Several features which would make the app much easier to use, some of which I have already found mentioned in the forum, others I haven’t:
Be able to shift the whole plan and not have to cancel it and redo it with finishing date, etc. Right now it is a PITA missing a session and trying to redo the whole plan
Be able to select “weekends off” just so the plan doesn’t interfere with the real riding outside (in my case I train with Sufferfest to be able to ride faster, for a longer time) - doesn’t make sense I have to reshuffle the plan because I was actually riding for real
Be able to upload strava/garmin/stages data from rides on to the app to have a full picture of your overall training (also useful for workouts you can actually do outside, like standing starts)
Be able to configure resting days/have a “tiredness” workout to check if you’re over trained: I feel most of the plans tend to over do it with the training intensity, and there is not enough focus on active recovery/rest - too much is worse than too little
Yoga/Strength workouts should also be grouped but in this case under targeted muscle groups (abs, legs, arms) - takes a while to find what you’re looking for under the current system
I know some of this is redundant, but I don’t think it should be so hard to implement and it would make the app almost perfect
There are plans with Outside rides on the weekends. You may have to select several plans to add in strength and yoga though and I highly recommend you do so. They are designed for cycling and will help even out the rough spots!
Yes, I know, but it’s no more that one day, (if that, and not for all weekends) that I’ve seen and I would rather be able to select the full weekend off if I want to and not have to fish around so that I find a plan that has free weekends because in that case maybe I don’t like the plan, or I’d rather do another one - or maybe the plan has free weekends but depending on when you start it the free days will not match the weekends - better to add the option to free them up…or if it’s that difficult, find another app.
Same thing with yoga and strength - I add yoga and strength to my plans, but sometimes I need to stretch a specific muscle or want to do an extra session for core, or abs or whatever I fancy - being able to find them quickly would help, instead of checking whether intermediate strength II does what I want it to do - again, not rocket science, just asking for ease of use - after all it’s users that pay for the app, so maybe listen to suggestions?
@MSR The plans are flexible enough that you CAN take a weekend off if you feel you need to. Most are Endurance/Tempo as well. If you need to shorten time on the bike, you can do that as well. There is a forum post as well as a blog post on the sufferfest.com with what to do if you skip a workout and another post when you should. Right now I’m doing the Century plan and just finished the Hilly Grand Fondo plan and both have weekend rides that I could do during the week.
I regularly shift the specific day of an activity use the ‘change workout date’ – if I’ve missed or want to push a week’s worth, then I would reschedule the whole plan, otherwise this suits me. And if I’m doing an outdoor ride that I think is at least as much of a ride as whatever was scheduled, I click ‘mark as done’ – the training plan is for me and the benefit of improving my cycling, so I’m in charge of whether it’s considered done or not
Yeah, I do shift days too, but I think my point hasn’t come across clearly :
If the training plans are set up in order, I assume it is because they have been designed that way, shifting one day occasionally is ok, but having to shift several is:
a) a pain, as you have to check beforehand where you have a free slot and where the specific workout can fit in best (I wish there was a drag and drop feature in the calendar)
b) defeats the purpose of following a plan in the first place - if I am going to end up with workouts just rearranged haphazardly, then I might as well train by feel rather than “science” - hence my suggestion of just moving the whole plan as a block forward from a date
I admit that may be my OCD talking, just as marking a workout as done which I’ve never been able to do - when I ride outside I go by volume, rather than structured intensity, so the type of training, even though it is higher volume when outside, is not of the same quality - as I said in b) I follow Sufferfest plans because I believe they are structured logically and pack better training in less time than just going riding, and thus is why I try to follow the order in which they are set and finish all of them without skipping any.
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