AI prompts for cycling training, sorted by what riders ask

Is this goal reachable?

Here is my goal and my last twelve weeks of load. Before you write a single week of a plan, tell me whether this goal is reachable from this starting point, in this time, on these hours. Assess the goal against my recent training and available hours, and explain what those data cannot establish. If the goal or target time needs to change, explain why and what the information I supplied supports. Do not write the plan until you have answered this.

Give it: the event, the date, your hours, twelve weeks of load.

Watch for: a plan appearing anyway.

Build the plan. Step syntax is Intervals.icu's plain-text workout format, like "- 10m 60%".

Build me a plan from today to my gran fondo on 18 April: 140 km, 2,400 m of climbing, goal under five hours. I have 6 to 8 hours a week on the days in my brief. Show the phases, the purpose of each week, a rest week every third or fourth week, and the taper. Then give me the first two weeks in detail, each session in Intervals.icu step syntax, one step per line. Sum the hours and show me the sum. Do not exceed my hours.

Give it: the brief, the event, your last six weeks.

Watch for: missing recovery weeks, hours above your limit, or intensity that ignores your recent training. Check for weeks well under your available hours and key sessions cut short without an explanation.

Should I ride today? HRV means heart rate variability; rMSSD is one way to measure it.

HRV this morning 61, my 30-day average 68; both are rMSSD in milliseconds from the same watch, and my usual day-to-day swing is about 6. Resting heart rate 52 against a usual 48. Sleep 5 h 40 min against 7 h 10 min. Yesterday 90 minutes easy; the day before 4 x 8 min at threshold. Today's plan is 3 x 12 min sweet spot. Ask how I feel before making the decision. State the rule you will apply. Then apply it and decide: ride as planned, ride easy, or rest. Say which numbers triggered the decision and which did not. Then tell me what tomorrow becomes under each answer.

Give it: this morning's HRV with its unit and source, resting heart rate, sleep, the last two days, today's plan.

Watch for: a verdict with no rule in front of it. Check whether the stated rule supports the decision.

What supports training, and what supports resting? Ask this next, in the same chat.

From the numbers above, build the case for training as planned and the case for resting. For each, list the numbers that support it and the numbers that argue against it. Leave how I feel out of both cases. Explain which case the available evidence supports and what missing information could change the decision.

Watch for: agreement with whichever way you leaned in the question.

What did that ride say about me?

Attached is Saturday's ride as a per-second CSV with time, power, heart rate, cadence, altitude and speed. FTP 265, threshold heart rate 168. Load it in code and first tell me the row count, the elapsed and moving time, and any gaps over ten seconds. Then find the longest steady segment after the first 20 minutes with no stops, split it in half, and give me power divided by heart rate for each half and the drift as a percentage, with both halves' averages shown so I can check you. Then normalized power, intensity and load for the whole ride. One thing to change next time. No praise.

Give it: the per-second ride file, exported as a CSV from your training app. A lap table does not contain the data this prompt needs.

Watch for: a drift number with no segment named. The segment used to calculate drift should exclude stops.

Why did that feel so hard?

Yesterday's 4 x 8 min at 100% FTP felt like 110%. Here is the ride file and the last ten days. Rank the likely reasons: fatigue, sleep, fueling, heat, an FTP set too high. Say which one the data supports and what would confirm it.

Give it: the ride, ten days of load, sleep if you have it, the temperature.

Watch for: "it could be many things". Make it rank.

Plan my week around the hours I have.

This week: Tuesday 60 min indoors, Thursday 60 min indoors, Saturday 2 h outdoors, Sunday 3 h with the club and it will be hard whatever you write. FTP 265, last week's load attached. Hard rules, check each at the end and print pass or fail: total time no more than 7 hours; no two sessions above threshold on consecutive days; Sunday counted as a hard group ride, not a planned interval session. For each session give the purpose, duration, target watts and percent of FTP, and the workout in Intervals.icu step syntax, one step per line, so I can paste it and send it to my head unit.

Give it: your hours per day, last week's load, FTP.

Watch for: two hard days in a row, and a total that ignores your cap. The pass-or-fail list is there so it has to check.

Review last week.

Here are last week's seven days against the plan you gave me. Score how I executed each session, say whether the week did what it was meant to, and tell me the one thing to keep and the one thing to change.

Give it: last week's completed sessions and rest days, alongside the original plan.

Watch for: scores for individual sessions without an answer on whether the week met its training purpose.

Race weekend.

I have a road race Saturday, about 90 minutes, and a criterium Sunday, 45 minutes. Both matter. Here is the week so far and my load. Give me Wednesday to Friday: what stays, what goes, and the openers on Friday, with the reason for each.

Give it: the two events, the week so far, your load.

Watch for: either race missing from the taper. Ask why the openers are on Friday.

Repair, do not rebuild.

I missed Tuesday and Wednesday, work. I still have 40 min Thursday, 60 min Friday and 3 h Sunday. This week's purpose was threshold volume, week three of four before a rest week. Repair the week: keep the purpose ahead of any single session, move what you must, drop the rest. If the purpose can no longer be served, say so and assess whether to bring the rest week forward. List what moved and why. Do not add sessions to make up the lost ones.

Give it: the current week's plan and its purpose, your remaining hours.

Watch for: extra sessions added to make up for the missed ones.

I was ill.

I had a cold from Monday to Friday, no riding, no fever now. My race is in five weeks. Ask about my current symptoms before suggesting a return plan. Then tell me how to come back: how many easy days before intensity, what the first hard session should be, and what changes in the race-week plan. Tell me which symptoms mean I should see a doctor before returning to training.

Give it: the illness dates, the race date, the plan.

Watch for: a return plan that ignores your current symptoms.

Estimate my FTP.

