Integrating Fixed Strength Days into Athletica while training for races

[nlong]

Hi Athletica community,

First off, I think the product is awesome. I’m currently on the trial period, but I really hope I can make it work the way I want before committing to it!

A little background before I ask my questions:

• I’ve been training seriously for the last six months.
• My focus has always been longevity (inspired by Outlive by Peter Attia). To that end, I started by raising my VO2 max (I have a recent lab test) through running—both indoors and outdoors—and cycling on my trainer. My weekly training volume is roughly:
  • 2-3 hours of Zone 2 training spread over 2-3 sessions
  • 1 VO2 max session (4 × 4 min intervals)
  • 3 strength-training sessions
• I feel great, and now that I’ve built a good base, I want to up my game (and stay motivated). I’m planning to train seriously for a 10 K this August, a half-marathon in November, and an Olympic-distance triathlon next June.

I’ve been following the Garmin Run Coach plan, but I’m not happy with it. It failed to determine my correct lactate-threshold pace, so its “Easy Run” days are set at what should be my critical pace. I suspect that Garmin struggles because I live at high altitude—Denver, CO—although the LTHR it reports is accurate. (I’m using a Fenix 8, by the way.)

So here I am, looking for something better than Garmin Coach. I’m evaluating several services—Athletica, AI Endurance, TrainingPeaks, TriDot, Intervals.icu, and others—but so far Athletica is my favorite.

Here’s what I want to achieve with Athletica:

• Longevity remains my main focus—improving VO2 max, muscle strength, and bone density.
• Help me train for races while accounting for my strength-training load so I don’t over-train.
• Keep two fixed strength-training days each week (about 1 h 30 min). I design these workouts myself and have them saved in Garmin Workouts.

That last point is where I’m struggling: I want to tell Athletica, “I dedicate Tuesday and Thursday to strength training—please adapt the plan around that.”

So far, I see that I can manually create a session and add it to the Library and then manually add it to Tuesday and Thursday (first screenshot), and let the app adjust the plan, but it seems that it struggles to find the right balance (second screenshot).

So far I’ve found that I can manually create a session, add it to my Library, and add it onto Tuesday and Thursday (first screenshot). The app does adjust the plan, but it seems to struggle to find the right balance (second screenshot).

Ideally, I want the plan to looks like this:

• Monday, Wednesday, Friday: let the app decide (limit to 1h)
• Tuesday, Thursday: fixed strength training (1h30m)
• Saturday, Sunday: let the app decide (unlimited time)

Is there a better way to achieve what I want in Athletica?
Also, does what I’m trying to do make sense to you? I’m open to anything

Second screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/MnU8sRg

[mtnphotog]

I recently asked about fixed/planned/recurring workouts and they really don’t have a feature for this for some reason… They suggested adjusting my availability and telling it to suggest a workout of the time I do on the days I want it to suggest them… It’s a bit convoluted and seems to run counter to the idea of a flexible training plan that adapts to you. Step one of adapting to you would be easy functionality that lets you put in things you already do every week because of reasons…

I want to see if there is a feature request already in the Forum for planned repeating workouts and if not I’ll request it and you should chime in saying you want it too.

[joku]

Did you get any further with these questions?

I am also considering to switching to athletica.ai (for Gravel and road cycling), but want to keep a short ~30 min run on Mondays and strength training on Wednesday & Saturday… Currently, I have a coach/physiotherapist (long-term recovery from injury) for the strength training, but would also be interested to get cycling-specific prescriptions in the longer run for one of these strengths sessions.

[Giuseppe85]

Don t afraid! Stick tò the plan

[Marjaana]

Thank you for suggesting this @mtnphotog
I agree, we should have a Recurring weekly workouts for athletes - coaches already have this ability to add weekly sessions to any of their athletes.
Hands up who wants Recurring workouts feature?

[euro74runner]

I agree with OP re integrating some fixed days into the plan.

In my case I would like to specify certain days for swimming (when I know I can get to the pool according to my work schedule), certain days for rowing, certain for my runs, etc. but apparently the AI can’t accommodate this?

I’m trialling humanGO at the same time as this platform and there I am able to create a “default week” and specify on which days certain activities can go…

[Marjaana]

Let me see if I can help you.
What is your defined sport?
What is your weekly volume?
Are you aware of workout wizard?

[euro74runner]

Thanks @Marjaana !

Defined sport = triathlon

Experience level = recreational

Minimum hours = 4

Maximum hours = 10

Yes I am aware of the workout wizard - what I would like to do is set default days for the entire plan going forwards (eg. swimming can only be scheduled on a Monday and a Friday) and not have to re-schedule workouts every single week.

The screen-shot I shared suggests that Athletica.ai supports this functionality - allowing me to select sports that definitely should be or should not be scheduled (or allowing Athletica.ai to choose).

I did manage to get the AI to allow me to update the plan by only constraining swimming and leaving everything else to the AI (see image).

I guess I just have to leave as much as possible to the AI but the difficulty is then needing to spend time each week moving workouts (not the end of the world but an inconvenience).

[Marjaana]

Eventually if you have defined 10 hours as max, consider not having those 2 hr restrictions each week day at all. But since you’ve already made changes, please allow the system some time to re-calculate before doing further changes.
Helpful if you take screenshots to better understand how the training plan changes once made those adjustments, and note there is no way of reverting back to previous version of the generation.
Since you a triathlete, you could bring row sessions in your plan via workout wizard modality tab.
Hope this helps.