TimCusick said:

Patrick, you and someone else are blank now, need to go look.  I can load a plan to CX nats later today.  Sorry, hard to write so many different plans and this week crazy.  Should i also load the "group" plan for you?

Tim

I think the update to the CX plan may have fallen through the cracks for Eloy and I. No rush - just wanted to remind you.

Got a chance to watch the 2017 plan video. Was curious how to adjust the group plan given my late start. I figure I will skip prep and go straight into foundation? I don't mind starting race season later and reducing the number of foundation cycles if necessary. I am open to your thoughts. 

Thanks

Tim,

My Achilles tendon is feeling a bit tender after I yanked it a couple weeks ago.  I blame a partially unbuckled shoe.

What's the best way to preserve fitness while resting the tendon?  I should probably skip all these intense tests this week, right?

I would rest it but should come back fast.  Look at schedule and consider flipping this week and next week....

couldn't stop myself, did the test this morning (albeit without the warmups, woops) and it feels the same as it did before the test.  if i injure it further i won't blame you

Tim,

I thought this article was interesting in that it's the first time I've heard of a prescription for effort in terms of lactate mmol.

Is this just a more precise way of saying X (75?) % of threshold or is there more to this?

I was at a talk with Dr. Milan a few years ago and he put up this chart that was interesting but not particularly useful to me in my Cat 4 glory-hunt.

edit: i am an idiot

Jules - that is interesting.  Check out FACT Lactate system, there is a whole "program" built around the idea (I i understand the article).  I have seen 2-3 athletes use it but not to success (to easy to create desired response) but that is my only experience

Question, can Training Peaks workout plans be automatically uploaded into Zwift or do they need to be manually performed?  I did not see an "easy" button on Zwift, but perhaps I'm just that slow.

Scott, I'm pretty sure it's only a one way feed (Zwift to Training Peaks or Strava or whoever).  Don't think you can "import" workouts into Zwift, but you can painstakingly create one yourself!

David Yang said:

Scott, I'm pretty sure it's only a one way feed (Zwift to Training Peaks or Strava or whoever).  Don't think you can "import" workouts into Zwift, but you can painstakingly create one yourself!

Has anyone ever tried using the  workout calendar function on a Garmin Edge device? Any way of exporting... or better yet syncing workouts from trainingpeaks?? even having just the write-up show up on the computer would be helpful, I always look silly and vulnerable to subway thief's when I manually enter the workouts for the week on my 820 (both cell phone and Garmin in hand) haha

John,

I use Garmin to sync to both Training Peaks and Strava.

Basically whenever my workout is "saved" on my garmin device, the device then syncs to the app on my phone, which pushes it to both strava and training peaks.

Jules said:

John,

I use Garmin to sync to both Training Peaks and Strava.

Basically whenever my workout is "saved" on my garmin device, the device then syncs to the app on my phone, which pushes it to both strava and training peaks.

Thanks Jules, I do the same...wondering about the opposite. Will Garmin import workout plan data from trainingpeaks? I get the feeling Garmin wants you to solely use their workouts, or ones created on Garmin connect

There is no way currently to move a workout created in training peaks to zwift or garmin.

I manually create my workouts on Garmin connect, and have manually created one or two on Zwift.

Training peaks scheduled workouts tend to be written descriptions, so even if there was a technology/standard, there would need to be some translation from prose to a format a program could easily understand -- I can think of using natural language AI to automate the translation task, but it all gets timely and expensive. In any case, no easy way to do it now.

eloy said:

There is no way currently to move a workout created in training peaks to zwift or garmin.

I manually create my workouts on Garmin connect, and have manually created one or two on Zwift.

Training peaks scheduled workouts tend to be written descriptions, so even if there was a technology/standard, there would need to be some translation from prose to a format a program could easily understand -- I can think of using natural language AI to automate the translation task, but it all gets timely and expensive. In any case, no easy way to do it now.

Would have to start w TP creating a universal format that would work in conjunction with most devices. Other argument is that it's nice to add a personal touch to the planned workouts. I'm just spoiled I think, went from writing workouts on my hand to a booshy edge 820 

Training peaks has some of the plumbing already - I'd be surprised if it wasn't already on the roadmap. Tim might have some insight :P 

Ah standards. Let's hope the software side of the industry isn't as proprietary as the hardware side *cough*twodozenpressfitBBstandards*cough*

David Yang said:

Scott, I'm pretty sure it's only a one way feed (Zwift to Training Peaks or Strava or whoever).  Don't think you can "import" workouts into Zwift, but you can painstakingly create one yourself!

