Sufferfest New Features - TR Killer?

I’ve seen this suggestion. I just hope that this doesn’t mean pricing people out of racing even more and degrading the race preparation value of the lower tier. One of the huge benefits of TR right now is that people can do structured training who might not be able to afford a coach.

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It wouldn’t. The current form of TR – the one that ALL of us now use – would be kept the same (with the addition of motivational bling)…the plans, the price, etc. wouldn’t change. A different ‘Performance’ tier would include more specialized and personalized training workouts and plans but at an increased cost and without all the engagement trophies, just straight up hardcore training. This business model is used everywhere by successful companies so it’s not a losing proposition, i.e. TR can still deliver on their core mission in both platforms.

I can’t see this near-future as it would have to be built by some kind of AI/ML base using TRs Big Data. Perhaps >5 years down the road when they get a good deep dive into their info and customer metrics.

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Not sure if you saw the latest, but my calendar shows the TSS for that individual activity as well as the overall week highlighted in orange in the below screenshot.

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I could watch her do Yoga for hours. :slight_smile:

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Funny. Looking at Ray Maker’s discussion of SF’s changes, he leads with “disabling workout videos,” which, based on the screen shots make SF a lot like TrainerRoad. (The videos, the music selection, the fact that the workout seemed to be mostly about hammering yourself into the ground, and several other things about the platform turned me off on it when I was looking at training platforms in late 2017.) Looking at the rest of Ray’s discussion, I see:

  • Metrics I won’t be able to focus on during a hard workout that don’t seem very useful for easier workouts. (Cadence is about all I can focus on during anything hard.)
  • Another iteration of power testing and related data that I can easily find by looking at my PRs.
  • Color coding for what power duration a specific interval is supposed to improve. Only, I keep hearing people saying and seeing evidence in my own training that intervals improve more than just the specific duration they’re training.
  • No Android app (deal killer for me) and no plans for one (killed, 50 stakes through the heart, beheaded, stuffed with garlic, burned, ashes scattered over four continents).
  • Did yoga classes for a while a few years ago, know the basics, don’t need videos to string together a basic workout, but I’d rather just pull a few of the moves that fit well with post ride stretches and simple body weight strength training.
  • Which probably tells you where I am on strength training.
  • I get my mental training from McAdie +1, VO2Max workouts, and the like. Whiteside +2 with 20 minutes of extended cool down was a mental challenge too, and came with quite a sense of accomplishment.

I get that some people don’t know yoga, can’t look up basic strength training plans on sites like ACE Fitness, like paying for flashy videos and loud music of someone else’s choosing, etc.,. That’s fine. YMMV. To me, SF is more filler than meat.

I’m not seeing much about analytics or a calendar either, both of which quickly became important features when TR introduced them.

Meanwhile, see paragraph 6, “SufferFest was a prime example of that, …” for a hint of where some of the ideas that are improving the SF UI, no video workouts, etc., may be coming from.

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Tried to catch up on this thread as much as possible so apologize if this has already been mentioned:

The only thing I miss about Sufferfest are mixed interval sessions. As in, I would love for most of my non-endurance interval sessions to be mixed. No reason you can’t work on VO2max type intervals and sweet spot (for example) in the same session. Currently I have to do this by piecing together workouts like Legos.

I asked about it here: Mixed Interval Sessions/Workouts

Not really a thing TR folks get in to I guess, which is a shame because it’s actually a lot like riding a bike, an activity I think most would enjoy :wink::hugs::wink:

As others have mentioned I’ve never been too keen on the SF brand of humor/motivation. I’m not 14 years old anymore.

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I could LISTEN to her do yoga for seconds. :confounded::hear_no_evil:

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I don’t know how common these workouts are, but my current plan had me doing a mixed session yesterday - Winchell +1. They definitely exist and are included in the plans - although you are correct that the majority of the workouts are focused on a single type of interval

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Disaster is another mixed session. :wink:

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And the Disaster -1, Disaster -2 (which is actually a great workout).

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I’ve not been a subscriber of Sufferfest for a long time, but interesting to see on dcrainmaker.com that SF have gone with a transparent overlay which is good.

The amount of times I do lesser intensity workouts here on TrainerRoad and want to watch something in ‘Minimal’ only to have part of the screen obscured and miss important details has always been a bug bear of mine.

I was trying to watch Criterium Racing | Attacking vs. Patrolling | Race Analysis with TrainerRoad on YouTube this morning and this was my options.

Miss the stats

Miss some of the action

I know I’ve asked before https://www.trainerroad.com/forumt/feature-request-transparency-switch/2781 , but come on @Nate_Pearson this would be so useful, and we know you guys can work your magic and make it possible, as the newish ‘Extend Warmup’ and ‘Extend Cooldown’ overlay / button is transparent when the view is in ‘Minimal’?

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We are currently working on making the extend warmup/cooldown button much less obtrusive, so stay tuned for updates on that :+1:

As for the minimal mode obscuring content on screen, I would recommend taking the background YouTube Video out of full-screen mode. By shrinking the window vertically, you will get black bars on the right and left sides, however, you will be able to see all of the content on screen.

Cheers!

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Are you able to explain more about Best Bike Split and a power level for a course?
Thanks

@tshortt Custom WorkoutCreator . Take your favorite VO2 workout and add in some sweet spot.

I love these ideas.

Wow, full blown race.

Kinda. There are actually race simulation workouts in the catalog too.

It would be nice to see the iPad app support split screen. I’m always running TrainerRoad on my phone and watching netflix/youtube/whatever on the iPad and I miss stuff on the phone screen sometimes. A thin vertical setup with stacked cadence/workout text/power info would be nice to just put on the side of the iPad screen and notice things more easily.

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(1) it has been already explained in past podcasts and they don’t want us to get distracted with unnecessary information at the screen and they judge that what is there is enough for an efficient training session(which I agree).

(3) unless they’ve recently removed this feature you should be able to adjust the intensity on the fly.

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In the Beta app it’s moved to the status bar.

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