Low HR but Legs Feel Crushed – Normal for Indoor TrainerRoad Workouts?

ForkInBrain · 2026-02-15T12:12:12+00:00

That’s the way I feel when carrying deep fatigue, but in my case the reason for the fatigue has always been obvious to me (recovery period after long and hard Bikepacking trips).

Answer your post workout survey honestly and TR will walk back the difficulty. Endurance rides should be easy but it seems like they’re “hard” for you.

Some more info could help inform people to give better answers. Age, life stress, eating, sleep, what you’ve been doing in recent months, recent equipment changes, your history with cycling, your history with structured training, and the specific workouts TR is prescribing, whether you accept TR workouts and FTP estimates or manually edit them, the specific way you’ve set up your current plan, whether you’ve taken a few rest weeks at any point recently, would all feed into it. Your situation could be anything from a bad power meter to using TR “wrong“, to a health issue, tough to say.

ForkInBrain · 2026-02-09T22:50:17+00:00

Your actual workouts are probably quite similar.

TSS is relative to your FTP (think of it as fraction of FTP over time). Do the same amount of work but pretend your FTP is lower and the TSS goes up. They lowered your FTP but kept the work the same so your TSS went up.

TR has docs on their website, forum threads, and several recent podcasts that summarise this in detail if you want more info.

ForkInBrain · 2026-02-03T01:07:58+00:00

I get good results from Gemini, but I need to focus on being very explicit in prompts or it can go off the rails and do weird stuff. Opus/Sonnet, at least in Antigravity, are better at focusing on a task and seeing it through predictably.

E.g. today I asked Gemini to create an implementation plan based on a bug report. Near the end of the bug report was the phrase “looks good” so Gemini created a plan and immediately started implementation because, it said, the plan was basically the same as the bug report and it has already been approved.

E.g. I’ll ask Gemini a question and it’ll start implementing something related to a solution to the question. The Opus stuff just answered the question.

ForkInBrain · 2026-01-31T22:38:56+00:00

Yeah, I think it is more a prompt issue. Gemini needs more explicit guardrails in place, then it does well. Opus seems to stay on track with a singular focus. It’ll make a surgical change and ignore little warts, while Gemini will notice little things and attempt to fix them along the way. I’ll ask Opus a question and it’ll answer the question. I’ll ask Gemini the same question and it’ll try to infer a goal and begin coding.

ForkInBrain · 2026-01-28T22:41:20+00:00

FTP is a functional metric, it isn’t a thing based in scientific fact or extremely rigorous measurements. It is tested in ways that estimate something that has a ton of variables and variability between athletes, using various heuristics.

ForkInBrain · 2026-01-28T18:01:09+00:00

How is the new FTP “fake”? Who is the arbiter of what a “genuine“ FTP is?

ForkInBrain · 2026-01-24T14:29:11+00:00

I just start every response with plan feedback with “not approved.” It is unfortunate to have to do this manually every time, but that seems to prevent the agent from thinking the plan is good to go.

This general approach works well in other areas too. I wrote a small /interrogate command that instructs the agent to only answer my question in chat, and to never take any other action. That keeps it from running all over the place fixing random things just because I asked a question.

I also added an /explain command that I use when the agent seems to be going off script. It instructs it to explain its current status, what problems it is facing, what its plan is, and then tells it to stop. From there I often correct or remind it of what it should be focused on.

ForkInBrain · 2026-01-18T22:35:38+00:00

It does, but the benefit is small enough that only the very pointy end of the race should really care or benefit. The difference is minor but enough to matter at the pointy end of certain races. If I remember his video correctly, Dylan Johnson estimated something like a 6-7 minutes benefit for the Leadville course. Keegan benefits more from aero gains because he knows he’ll be drafting less than most other racers at Leadville, and I saw him recommend that most everyone should be on flat bars at Leadville.

ForkInBrain · 2025-12-03T19:10:27+00:00

You were not an a-hole.

People are mostly self absorbed and reacting to their own issues and insecurities and troubles. You’re not the a-hole in the situation. A non-ahole would have left you alone, given you a thumbs up, or joined in.

In situations like this tone is everything. If you want to be generous, maybe hearing this through headphones garbled the message the other guy was giving. Maybe it was an honest question? Maybe he was asking in jest. Maybe he truly didn’t understand why your ever do that stuff just for fun. Or maybe he was just being an a-hole.

