TrainerRoad: Editing Your Training Plans with Adaptive Training and Manual Adjustments

How do I edit a training plan in TrainerRoad?

Editing your training plan in TrainerRoad is primarily facilitated by its Adaptive Training (AT) system, which intelligently adjusts your schedule based on performance and feedback, though manual adjustments are also readily available through the calendar interface to accommodate life's unpredictable demands.

Understanding TrainerRoad's Adaptive Training System

TrainerRoad's Adaptive Training is a sophisticated, AI-driven system designed to personalize your training plan. It continuously evaluates your performance, progression levels across various energy systems (e.g., endurance, threshold, VO2 Max), and your subjective feedback (post-workout surveys) to make dynamic adjustments to your prescribed workouts. This ensures your training remains optimally challenging and effective, preventing stagnation or overtraining.

Key Components:

• Progression Levels: Numerical representations of your current fitness across different power zones and workout types.
• Performance Analytics: Your completed workouts are analyzed against your target power and duration.
• Post-Workout Surveys: Your subjective rating of a workout's difficulty (e.g., "Very Easy," "Moderate," "All Out") directly informs the system.
• Automatic Adaptations: Based on the above data, AT may suggest harder or easier workouts, or even entirely different types of workouts, to best match your current fitness and recovery state.

Why Edit a Training Plan?

Even with an intelligent system like Adaptive Training, life happens. Manual intervention or understanding why AT makes certain adjustments is crucial for long-term consistency and success. Common reasons to edit a training plan include:

• Illness or Injury: Requiring rest or modified activity.
• Travel or Vacation: Disrupting access to equipment or time for training.
• Unexpected Life Events: Work demands, family commitments, or general fatigue.
• Feeling Over- or Under-Trained: Subjective experience not yet fully captured by objective metrics.
• Specific Event Preparation: Needing to shift focus or taper for an upcoming race.
• Equipment Changes: Adapting to new bikes, trainers, or power meters.

Core Methods for Editing Your TrainerRoad Plan

TrainerRoad offers both automatic and manual methods to modify your training plan.

Using Adaptive Training's Suggestions

The most common and recommended way to "edit" your plan in TrainerRoad is by engaging with Adaptive Training.

• Accepting Adaptations: When AT identifies a need for adjustment (e.g., you crushed a workout, or struggled with one), it will present a notification on your calendar (typically an orange banner). Clicking "Apply Adaptations" will automatically modify upcoming workouts to better suit your current fitness.
• Rejecting Adaptations: If you disagree with AT's proposed changes (e.g., you know you'll be feeling better next week, or you have a specific reason to stick to the original plan), you can choose to "Decline Adaptations." TrainerRoad will then revert to the original plan or propose different changes.
• Mid-Plan Assessment: Sometimes, AT will prompt you to take a Ramp Test or a specific assessment workout if it detects significant changes in your fitness or if it needs more data to accurately adjust your Progression Levels.

Manual Plan Adjustments (Calendar View)

For specific, immediate, or non-performance-related changes, the TrainerRoad calendar is your primary tool.

• Moving Workouts:
  • Navigate to your Calendar in the TrainerRoad app or web interface.
  • Click and drag a workout from its current day to a new day. This is ideal for shifting a workout due to a schedule conflict.
• Swapping Workouts (Alternatives):
  • On your calendar, click on the workout you wish to change.
  • In the workout details pane that appears, select "Alternatives."
  • TrainerRoad will suggest a list of comparable workouts, categorized by difficulty (Easier, Moderate, Harder) and type (e.g., Endurance, Threshold). These suggestions are based on your current Progression Levels.
  • Select the desired alternative workout, and it will replace the original one on your calendar.
• Adding/Removing Workouts:
  • To add a workout: Navigate to the desired day on your calendar. Click the "+" icon or "Add Workout." You can then browse TrainerRoad's extensive workout library by type, duration, or specific name.
  • To remove a workout: Click on the workout on your calendar, then select the "Delete" or "Remove" option in the workout details pane.
• Changing Workout Intensity:
  • While viewing a workout on your calendar, you can adjust its Intensity Offset. This is a percentage adjustment applied to the workout's target power. For example, setting it to 95% will make the workout 5% easier. This can be useful for minor adjustments on days you feel slightly fatigued or exceptionally strong.
• Adding Annotations:
  • On any day in your calendar, you can add an "Annotation" (a note). This is invaluable for tracking why you made a specific change, noting how you felt, or logging external events that impacted your training (e.g., "travel day," "sick," "long run").

Adjusting Training Load & Volume

Beyond individual workouts, you can make broader adjustments to your entire plan.

• Changing Plan Volume:
  • Go to your Training Plan section.
  • Most TrainerRoad plans offer Low, Medium, and High Volume options. Switching between these will automatically adjust the number of workouts per week and the total training hours, allowing you to scale your commitment up or down.
• Adding/Removing Rest Weeks:
  • You can manually insert a Rest Week into your plan via the calendar. This is crucial for recovery and preventing burnout, especially during long training blocks. Conversely, you can remove an automatically scheduled rest week if your schedule demands it, though this is generally not recommended without careful consideration.
• Adjusting Goal Date:
  • If your target event date changes, or you decide to extend/shorten your training block, you can adjust your Goal Date within your plan settings. TrainerRoad will then re-periodize and reschedule your entire plan to align with the new target.

Best Practices for Effective Plan Editing

• Prioritize Consistency: Small, intelligent adjustments are far better than completely abandoning a plan.
• Listen to Your Body: Use your subjective feeling (Rate of Perceived Exertion, fatigue levels) in conjunction with TrainerRoad's data. If you're consistently feeling rundown, consider easier alternatives or adding an extra rest day.
• Utilize Annotations: Documenting why you made a change is crucial for learning and future planning. It helps you identify patterns in your training and recovery.
• Review Progression Levels: After making significant changes or experiencing disruptions, check your Progression Levels. They provide an objective snapshot of how your fitness profile is evolving.
• Communicate with Your Coach (If Applicable): If you work with a human coach, always discuss any significant plan deviations with them to ensure alignment with your overall strategy.

When to Seek Expert Guidance

While TrainerRoad's Adaptive Training and manual tools are powerful, there are instances where professional advice is warranted:

• Chronic Fatigue or Overtraining Symptoms: If you're consistently exhausted, seeing declining performance, or experiencing unusual mood swings, a coach or medical professional can help identify underlying issues.
• Complex Injury Management: Training around injuries requires careful planning and often the guidance of a physical therapist or sports doctor.
• Highly Specific Race Preparation: For A-priority races with unique demands, a coach can provide nuanced insights that automated systems might miss.
• Uncertainty About Significant Deviations: If you're unsure how a major disruption (e.g., a month-long break) should impact your plan, a coach can help re-establish a logical progression.

Conclusion

TrainerRoad's Adaptive Training system significantly streamlines the process of editing your training plan by proactively adjusting to your performance. However, mastering the manual editing tools within the calendar provides you with the ultimate control to navigate life's unpredictability. By combining the intelligence of Adaptive Training with judicious manual adjustments and a keen awareness of your body's signals, you can maintain consistency, optimize your training load, and achieve your fitness goals more effectively.