold power on the turbo without distraction. I guess it would be easier with practice and knowing your roads better. I tried a couple of times outside and it wasn't too bad but I do like the controlled indoor environment a lot. Next year, if I'm doing 12hr again, I'll definitely want more time outside on the TT bike.

RP feels pretty safe for intervals, more so than Hillingdon.

The other place I've used is the towpath into Paddington. That is ok but you do have to pause in maybe every fifth one due to slower riders or peds. I've stayed off towpaths or any other shared use paths since COVID though. And towpaths further into London are way too busy at all times.

Towpaths are the last place I'd do intervals. I'd rather ride up and down the A4/A40 etc.

Sure, but it's a smooth path with hardly anyone on it that just happens to have a canal beside it!

Any TR promo code ?
I would like to restart but I’m slightly poor

They are unique links now, will message one over

Thanks!

hardly anyone on it

Are we talking about the same Paddington? Are you there at 5am or something?

Obviously Paddington basin is rammed but, west of Ladbroke Grove, it is quiet.

Fair enough. Crashing into one canal is enough for me. :)

I've seen your progression on TR/Strava, you've improved a lot in the last year, if you also lost 2 stones you must be a machine compared to a year ago!

I want my strava outdoor rides to be imported into trainerroad so I can track tss but none of the trainerroad rides to be uploaded to strava as I don't want them to be public. Can I do this?

Mortified this morning when I logged into strava for the first time in 2 weeks that all my indoor interval sessions were on there for everyone to see!

i have my default privacy for strava set to 'me only' then just make the outdoor rides for followers/public post upload

Nope don't think so - set your Strava default to all uploads as private if you don't check it that often.

In Trainerroad, when you set up the connection to Strava, there are some check boxes. One of these says "Upload your activities from TrainerRoad to Strava". If you untick that box, then it should work the way you want, I think.

My garage is so fucking cold I need to wear 3/4 bib shorts to help my knees. Did my back in a couple of weeks ago so had a week off and now just doing tempo rides to keep things ticking over and hopefully keep myself a little active. Disappointing to see how much form lost in so brief a time.

Any freebie codes going spare? I could do with a cheap January

All sorted!

Now to schedule a ramp test :')

Anyone experience with SSB HV2? Starting next week after completing SSB HV1, wondered if you have any tips? Interested in if you had an FTP jump and if you survived the increase in FTP and TSS

Yes. No. Yes.

630 TSS of mind numbing sub-threshold work on the turbo every week?

Good luck.

aka Lockdown #1