This is indirectly a criticism of the device, as part of the reason for getting the 540 was the Daily Suggested Workout feature, which I no longer trust.
I’m a 50-something road rider of 30+ years who decided to stop doing junk miles and be less overtrained but not slower. So I jumped into more deliberate riding with a 540 and Rally power meter. For the past four weeks I”ve been trying to use an adaptive coach plan, and it’s gone badly.
First attempt had me doing a four hour ride after the first week of 1-1.5 hour rides, which put an unroofed blister on my butt that took several days to heal. Once it did, I did my own riding until I thought I could be in the saddle for four hours without injuring myself.
Second attempt at an adaptive plan, in the second week I was given a 2x8@600 workout: 8 repetitions of 20-second 600 watt efforts, with 10 seconds recovery between reps; 10 minute recovery, then another set. Even my utter cluelessness of power meters and training had me skeptical prior to trying this, and of course I could only manage 2 ½ reps before I could barely stay on the bike.
Point being, the claim of adaptive training from Garmin is deceptive. And if the plans aren’t adaptive, how can I trust the Daily Suggested Workout? And at a few points along the way, I had to delete the plan and start over because of sync issues between the phone app and the device.
