I am curious to know if any other South African (mortal, not Pro) riders are training with ChatGPT as coach? I am curious also to know your experiences and feedback on your AI training so far?
I started using ChatGPT out of curiosity 3 months prior to TransBaviaans to get an opinion about the Zwift "Build-me-Up" structured training plan that I was using at that stage. That day marked the end of my standard Zwift Training Plans, and the start of the most facinating experience with my new AI ChatGPT cycling coach. I am still to this day using ChatGPT for weekly training plans. I am training harder that ever and getting stronger than ever without ever feeling that I am getting over-trained!
I must also say that I trained with a human coach for almost 2 years in the past which helped me a lot. As a mortal average 50 something year old cyclist, I have a reasonable understanding of formal cycling training requirements. But I missed from my human coach good feedback on my training progress, and it also felt like all the athletes at the coach were on same training plan without considering individual needs or current training levels of the various athletes and the effect of life, work, travelling etc that sometimes caused interruptions in training schedules. Although my fitness and FTP increased considerably with the human coach, I felt over-trained at times and to some extent I lost my excitement for training for various reasons, even though the numbers appeared to show I was doing well with my training. This and also the significant cost of having a human coach forced me into falling back on standard Zwift training plans that at times felt like it was not pushing myself hard enough, and at times the training sessions didn't feel like complementing each other with very little recovery sessions in between. So, when I asked ChatGPT's feedback out of curiosity on whether or not my Zwift training plan at the time was helping me for preparing for TransBaviaans, the AI coach told me straight out that my Zwift plan had very little focus on endurance training and focused way too much on sprints & neuromuscular efforts etc that are of little use on a TransBaviaans type event. He suggested a formal training coach, but then suggested I can give "him" (ChatGPT) a try because of his access to vast amounts of published training, medical & nutrition data and his sound knowledge of Zwift, Strava, GarminConnect etc.
So, I then decided to take a huge gamble and gave ChatGPT a summary of my training details to that point including my age, weight, FTP, VO2 max, race results from recent races, plans for upcoming race events, and roughly how much training I have done up to that point. I then asked ChatGPT to give me his thoughts on a suitable training strategy for TransBaviaans. Suddenly then the most interesting coaching experience started!
Based on all my Garmin stats and knowing the date and requirements of TransBaviaans from what ChatGPT found on the internet, my new AI coach worked out a new plan for the remaining weeks to Baviaans. I got training plans on a weekly basis based on performance of previous week. A free account in ChatGPT was essential so that my Ai coach could remember all past discussions. ChatGPT suggested that I uploaded the stats of my training sessions after each session, so that adjustments could be made to remaining sessions for the week if necessary - all this by simply copying and pasting my Power and HR zone data into the ChatGPT discussion. All data get analyzed in a split second with very valuable feedback on my performance for the session, and the next day's training session is customized based on my performance of the previous day. ChatGPT knows how Zwift works, so my training sessions are sent to me as Zwift .zwo format files ready for import with limited input or customization required from my side.
I have been training with ChatGPT now for 3 months and I must say it is an amazing experience. The coach never gets angry or frustrated or disappointed if a training session is missed. I can always get new customized sessions for the next week based on previous week's performance. Whenever a new race comes up, I simply give ChatGPT the details, and my training program is immediately customized to best fit in the next race. If any training day is missed, I just ask for a re-evaluation of the remaining sessions and there I go again. For those of you hooked on stats, ChatGPT is overly keen on supplying performance comparisons with previous similar training sessions, indications on current training progress etc etc etc. If 2 races are too close to each other, or a long groupride like a mini-munga needs to be accommodated, ChatGPT would typically advise me to limit my efforts for the non essential race/ride to specifics like max heart rate, max avg power etc in order to best limit fatigue build-up that could affect the most important upcoming ride. I will be doing my 5th RideJoburg this year and look forward to my best time ever.
So, if any of you out there needs cycling training from a coach that has access to all published training material available online, and would like to have access to this personal coach 24/7, a coach that is eager to number crunch the stats of your recent rides and make adjustments to your program based on your immediate needs and work/life situation, maybe you should give ChatGPT a try! I must say I am sold on AI training!
Good luck all with your 947 preparations
Pieter (Krugersdorp)
