This weekend I had a bit of a “hickup”. It’s my fault what happened, but it’s a bit annoying.
I did a Zone2 HR mode ride. After 45 minutes, I wanted to do some HIIT blocks.
So I had to put the app first in ERG mode, before I could add a workout. OK, so I got that working. I have to admit I was “toast” after the intervals. I wanted to get back to HR mode and do a nice cooldown. But that was not possible. Since I was “toast”, I clicked too fast and basically lost my activity… Again : it was my fault.
But : is it hard to make it possible to switch from ERG mode to HR mode and the other way round?
Sorry to hear. This is definitely coming in next 2-4 weeks I would estimate (unless it proves way too hard but I don’t imagine that).
No worries, the mistake was entirely mine. Human error 
After 8 intervals at 150% FTP I clearly didn’t read the red text correctly 
Hence my question to make it easier if possible.
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Sounds like you need an automated Mixed Mode Structured Workout
HR + ERG or HR + SLOPE + ERG
this way, it’s hands free and no red text to click.
But this would involve up front plannng tho.
Alex asked before : would we need an “HR structured mode”. I’m still not convinced of that. What I really like is : you start pedalling away, you have an idea in mind. You do a warmup, put your HR target at what you want to do. Do that for some time, then do something else and get back to HR to cool down. I have a whole library of “blocks of training”, rather than full training sessions. Like HIIT intervals and stuff like that. I know : I should plan ahead, but hey, I’m no pro rider. I have a broad idea what I want to do and then I see how I feel
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Yes, this is actually the behavior I like to support as well. From a feature standpoint, I like to do what people want, but I also like to inject my own beliefs a bit
Even though we are the biggest ERG platform, I totally think people should train more by feel (and no that does not mean chasing every rabbit passes you bye…). So feel can include some slope, some hr mode and some ERG… So I prefer to do your request first (which is also easier), and then move to automatic HR mode.
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I tried out the switch to HR mode yesterday from an ERG structured workout.
When it switched over it picked up the derived power target from the default HR target, which for this workout resulted in a significant drop in resistance that I needed to adjust back up quickly.
This behavior is good if you are switching over for rest intervals, but not so great if you are switching from ERG to HR control for a work interval.
Makes me think that the switch over should initially be at the same resistance level and then the user leaves it as is or adjusts. This seems to make sense if you are trying to maintain the designed intent of the particular interval you are doing.
If you do at least 1 minute at ERG it should start with previous vale but I have not had time to test this.
It’s hard to spot in my activity, so I’ll test it properly next time. I think it dropped down to 120 bpm/75% which is the default for me doing a HR Quick Workout
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The HR target has no place in any workout with intervals. HR lags too much.
It does work perfectly fine for a steady state workout in my experience. Keeps me nicely just under AeT for at least 90 min without the need to check my display every couple of seconds.
Keep it simple, use HR for steady state and ERG for interval workouts. Use slope mode for less predictable short intervals.
It wasn’t in a workout with intervals.
It was in a workout with a structured ERG warmup (as HR warmup functionality doesn’t work well for me), followed by a single steady state work interval. The plan was to switch control from ERG to HR at the end of the warmup.
The feedback was that that transition resulted in a drop of resistance requiring significant manual adjustment, rather than being a seemless transition.
I am new to TrainerDay, but very keen to use the HR functionality for Zone 2 training. I am curious by what you mean when you say that HR warmup functionality doesn’t work well for you.
My own limited experience with it is that if I hop on my trainer and choose the HR option, the software is trying to get me up to my target HR pretty quickly without any proper warmup period at all. My resting HR is around 45 bpm and my target HR is 120. The software is trying to get me up to my target of 120, and it seems to get me there in about 6 minutes. It is not comfortable for me to do this, and I am thinking that I will have to introduce a more acceptable warmup prior to going into the HR mode in TrainerDay. The watts it is requiring getting me up to my target HR is 30-40 watts above where I will eventually settle at in steady state for the duration of the HR session. I am thinking that this is putting my leg muscles into an effort level that is higher than Zone 2. I know that the Zone 2 HR target is based on HR of course, but it seems to me that the initial load placed directly on the leg muscles is well above this effort and might reduce or delay the actual Zone 2 adaptations until many minutes later into the workout. This belief comes from what I have read about the importance of not getting above the Zone 2 upper limits because you are then getting into lower Zone 3 and you lose the adaptations that you are after.
Have you created your own workout using Erg mode for your warmup to approach this “steady state” HR (and associated watts) in a gentler manner? That is what I will be trying, but if you have already done so, is your workout posted in the searchable workouts? Thanks.
My experience is the same as yours.
Power increases too quickly for me with the latest version as it tries to hit the target HR within 6-7 minutes, and this drives the power level well over what is sustainable for an endurance ride, so then I go into recovery mode as such for the middle portion at a power level that is below what I can maintain at that HR in a steady state ride.
I am possibly an outlier though, as I had a heart attack 3 months ago, and this might be affecting my HR response (certainly affecting my power!)
I have a workout called “ERG/HR 60” that works better for me. The warmup is in ERG mode, and then i switch over to HR control once I have started the main set. I changed it from private to public, so you should be able to find it.
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Yes, sorry just got out of hospital for a few days. I need to test this more and possibly make some changes, if your HR and power are fairly stable and close to your target switching to HR mode was not supposed to drastically affect the power. I will also have my developer check his code.
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have you considered doing a step-by-step increment? instead of setting it at 120. set it to say 80 then when it reaches 80, you up it again and so on?
Note: this is actually a reply to @rmac
So my tester just tried it and he had stable HR before switching to HR, but then switching to HR after HR did not cause any power change. I don’t remember are you also using external power meter. Can you send me another link to this workout?
Used it three times. I start with a lower HR target around 90-100 and then increase to my final target 122.
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Here’s an interesting post on Warm-up protocol and what you can learn from it:
Yep I like the idea. I am not sure all athletes see HR suppression, I am pretty sure I don’t, so this might be subset of athletes (or humans). For me raised cortisol with associated waking up in the night not able to sleep is sure sign but I can only assume suppressed HR is further down the path or maybe when you live closer to the edge all the time.
I will test it again today and confirm one way or the other, as what I observed when testing the first time was not obvious in the ride data