It’s one of the most frequently asked questions we get. In this blog we’ll explain how—and why—we step in to adjust your training plan. Please note: this only applies to Peak Pro subscribers following ultimate plans.
Based on your recent training load
If you deviated from your originally planned workout - because you were short on time or, on the contrary, found an extra half hour - we may adjust your plan.
More or less training load is what we evaluate. That load can come from extra volume and/or running too fast, or from the opposite: too little volume and/or running too slow.
We only act if the deviation is significant enough to require an adjustment. If you did more than asked, we try to bring your acute training load back to a responsible level by reducing the volume in upcoming sessions. The reverse is also true. If we see that your acute training load is too low to realistically reach your goal, we’ll increase it.
Each workout type has set margins. For example, an interval session can be included in the training load calculation, but it won’t be altered. A 5×800m session will never become 4×800m or 5×700m. An interval is a carefully designed stimulus of a certain number of minutes in a given zone, or a simulation, or an effort under fatigue. We stick to that structure. If you deviated, no problem, we simply take that into account in the analysis.
That analysis might then cause an endurance run to become a bit longer or shorter. The size of such adjustments is also bound by rules. A 10 km run will never suddenly turn into a 20 km long run.
Pretty ingenious, right?
Based on a longer training period
Trenara analyzes your training data against your fitness test/calibration. From this we determine your performance level, which directly links to our scaled training plans.
If we notice that your progress has outgrown your current classification, we’ll promote you. In that case, your entire plan is adjusted and not just a handful of sessions in the coming week.
Based on RPE
We already wrote a separate blog post about RPE. In short: we use your feedback on training sessions to adjust your plan. If week after week you find the workouts too hard, whatever the cause, we’ll suggest lowering your acute training load. That way you have more space to recover.
After a pause
When you take a pause, we recalculate whether your set goal is still realistic. That may lead to a temporary increase in workload (after a short absence) or to a proposal to adjust your goal to a less ambitious target (after a longer absence).
We recently expanded this feature with a dropdown menu of reasons for your break (vacation, illness, injury, …). The aim is to build knowledge we can later feed into our “return to sport” features.
Conclusion
Trenara has a range of tools and analyses to guarantee the quality of every single workout and every full plan. The rules we apply are rooted in training science, not random choices.
Want to benefit from a truly adaptive plan? Then Peak Pro is for you.