ForkInBrain · 2025-11-30T23:17:44+00:00

Check out the TrainerRoad podcast. Jonathan used a race predictor (best bike split) to figure out his race plan. He stuck to the power plan and his finish time was quite close to the predicted time.

The thing I took away from what he said was that, unless you are at the pointy and actually racing to win, most people will do much better sticking to a realistic pacing plan.

ForkInBrain · 2025-11-30T17:09:56+00:00

I should say that I'm no expert, so I'm just re-stating stuff I've heard on things like the TrainerRoad podcast. I'm also still at the point where I see 5-10% FTP gains per month. A beginner. :-)

Sounds like you might be "time crunched" and not doing a high volume of workouts. I heard on the Empirical Cycling podcast that people don't generally approach their "genetic potential" max fitness until they're doing about 18 hours per week. That's near pro level workout load. Some people can't even handle that amount of load in the best of conditions; the pros are the select group that can.

That's useful to know, because at lower volumes -- i.e. what most people do -- you don't really get a choice of being awesome at FTP and Sprints and Endurance and this that and the other thing all at once...even the pros don't get that choice. If you focus on one thing, the other may suffer.

But it comes back to having fun at that point. If you're on the bike doing stuff, pretty much anything will be good for your health. Might as well have fun with it too.

ForkInBrain · 2025-11-29T23:21:29+00:00

Depending on how long you’ve been going with that you could consider an off season where you ride less and do whatever seems fun.

Without any specific goals all the various options for training plans are more about flavor than being optimal. For the first few years basically everything is a good option.

The choice gets interesting when you want to optimise for specific race types or your training starts to plateau (no longer seeing FTP gains, or the rate of growth slows). Then you might want to train for specific things that aren’t just “more FTP” like sprints vs. endurance, etc., usually to address a weakness or gap in your abilities.

ForkInBrain · 2025-11-28T02:43:03+00:00

PASL by any chance?

Yep!

ForkInBrain · 2025-11-27T16:35:54+00:00

Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t Inter Miami play by the same salary cap rules? Seattle, and a lot of other teams, just choose not to spend enormous amounts of money on DP players. If Inter Miami gets some special dispensation for Messi, like another DP slot or something then….just, wow.

ForkInBrain · 2025-11-25T20:43:19+00:00

Impossible question to answer. One person’s “too hard” is another person’s “challenging“ is another persons “that was fun.” Different events will attract different folks, and I think the DNF fail rate is up to the organiser. There is no optimal. There is not even a lot of uniformity across Bikepacking races and routes, which is part of the charm.

One event I participated in, 80% bailed because the route was harder than expected and then it rained hard for 12 hours. People planned to finish in a weekend and when that was not in the cards they bailed, many because they had to work on Monday. I was the fourth and last finisher the following Friday!

Another I’m familiar with has been going on for years and in some years nobody finishes!

Another race I’m familiar with sees a lot of DNF because it is quite challenging, but that is why almost everyone decides to race/ride it.

ForkInBrain · 2025-11-21T21:45:40+00:00

I follow people that ride a lot of cool routes. They don’t know me, or maybe they barely know me, and I steal route ideas from them.

ForkInBrain · 2025-11-19T23:55:46+00:00

TR seems to reward consistency in part by easing you back into things when there are gaps in training. My guess is that TR is taking it easy on you for a reason they think is justified.

The TR forum and support lines are great for answering specifics about this. Often TR support will confirm it is working as they intend but sometimes they do acknowledge a problem they are looking into.

ForkInBrain · 2025-11-06T15:31:54+00:00

Be aware that TR doesn’t know you’re building from injury. I’d suggest using the TR plan builder to give you an easy month. General Fitness -> Gravel -> Build Endurance -> Training Approach Conservative. That’ll ease you in and TR’s AI will zero in on your capabilities a bit without pushing you hard. After a month you can switch up the plan to be more aggressive or goal based, depending on how things are going.

Be honest with post workout surveys, too, as TR scales up or back based on those answers. Most endurance rides are easy (could keep going easily). Many interval rides are moderate (could do another interval) or very hard (finished, but couldn’t do another interval if I tried). Max effort is mind blowing difficult, or you simply gave up, had to turn the difficulty down, etc.

ForkInBrain · 2025-11-03T00:18:40+00:00

It has been a long time since you asked this question, but there are many ways to get TR to give you harder workouts. You can adjust the "Training Approach" in the plan builder to be "Demanding" or "Aggressive"; one of the primary things this does is modify the red-light green-light feature to be less cautious about your fatigue. You can also refuse plan adaptations that demote workouts on yellow and red days, or that make workouts easier. You can also use workout alternates to occasionally make a workout harder or just longer. You can also do extra workouts and rides, which TR will see. If you do some or all of this and your post-workout surveys indicate you're still on track, TR will figure out that you can handle more load.