Set up my first workout in Zwift.  Probably took 3 - 5 minutes of loading the description of the TP workout into Zwift ... pretty easy to do! 

Nice.  I found that building workouts in Zwift was kind of finicky, but i was trying to be super detailed with a lot of intervals and rest segments.

FWIW I've had decent success using TrainerRoad and it's workout creator these past few weeks.

Not sure about how Zwift's ERG mode works with smart trainers, but TR has a nifty feature where it will control the trainer using power from an external power meter.

(cross post)
Fascinating article by Tim.

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/how-to-target-the-best-power-and-adaptation-using-optimized-intervals

Thanks for posting that.  The science side is an over simplification, I ignored at the ATP-PC system as part of the "anaerobic energy system" analysis as the ATP-PC is anaerobic but the prescription is Pmax...or max effort...so did not include.  A few people have comments so putting it out there

Tim

I'm having trouble getting mentally fluent in FRC.

How should I be thinking about these power/duration numbers? Well rested I can do 1k watts for 10 seconds, which would be 10kj.

Similarly well rested (and in good shape) I can do close to 700 watts for 60 seconds, which would be an FRC above 40.

Should I be thinking about peak power numbers coming out of a sustained threshold effort, and if so how long an effort - obviously five minutes ain't the same as 30.

I would need to better understand question but a few points:

1. Functional Reserve Capacity (FRC) is basically Anaerobic Work Capacity (AWC) but calculated more accurately and it takes into account the small amount of aerobic contribution during the effort (you are still breathing right?)
2. FRC is defined: The total amount of work that can be done during continuous exercise above FTP before fatigue occurs. Units are kJ or J/kg.  

So that is what it is, now thinking about how it works.

1. Pmax is the limiter to FRC as it is the "maxium burn" rate you can achieve
2. FRC is measured in kj's but the best way to think about it is to convert to joules (*1000) and then convert that to watts (1 joule is a watt so no conversion needed, just think watts).
3. Now you have the total sum of "watts" you can do continuously over FTP
4. So your 1,000 watt Pmax example is easy math.  If your Pmax is 700 watts, math harder but still same idea just divide it.

The issue is:

1. It doesn't play out this neatly.  As efforts between Pmax and FTP have varying contributions of aerobic energy playing a role.  For a pmax or max effort, almost all the effort is coming anaerobically, when just over FTP maybe 33-50% is coming aerobically 
2. This means the burn down rate in continues effort over FTP is subject to just how much over (or how little) and is hard to predict as very individual so, unless you are talking Pmax (since is max burn rate) the "math" is not linear.  
3. This means yes, you could sprint at 1000 watts for 10 seconds if FRC was 10 (or 10,000 joules).
4. But this does not mean that you can only do 20 seconds at 500 watts continuous as you will get more aerobic contribution at 500 watts
5. In WKO4 you can see this in the FTP contribution chart, that gives you a pretty good estimate.  I have always planned to build a chart showing burn rates based off that contribution but is on a long list of projects...:-) 

Hope that helps 

Happy Holidays!  ....  Will be posting plans today for next cycle.  There are a 1,000 ways to adjust for holidays but going to post plans without adjustments of "this day off, this day replaced....".  You can adjust as needed.  If questions ask here and I will give advice. 

Hey Tim, thanks as always for working with us. 

About a month ago I tried to switch over from a CX plan to a base road plan, labeled "Week 3: Base 1" in TrainingPeaks. But I was having so much fun racing 'cross that I just kept doing it. As a result, I only managed to do one or occasionally two base-plan workouts each week, usually an endurance ride and/or short tempo workout. Also usually one or two weightlifting session each week.

But now that cyclocross has really, finally ended for me, I'm ready to commit to a base plan for the road. Should I jump in where everybody else is, or start at square one? I'll have plenty of time to ride over the holidays, starting tomorrow through NYE, and I'll be in a warm place with lots of quiet, hilly roads. (I'm excited.) Is there something I can do there to jumpstart my base training? My first big event is a short Cat 4 stage race in my hometown the first weekend of April. It's in the South, where January is the last month of "winter," so by race day all the locals will be raring to go.

Debi can get you set up...

Tim Cusick
TrainingPeaks WKO4 Product Leader
717.515.5382 / tim@wko4.com

Max, you've got the current plan loaded to your account now....if you decide not to just pick it up from here and would like to start at the beginning instead, just let me know; I'll be happy to reset the plan for you.

Right. Whether or not to pick it up from here or start over is the question I was hoping Tim could help me answer.

You should be in good enough shape to jump in

Tim Cusick
TrainingPeaks WKO4 Product Leader
717.515.5382 / tim@wko4.com

Great. Thanks Tim.