TrainerRoad launches Adaptive Training designed to remove the guesswork from improving fitness

Indoor training app TrainerRoad has released new software that it says automatically adjusts to external factors such as a missed training session, time away from the bike or an increase in functional threshold power (FTP).

TrainerRoad says, “Using an advanced, machine learning-based system, Adaptive Training analyses cyclists’ performance in every workout. It uses these insights to automatically determine Progression Levels, a real-time reflection of relative abilities across power zones.”

Generally, the process of setting yourself a training plan involves setting goals or an event to work towards, working backwards to determine weekly or monthly micro targets, and then drilling down into the workouts that need to be performed each day to take you to those goals. It takes quite a bit of time and ends up looking very smart on a calendar, but then life tends to play its usual trick of getting in the way. Those carefully laid plans can quickly unravel and it is this that TrainerRoad’s Adaptive Training feature is looking to address.

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Training sessions have all been ranked within their category - be that sprint, VO₂, threshold - by TrainerRoad to give the rider an indication of the session’s difficulty.

Adaptive Training works, TrainerRoad says, by analysing the rider’s performance within the various power zones. Should the rider be struggling to complete a set of VO₂ max intervals, for example, the technology would, it is claimed, suggest that the next VO₂ max workout be easier.

When following a TrainerRoad training plan, the software will suggest adaptations that take into account the rider’s recent training, form and recovery. If the rider is improving quickly, then Adaptive Training will suggest a harder replacement session. This, TrainerRoad says, will be of equal duration to the one it is replacing, but have a higher intensity factor (IF) that results in a higher training stress score (TSS).

The rider can choose to accept changes to their training sessions or give the system full autonomy by always adjusting the training plan automatically.

TrainerRoad also says that they are working on outdoor rides being given their own difficulty classification, which should help riders who mix indoor sessions with regular rides as the system will take into account the rider’s long, unstructured weekend rides instead of assuming that they had two rest days. This feature is still in the planning stage though, with no release date set.

TrainerRoad says that individual aspects of the new technology will be rolled out gradually though in due course it will be available to all users in all training plans. Currently in a close beta phase, Adaptive Training will be rolled out to users in batches and TrainerRoad is clear that they expect some bugs to be found in the early stages.

trainerroad.com