Plan Builder Overview
Plan Builder is a tool that creates custom plans tailored to you and your goals. Plan Builder considers the unique
demands of your goals, your available training time, and your recent training history to build a plan specific to you.
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With Plan Builder, training plans exist for just about every cycling discipline and can account for the specific needs
of individual athletes. Build your custom plan and get training right away!
Note: The most up to date Plan Builder is only available on the TrainerRoad website! We recommend building your custom
plan on the TrainerRoad website to gain access to all of Plan Builders new functionality
Plan Builder Walk-Through
Plan Builder takes you through a series of steps to build you a fully tailored custom training plan. In Plan Builder,
you add a start date, set goals and events for your schedule, choose how you would like to approach your training and
customize your plan schedule. After Plan Builder builds your plan you’ll have the option to review it before adding your
new plan to you Calendar. Customizing your plan is super easy, so let’s jump into it!
Step 1: Sync Your Training History
If you have any activity history, Plan Builder can use that data to help shape your plan. You can sync your activity
history from Garmin Connect or Strava. If you don’t have any training history coming into TrainerRoad, don’t worry. Your
plan will adjust as you progress through your workouts.
How to Sync All of Your Garmin Connect Activities
1. Log into TrainerRoad to access your Account Profile.
2. Select “Activity Sync” from the menu on the left-hand side of the screen.
3. Click the option to “Connect with Garmin.”
4. Authorize TrainerRoad to access your Garmin Connect account by selecting “Agree & Connect.”
5. In Garmin Connect, authorize TrainerRoad to access your Garmin Connect account and data.
If you would like a more detailed walkthrough, check out this article: Garmin Connect
How to Sync All of Your Strava Activities
1. Log into TrainerRoad to access your Account Profile.
2. Select "Activity Sync" from the menu on the left-hand side of the screen.
3. Under Strava, click "Connect."
4. Read through how the TrainerRoad-Strava integration works and click "Agree & Connect."
5. Enter your Strava login credentials.
6. Authorize TR to connect with your Strava account.
If you would like a more detailed walkthrough, check out this article: Strava
Step 2: Choose your Goal and Start Date
First you will need to let Plan Builder know if you are training to prepare for a specific event or if you would like a
training plan to train for a general fitness goal.
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Once you have done this you will be prompted to choose the start date of your plan. You can start a plan at any time in
the future, as long as plans do not have overlapping start/end dates with other plans.
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Step 3: Add Events or Goals
Once you have chosen your start date you'll be adding your events or choosing your main goal and discipline! Select the
options below for more information on adding events or choosing a goal and discipline.
To Prepare for an Event
This is where you will add your goal events! These can be cycling events and cycling stage races. Events can be added at
these three different priority levels:
- A Events are your most important events of the season. Your training plan is designed to have you at your best for
these events. As such, you can only have a few A events in a year. These events have a full taper before the event
with a recovery week after. A events should ideally be 12 weeks apart in order to be in peak form for both.
- B Events can be seasonal objectives in their own right. They allow you to try different race prep and strategies to
see what works best for you. B events receive a taper in the week of the event.
- C Events are great practice and experience, but the outcome of these races should carry little value. C events will
not change your plan. You can treat them like a hard workout.
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If you are unsure what races you are doing or what your final schedule is this upcoming season, no worries. You can
always add events to your Calendar after your plan has been built and your plan will automatically adapt around the new
additions.
With that said we recommend adding at least 1 “A” priority event to your plan, when you build your initial training
plan. Unsure of how to prioritize your races? Check out this blog article for more information.
General Fitness Goals
If you've chosen General Fitness Goals first you will be prompted to choose the length of your plan. You can choose
between a 1 month, 2 month, and 3 month plan or opt for another duration!
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Once you have done this you will prompted to choose your plan's main focus by selecting your primary training discipline
and your training plans primary goal:
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Step 4: Training Approach
In the next step you can decide how aggressive you want your training to be by choosing your Training Approach. When
choosing your training approach there are five options; conservative, moderate, balanced, demanding, and aggressive:
- Conservative - A conservative approach is for athletes looking for more modest gains while benefiting from a reduced
training load. This is a great approach for athletes looking to maintain their fitness or who are returning from
injury.
