Hi all. I’m not sure why most if not all my workouts are at reduced 4dp? Some as low as 60% of mt ftp and it feels like a waste of time and a distinct lack of suffering. I crank them up in my settings to 110%, but why does that app to this in the first place?
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Hi there sir.
Can you add a little bit more context please and we can help.
Are in following a plan for example?
I could take a complete punt (sorry if this is wrong guess) that you might be at the start of a plan maybe?
If so, many plans are designed with week 1 are reduced intensity … if so, the idea is to get you to a specific point before the workouts go full on.
And then during the plan you’ll occasionally see them again (deliberately) sometimes during recovery weeks.
If it is because it’s week one of the plan then normal suggestion is to follow the plan for a week and trust it.
My one worry bead is that you can do the workouts at 110% though. Maybe we can help with that.
How did your 4DP test go?
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The ones that are significantly reduced are likely the “active recovery” rides. Read all about that here
https://thesufferfest.com/blogs/training-resources/active-recovery-a-sufferlandrian-s-best-friend-or-couchlandrian-nonsense
A quote from a particularly relevant section:
You need to remember one thing though, Active Recovery is EASY. Really easy! gasp That isn’t a problem for most people in the time between intervals, because you probably don’t want to be pedalling at all. Where most people get it wrong is on recovery rides . These need to be ridiculously, almost frustratingly easy. In the words of Sir Neal Henderson “You should feel embarrassed to be seen riding so easy”. The best riders in the world know how to ride really hard, but just as importantly they know how to ride really easy.
The other reductions are there to get the right “balance between training stress, fatigue and recovery in order to get the maximum Return on Suffering” (quoting from https://thesufferfest.com/blogs/training-resources/why-you-should-do-as-youre-told)
p.s. I’d take the moderately reduced Nine Hammers my plan has just had me do over the 100% version almost any day of the SUF week! But then I can’t do it at 100% anyway 
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Your correct I just started a tempo block.
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So this is week 3 using the app. I had the 14 day free trial, and have now signed up for a year. I took the half monty during the 14 day trial period, and then took the half monty again. both times the test result said it doubted the accuracy of the result, the first time, I thought it was probably the newness of the test, the second time I was deadly accurate totally focused and still had bad results ( I was super aggravated for waste an hour). I’m using and SC3 stages bike.
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You’re doing the tempo block, that’s why. If the workouts are at 100% then you’d be at or over FTP, which isn’t tempo.
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I think you already got a few very helpful answers in here.
Maybe a tempo block is not what you are looking for right now? Did you read the details when you set up the plan?
Most workout are reduced in intensity. You can see this in the plan builder. Almost every workout has some coach notes attached to it (red circled icon in the next picture).
Me personally, I like to be guided by a whole structured plan instead of building my own - so much less hassle.
If speed is what you are looking for, may I suggest you start by trying this:
One more thing though, @Martin already mentioned this: Your invalid numbers and the possibility of doing every workout at 110% means something isn’t quite right. I recommend we try to fix this before.
You did the half monty with no success (invalid numbers). Did you try the complete Full Frontal Fitness Test?
That’s a pretty good starting point for your journey here in sufferlandria.
It’s best to start reading the following article and then please come back if you have any questions:
https://thesufferfest.com/blogs/training-resources/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-full-frontal
I hope you will figure it out. Let us know what you decide and how we can help.
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Thanks for the response. I am still very much figuring out navigating the app. Where did you find that ‘best for’ info?
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No worries, we will figure this out together. Your time to suffer will come. 
“Show Details” during the set-up process for a new plan:
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One thing that can take a bit of getting used to is that these workouts were designed with text and heart rate zones for 100%, and if the workout is reduced, the text on screen may be telling you to sprint and the heart zones on screen may be a lot higher than what you are actually putting out.
So if your workout has 50-70% intensity for a sprint, it should say, “Sprint!.. but like a lot less than a normal because this is a reduced intensity workout”.
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Dont know if this helps but I had the same message about the results not being trusted after doing Half Monty. I contacted the Wonderful Minions who actually looked at my test, then went on to explain that I had gone a bit too hard in the build up but only slightly out of the boundaries, meaning that my score could be trusted. You will often see the Minions on the forum so you can trust that your issues will be sorted in no time.
Cheers
Simon
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I think it’d be worth emailing the minions so you know why your Half Monty results are invalid. They’ll help know what went wrong so you can nail it next time.
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Yup - what @Alistair_Brown says. Shoot them a note and you’ll get loads of help.
You can get them here … theminions@thesufferfest.com
Thanks so much for all your help. I will contact the minions to figure out my half monty results. As a new member here, it’s very appreciated that so many of you took the time to answer my questions.
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Wonderful to see such great Sufferlandrian support in here. This is what the spirit of SUF is all about!
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Maybe the original idea with the Suff workouts was to offer intense workouts for time challenged people, so many workouts are around 1 hour long. The training plans have expanded a lot recently , intensities are adjusted for the workouts to fit the intention of the plan. If every workout was full on then they would just grind you down. Allow them to build you up and take you from where you are to where you want to be
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