TrainerRoad AI Q&A with CEO Nate Pearson | Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast 569
Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast - Presented by TrainerRoad
TrainerRoad
4.9 ⢠4.6K Ratings
đď¸ 22 January 2026
âąď¸ 84 minutes
đď¸ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Learn more about TrainerRoad AI: â https://www.trainerroad.com/blog/introducing-trainerroad-ai/â Learn more about the updated AI FTP Detection: â https://www.trainerroad.com/blog/why-is-ai-ftp-detecting-an-ftp-change/â // SHARE AND RATE THE PODCAST!iTunes: â https://trainerroad.cc/apple2â Spotify: â https://trainerroad.cc/spotify2â Google Podcasts: â https://trainerroad.cc/googleâ // TOPICS COVERED(00:00:00) Welcome! TrainerRoad AI Q&A with Nate Pearson
(00:00:54) How is TrainerRoad actually using AI (and what itâs not doing)
(00:05:26) Why TrainerRoad uses custom AI instead of ChatGPT-style models
(00:10:11) How TrainerRoad AI really uses FTP (and why FTP is âfunctionalâ)
(00:13:08) The biggest misconceptions about FTP testing and accuracy
(00:22:31) Why TrainerRoad AI doesnât rely on FTP or progression levels internally
(00:28:52) Why your FTP might go down with AI Detection (and why thatâs OK)
(00:36:55) Why more training doesnât always make you faster
(00:42:19) Why your predicted FTP can change suddenly after a workout
(00:50:47) How to use progression levels and workout levels with AI training
(00:56:24) Do post-workout surveys still matter with TrainerRoad AI?
(01:01:26) Can TrainerRoad tell if you barely survived a workout?
(01:03:28) Why your workouts keep changing on the calendar
(01:08:12) What AI Predicted Difficulty and failure percentage actually mean
(01:16:30) How long it takes TrainerRoad AI to feel dialed in
(01:18:43) What yellow and red days mean (and when to ignore them)
(01:20:50) How to use workout alternates with TrainerRoad AI
(01:21:10) What to do if you miss workouts or get sickCoach Jonathan sits down with CEO Nate Pearson to answer the biggest questions athletes have about TrainerRoad AI, pulling back the curtain on how it actually works and what it means for your training. They explain why TrainerRoadâs AI isnât a chatbot or large language model, but a purpose-built system trained on tens of millions of workouts and rides to predict the right workout for the right day, with guardrails that avoid âAI slop.â The conversation dives deep into FTPâwhy the AI doesnât truly use FTP the way athletes think, why FTP can go down without fitness going down, and how precision and consistency matter more than chasing a number. They also cover progression levels, post-workout surveys, predicted difficulty, yellow and red days, missed workouts, illness, and why plans change dynamically as you train. Throughout, the focus stays on what matters most: progressive overload, recovery, and building fitness you can actually use, with practical advice to help athletes trust the system, train smarter, and keep getting faster over time.// RESOURCES MENTIONED- Sign up for TrainerRoad! â https://trainerroad.cc/GetFasterâ - Follow TrainerRoad on Instagram đ¸ https://www.instagram.com/TrainerRoad - Join the TrainerRoad Zwift Club đ´ â https://trainerroad.cc/trzwiftclubâ // TRY TRAINERROAD RISK FREE FOR 30 DAYS!https://trainerroad.cc/GetFasterâ TrainerRoad is the #1 cycling training app. No other cycling app is more effective. Over 17,000 positive reviews, a 4.9 star App Store rating.// HELPFUL LINKS- Have a question for the podcast? Ask here: https://www.TrainerRoad.com/podcast - TrainerRoad on Instagram: â https://www.instagram.com/trainerroad/â - TrainerRoad Forum: â https://trainerroad.cc/3uHvLnEâ - TrainerRoad on Strava: â https://www.strava.com/clubs/trainerroadâ - TrainerRoad on Facebook: â https://www.facebook.com/TrainerRdâ - TrainerRoad on X: â https://www.x.com/TrainerRoadâ - Learn more about TrainerRoad: â https://trainerroad.cc/3LBb5Urâ â - Listen to the Successful Athletes Podcast: â https://trainerroad.cc/3JmKrN5â - Listen to the Science of Getting Faster Podcast: â https://trainerroad.cc/3LpuIhPâ - Training Blog: â https://trainerroad.cc/3gCdNdN
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to a special episode of the Ask a Cycling Coach podcast presented by Trainer Road. We're with our CEO, Nate Pearson, and today we are going to go over the questions that all of you have about Trainer Road AI. It's recently launched, and this is a cool opportunity where we just get to go straight into this. And Nate, you're not like a disconnected CEO from the product in this case. You've been very much in the trenches with a team. Yeah. For sure. |
| 0:21.3 | So it's like, you know, you know firsthand on this stuff. |
| 0:25.2 | Let's just jump into the questions, this first one. |
| 0:27.3 | And I have actually maybe some context for how these questions came about. |
| 0:30.6 | This is from us actually scraping and polling and getting overall sentiment and specific |
| 0:36.1 | examples of questions from the internet that people |
| 0:38.7 | are asking about it. |
| 0:40.1 | So it's all the questions. |
| 0:42.3 | That's right. |
| 0:43.3 | So these are questions that athletes have been asking that have been using it. |
| 0:46.8 | Nate, first one, we described this in the launch podcast, but it bears, we're probably |
| 0:52.2 | going to have to keep describing this over time. |
| 0:54.5 | The question is very basic. How are we actually using AI? Yeah, so we are using a machine learning model |
| 1:03.0 | that we developed ourselves. And the way, like, the simple way to describe that is we fed into this |
| 1:09.0 | machine, tens of millions of train of road |
| 1:12.3 | workouts, hundreds of millions of outdoor rides. And we had it learn the relationship between |
| 1:18.5 | if this happens, like how will you perform on this? Also, metrics like yourself, your heart rate, |
| 1:24.3 | the power, like I said, your age, your gender, stuff like that, when they were |
| 1:29.5 | in the week and the whole month and everything like that. And we can use that then to predict how you're |
| 1:35.9 | going to do on any certain day on any certain workout. And then we can use that then to pick |
| 1:41.2 | what is the best workout for you at any certain day in any certain workout. |
| 1:46.7 | And that system can also be used. |
... |
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