- Moderate - A moderate approach is for athletes who want steady progress and constant improvements with a comfortable
and manageable training load.
This is a solid option for athletes who haven’t trained in a long time or are new to the sport.
- Balanced - This approach is called balanced because, for most athletes, this is the best approach to progress
fitness while receiving enough recovery to remain consistent and prevent long-term fatigue.
- Demanding - This is an approach for athletes who are prepared for a demanding plan and who understand their recovery
needs to make progress.
- Aggressive - This is an approach for athletes who want to push the boundaries of their current limits. Athletes will
need to have a solid understanding of their nutrition, hydration, rest, and recovery needs for this training
approach.
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Be sure to read the descriptions of each option on the slider. When in doubt we recommend opting for a more balanced
approach! Once you've generated your schedule you'll be able to view your training plan!
Step 5: Schedule
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Here in the schedule step, Plan Builder will automatically recommend a training schedule based on your training approach
and imported training data. You will see an outline of what a general training week will look like. You can customize
your schedule in the training week outline in these five ways:
Dragging and dropping workouts:
You can drag and drop workouts in the weekly schedule to the days of the week that you would prefer to complete them!
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Note: If you drag two workouts so they are close together you may receive a warning. Be sure to give yourself enough
recovery between workouts!
Changing the duration:
You can change the duration of your planned workouts using the time drop down for each workout. Screen Shot 2024-09-12
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Changing the workout type:
You can change your indoor structured workouts to TrainerRoad Outside Workouts, Group Rides or Solo Rides, and Zwift
Race from the drop-down menu.
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Adjusting amount of workouts per week:
To adjust the amount of workouts per week or the number of intense workouts per week go ahead and click on the settings
icon located in the top right hand corner of the weekly schedule.
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From here you can adjust how many days per week you want to train and how many intense workouts you want per week.
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Keep in mind, if you choose to do more days of training you may receive a warning that your plan has too much training
load. You can restore the plan to the original settings to get you back on track by selecting Restore Schedule.
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If you'd like to tinker you can also reduce the duration of workouts, or change how many intense days you have per week
to get your desired training schedule.
Restoring your Original Schedule
If at any point you'd like to restore your plan back to the initial recommendation go ahead and select the Restore
option located to the right of the settings button and then hit Restore Schedule:
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Step 6: Name your plan and Review!
Finally you can go ahead and give your training plan a name, and take the plan to review!
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You will see a breakdown of your custom training plan with details of your schedule and an overview of your plan phases
and when they start, before you add the plan to your Calendar
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Your plan will be composed of these three different phases:
- Base Training Phase is where it all begins. It's the foundation of cycling and triathlon success, developing
resilient aerobic fitness and laying the groundwork for higher-intensity, discipline-specific training later on. The
importance of base training can't be overstated.
- Build Training Phase builds discipline-specific fitness on your aerobic foundation, pushing you out of your comfort
zone to increase your sustainable workload and make you faster.
- Specialty Training Phase Focuses your training on the specific demands of your goals and/or events. This is a
demanding discipline-specific final block of training.
FAQ
What if I already have events on my calendar?
Plan Builder will detect events already on your calendar, and ask you to "Include" them once you reach the “Events” step
of the process.
What if I need to add events later?
No problem! When new events are added after a custom plan has been added to the calendar, we’ll ask you if you would
like those events to be accounted for in your plan and edit the plan to better fit that event.
What if I need to take time off?
You can add time at any point in your TrainerRoad Calendar once your plan is built. Learn how here:
How to Add Time Off to My TrainerRoad Calendar
What if I’ve already started training?
Go ahead and choose a start date when you actually started training, even though it's in the past. This will make the
plan automatically start where you were in your training!
Why does my plan go Base/Build/Base?
In your plan, when you have extra time before your goal event, alternating between Base and Build phases ensures your
body stays responsive and well-prepared for your target event.
Utilizing the Base phase after building fitness allows you to reduce fatigue, prevent plateaus, and enter your Specialty
phase with the energy needed to maximize your event-specific gains.
TrainerRoad Base training is not the same as Traditional Base training. So when TrainerRoad Base training is used after
a Build phase, it does not revert the plan to significantly easier Z1/Z2 training. Instead, it strategically shifts your
training to maintain progression while giving your body the necessary preparation for the final push into the Specialty
phase.