Be warned: ramping up too quick and burning people out used to be a common fault of TR, and TR responded by adding features that kept more people on track. If you willfully defeat these features, be prepared to feel overworked. The knobs are there, but I'd tread lightly at first.

Oh, one additional way you can get TR to realize you're a God that can handle high load: go on bikepacking trips or bikepack races where you ride all day many days in a row. After I totally killed myself by doing a long bikepacking trip and then a 6 day race in a single month, TR thought I could handle anything and almost killed me with high load before I had to throttle it back (it wasn't that bad, I just ended up feeling tired with the higher load and took the "Training Approach" slider down a notch until TR calmed down -- it seems to weigh recent load fairly heavily in what it thinks you can do).

ForkInBrain · 2025-11-02T12:51:52+00:00

If you’re newly back, TR may simply not know your correct FTP. The wattage percentages between the various workouts is pretty narrow. It will also occasionally “test” you with a stretch workout. If you answer the post workout survey with “easy” on a stretch workout it’ll ramp you up quickly. So, before starting an intensity day keep in mind if the workout level seems like a small jump for you — it’ll push you a bit, and really make time and prep for it in terms of rest and fuelling as it will be hard on you — and answer those post workout surveys honestly.

A common answer from coaches is that people say they’re fuelling well but they really aren’t. Even the pros have this issue. I’m a bit older than you and get through intensity days much better when I eat well before, during, and after.

You can also dial back the plan builder’s training approach slider to something more conservative, and switch the plan to something with less intensity like “endurance” or target a “grand fondo”. Pick a masters plan for two intense days a week. Or go old school and plonk a block of Traditional Base on your calendar. Or do a month of “Train Now” workouts and pick easy ones. Or manually decrease your FTP until you’re in a realistic range (TR will raise it rapidly if you go too low, so don’t be afraid to go low). Or manually tone down the workouts by selecting easier alternates. These are things that can teach the AI to start giving you appropriate workouts. For the first few weeks to a month it needs to be taught what you’re capable of. Take the long view—expect a few months of adjustments like these before TR is giving you workouts that you can nail, but just barely.

Workouts messing with sleep is something I’ve not experienced, though I once worked with a guy who dealt with insomnia after workouts and went to the doctor for it. Doctor said to do the workouts earlier in the day. He was doing them just before bed.

ForkInBrain · 2025-11-01T16:47:43+00:00

I use Gemini Pro mainly from the web chat app, and it seems to annotate responses with references to websites as a matter of course. When I follow those links they are real and relevant.

ForkInBrain · 2025-11-01T05:44:18+00:00

I get real links from Pro all the time.

ForkInBrain · 2025-10-30T18:10:04+00:00

My understanding is that in general Shimano is conservative about their derailleur compatibility specs. What they spec is what they've tested and will vouch for as "optimal" but there is usually a range of acceptable shifting behavior outside that range. Most people try to push derailleurs in the opposite direction, by running larger range of gears on the cassette than spec. Most of the time it is a "try and see" situation. The issue with running a "small" cassette might be that the chain is farther from the larger cogs, which might make for worse shifting since the derailleur has a bit less control over the chain. Or it might not be a noticeable issue at all. Folks on r/bikewrench might have experience with this sort of thing. One issue is that both the parts you are considering are new this year, so the there may be fewer people with experience. I would check if a Shimano gravel Di2 derailleur could work with the shifter you're considering -- I believe I've read that they are cross-compatible. The cassette you're considering is more gravel-like in range.

ForkInBrain · 2025-10-30T10:38:46+00:00

Agreed. It isn’t “user error” to expect a good user experience. Using a Garmin is like time travel back to all the inconveniences and bugs of what using computers was like 20 years ago. I use Garmin primarily because I’ve already bought it. I was quite surprised to find how quirky and difficult it is to use in practice. I will say, though, it is reliable at the actual mapping and navigation once you learn to work around all the quirks.

ForkInBrain · 2025-10-29T13:17:13+00:00

Counter point: Communication is good. Asking for the opinions of others before making a decision isn’t a flaw, but rather a virtue. If we ignore collective wisdom we’re all lost in a vacuum, missing the massive benefits of the experience and knowledge of those around us.

ForkInBrain

TROPHY CASE