Attached are my best powers by duration from the last 90 days, one row per duration from one second to one hour, each with the date it was set. My FTP is set at 265. In code, calculate 95 percent of my best 20-minute power and fit critical power over the 3 to 12 minute range, showing the arithmetic and residuals. Ask for the original activity before judging the 20-minute test protocol. Name any model used to estimate FTP from the whole curve. Then list the dates each estimate leans on, say whether they describe the same fitness, say which you trust least and why, and give one estimate to check against my threshold intervals.

Give it: a table copied from your training app's power curve, with duration, best watts and the date of each effort. Use the original activity to find any missing dates.

Watch for: an estimate that ignores the dates or conditions of the efforts used.

Zones from a test.

My threshold heart rate is 168: the average of the final 20 minutes of a 30-minute solo test on 3 September. Do not use max heart rate and do not ask my age. Give me zones in the Coggan five-zone scheme and the Friel seven-zone scheme side by side, each as a percentage range and a beats-per-minute range, and tell me in one line where they disagree so I know which app is showing me what.

Give it: a real test result. Never your age alone.

Watch for: zones based on a maximum heart rate calculated as 220 minus your age. That ignores the threshold heart rate you supplied.

Explain the number my app gave me.

My app shows fitness 58, fatigue 71, form minus 13, using the usual model: fitness a 42-day weighted average of daily load, fatigue a 7-day one, form the difference. Attached is my daily load for the last 120 days including zeros. In code, reproduce the three numbers and tell me how far you land from the app's. If you cannot match them within a couple of points, name the missing information and leave the mismatch unresolved. Then say in plain words what this state means and whether minus 13 ten days before a race is where I want to be.

Give it: the three numbers, their definitions from the app, 120 days of daily load. Four weeks is not enough to reproduce a 42-day average.

Watch for: definitions that differ from the ones you supplied. Paste the app's own.

Pace this course.

Course: 140 km, 2,400 m of climbing. Climbs at km 30 (4.2 km at 6.1%), km 65 (8.0 km at 4.8%), km 95 (3.1 km at 8.2%), km 120 (5.5 km at 5.5%). Rider 78 kg plus 9 kg of bike and kit, FTP 265, goal under five hours, in a group on the flat and alone on the climbs. The full route is attached. In code: for each climb, a target in watts, percent of FTP and watts per kilo, and the climbing time that gives. Use the full route to estimate time over climbs, flats and descents, with your assumptions stated. If route data is missing, ask for it before estimating finishing time. If the estimate exceeds five hours, explain which assumptions and power targets determine that result. Identify the sections that need the most careful pacing and explain why.

Give it: the full route as a GPX or with the lengths and gradients of climbs, flats and descents, plus FTP and weight.

Watch for: power targets that ignore climb duration, or a finishing time reported without its assumptions.

Fuel it.

Five hours, moderate to hard, 22 degrees. I weigh 78 kg. The most carbohydrate I have tolerated while riding is 60 g per hour, from gels and drink combined. Give me carbohydrate per hour, and where you go above 60 g say what mix of sugars that needs and why. Sodium and fluid per hour with your sweat-rate assumption stated so I can correct it. A timing plan from the start, the evening before, and breakfast with the timing. If your number is above what I have tolerated, give me the gut-training ramp to get there and how many weeks it needs, and do not put an untested intake in the race plan.

Give it: duration, intensity, temperature, weight, what your stomach has handled.

Watch for: a race intake above the tolerance you reported.

Taper.

The race is in 14 days. My last big week is attached. Give me the taper day by day: volume down by how much, which intensity stays, when the last hard session is, and the two days before the race.

Give it: the race date and your last big week.

Watch for: a taper that cuts intensity along with volume. Ask why the openers are where they are.

Train around the knee.

My right knee aches on the outside after three hours in the saddle, no swelling, fine walking, fine on the bike under an hour. Before you touch the plan, ask me the fit questions that matter: saddle height and setback, anything changed recently, cleat position and float, whether it is one leg only. Do not diagnose. List the signs that mean I see a physio or a bike fitter instead of changing training. Only then tell me what in the attached five weeks to change and what to keep.

Give it: the symptom in plain words, the plan.

Watch for: a bike-fit diagnosis made from the symptom description alone.

Strength that does not wreck the riding.

Two 40-minute gym sessions a week, a barbell and a rack, six years of riding and no lifting history. Put them into the week attached so they do not land the day before a hard ride, and give me the sessions.

Give it: your lifting history, the equipment, the week.

Watch for: gym sessions the day before intervals, and a program written for someone who already lifts.

Lose weight without losing the season.

I want to go from 78 to 74 kg by the race in 12 weeks while keeping my threshold. Here are my hours and my rides. Tell me the deficit that is safe for this training, which rides to fuel fully no matter what, the weekly rate of loss above which I should stop, the signs I am under-fueling that I would notice first, and the point at which you would send me to a sports dietitian instead of coaching me.

Give it: weight, target, hours, the plan.

Watch for: a deficit that ignores your long rides, and no mention of when to stop.

I am 58.

I am 58, riding 8 hours a week, thirty years on the bike. After a hard Sunday ride, I do not feel recovered until Wednesday. Change the attached week around the recovery time I reported: place the hard sessions and explain what training you would keep or remove. Edit my week; do not describe a principle.

Give it: your age, hours, how long you need to recover from a hard ride, the week.

Watch for: generic advice about masters athletes. If it explains physiology and moves no sessions, ask again.

Tell me the truth.

Here are my last three months and my best powers by duration. Where does my power curve show strengths and weaknesses, and which efforts support that assessment? Be direct. Then name one limiter to prioritize for my gran fondo and explain why.

Give it: three months of rides and the power curve.

Watch for: strengths or weaknesses stated without supporting efforts from your power curve.