Note: If your plan is long enough, alternating between Base and Build serves the same preparatory function mentioned
above.
I got a different volume than what I’ve been doing, why is that?
Your recommendation is customized for you based on your current capabilities as an athlete, your goal, and your Training
Approach. If you are seeing a different volume than what you have been doing you might’ve been doing too much volume
before, or not enough.
Why did my long Endurance ride change to a Solo Ride?
We recommend doing particularly long Sunday Endurance rides outside. You’ll notice that your training plan’s Solo Ride
still has wattage/RPE targets and instructions on how to ride so that you can maintain the same goals as your scheduled
workout.
How do you know which training plan and schedule is best for me?
We do a deep analysis of all of your data to intelligently recommend how much volume, intensity, and recovery you need.
Where are Masters plans?
Masters plans are training plans with one less day of intensity per week. You can adjust how many intense days per week
your training schedule has. To do this open the Settings panel to change between 2- and 3-days of intensity per week.
Masters should use 2-intense workout plans.
Can I adjust the total amount of workouts per week?
You can adjust how many workouts per week your training schedule has. To do this open the Settings panel to change
between 2-6 workouts per week. We highly suggest using our customized training schedule recommendation, though.
How can I make a plan for maintaining fitness?
When you start building a plan, you will be asked if you want to build a plan for an event or fitness goals. If you
would like to build a plan to maintain fitness, select fitness goals, then select your discipline and choose
“Maintaining Fitness” as your goal. This will build a plan focused on maintaining your specific level of fitness.
Can I make workouts too long or too short?
If you edit your plan in a way that would be detrimental to your fitness goals, or ability to complete the plan, you’ll
see a Warning banner on the page. This means your plan schedule is not recommended.
Changing workout durations to be shorter than the initial recommendation, isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you may be
able to handle more than you think!
I'm not trying to win races, but I do want to get into better shape. Is there a plan for that?
Yes! Plan Builder can build plans structured around your primary discipline and goals.
How does the PBv2 work for athletes who don’t have a target event?
Plan Builder can build plans structured around your primary discipline and goals.
How do I balance my strength training and other activities with my TrainerRoad Plan? Does Plan Builder consider strength training or cross-training?
If you don’t have Activity Sync set up with TrainerRoad, we recommend getting that set up so that all of your training,
strength training included, is imported to TrainerRoad. If you do anything that would lead to long-term burnout,
TrainerRoad AI will adjust your TrainerRoad workouts down or prescribe a Rest Day.
Will my current training plan change with the update?
You’ll see the option to optimize your current custom plan if you have one added to your Calendar. You can always update
your Training Approach and Training Schedule by clicking on the plan name or plan annotation from your Calendar.
How can I update my plan if my goals or schedule change?
You’ll see the option to optimize your current custom plan if you have one. You can always update your Training Approach
and Training Schedule by clicking on the plan name or plan annotation from your Calendar.
Where can I use the new Plan Builder?
You can use the new Plan Builder on the TrainerRoad website!
Can I use Plan Builder if I have limited time to train?
Yes! You can even make plans with only 2 workouts per week. You can adjust the duration of any workout to be shorter if
you want.
Will Plan Builder re-build the plan if I add new events after the plan has started?
Yes! Plan Builder will adjust around any event added to your Calendar.
Can I still choose specific training phases (Base, Build, Specialty) manually?
Yes! You can still add individual training phases to your Calendar. To add individual Training phases to your Calendar
select Training Phases at the Training Plans page.
I'm training for an event but I don't know the exact dates yet. What should I do?
If you aren’t sure what the exact dates of your priority events are you have a couple of options!
Add the event to your plan with an approximate date of when it may be. Once you know the date, update the event date on
your Calendar and we’ll ask to update your plan to peak your fitness for your event.
Build a plan without an event, selecting the event’s discipline and your personal goal. Once you know the date, add the
event to your Calendar and we’ll update your plan to peak your fitness for your event.
Are Triathlon plans supported?
You can build a training plan with Plan Builder! There are some differences in the steps when you build a triathlon plan
with Plan Builder instead of a cycling plan.
Can I make a Polarized plan with the new Plan Builder?
Currently you cannot build a Polarized Plan Builder plan. The good news is that this is something we are hoping to
implement in the future.