[OwenFW]

Do you all think there is any sense in using the Annual Training Plan functionality in Training Peaks when also using an Uphill Athlete training program? I was in the middle of self-programming using the ATP when I launched into the Intro to Ultras training plan after a transition period in my ATP. This has thrown me off my CTL goals for my events later in the year. However, the ultras training plan is definitely helping me reach my fitness goals. And, before long, I think the UA plan will get me back into the CTL range I had been shooting for. But it’s also conceivable that if my ATP called for more TSS in a week that the UA plan achieved, I could add crosstraining activities outside of my UA training plan to maintain a higher overall ramp rate. But with the ATP recovery weeks totally out of sync with the UA recovery weeks, the whole thing is a mess.

I think at this point I’m just going to ignore the ATP through the end of this training plan, but I’d love to hear if others have pondered this and what solutions you might have come up with. Surely there is some way to sync up ATP and training plans, since these are both core TP functions. Adding projected TSS to workouts each week isn’t too hard, but beyond that I’m at a loss how to leverage these two tools at once. Thanks!

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on July 30, 2019 at 11:42 am #25715

Owen:

I never use the ATP feature on TP. I’ve tried it with many pro athletes before rejecting it. It’s a nice idea and would be lovely if we were machines and you as a coach had perfect knowledge and foresight. Unfortunately the mechanistic approach can lead one to believe that you can actually make that sort of futuristic predictions with the dire consequence of becoming a slave to the plan.

Our training plans are laid out on shorter lengths for a reason. It is already a bit if stretch for us to program in detail what you will be doing on a given day 6, 10 or 16 weeks from today except in the most general manner. This is why we spend so much ink on explaining how to monitor your training, when to rest and how dangerous it can be to be locked into a rigid structure that seemed like a great idea when you wrote 4 months ago but now is leading you over a cliff. Injury, illness, work and general life stress and unexpected fatigue are all very real and crucial factors that need to be accounted AND accommodated for if you hope to get your best results. This accommodation has to happen in real time, right now. Every day you need to make an assessment of your preparedness to execute the days training effectively.

Even with my coached professionals, even if I am seeing and watching their training every day I find that I am adjusting their training (usually down grading a workout to recovery effort) based on that preparedness around 10% of the time. Just this morning I was out with one of XC skiers for what was supposed to be an Z4 interval session. During the warm up she realized her legs were not ready and that the workout would be compromised. The workout immediately became a 45 min recovery run. Even yesterday she was feeling like she was going to be ready for this important workout. Life and training is like that.

So, do not lock yourself into a strict ATP. Even our stock plans need to be adjusted. I just think it is waste of effort to get down in the weeds about how many hours you will be doing 30 weeks from now. Better to spend that effort monitoring your training while keeping the big picture of how you want the progression to flow.

scott

[OwenFW]

OwenFW on July 30, 2019 at 11:05 pm #25760

Thank you so much for your excellent response, Scott.

I was going to follow up by asking how you shift weeks of a plan forward if an athlete needs additional rest, but then I looked closer at the calendar interface and answered my own question!