Of the three disciplines, the bike has always been where I’ve struggled the most. For reference, my FTP was 137 in 2017 (beyond frustrating considering my marathon PR was 3:00:06). I raced the IRONMAN 70.3 distance but couldn’t finish on the podium because I wasn’t competitive on a bike. Last year I got a new bike, better fit, began using TrainerRoad (56 workouts total using the app) and saw gradual improvements.
This year I began working with a new coach. I did 4 out of 5 of my workouts on my smart trainer using the app (106 workouts total). All workouts were customized using the TrainerRoad WorkoutCreator App.
In 2017 versus 2018, I improved 27 watts over 20 minutes and 32 watts over an hour. I managed to make the podium at every IRONMAN 70.3 I did this year and I can definitely attribute a lot of this to my improvement on the bike (combination of new coach, riding more frequently, and learning how to do power-based workouts in TrainerRoad).
My coach had me train via Erg mode (instead of Standard) which forced me to get a feel for perceived effort. Other features I really enjoyed using: the WorkoutCreator App, the Personal Records tool (I loved seeing my progress this year versus last year as well as month-over-month), and being able to sync TrainerRoad to TrainingPeaks.
I’ve gone from a 3:07 bike split in 2016 (IRONMAN 70.3 Eagleman) to 2:39 at IRONMAN 70.3 Atlantic City last weekend. Here’s a recap from this race (7th Female / 2 AG): http://why-i-run.blogspot.com/2018/09/ironman-703-atlantic-city-7th-female.html
Other than WorkoutCreator, the Personal Records tool, and being able to switch from Erg to Standard, are there other tools people are using in TrainerRoad that they find super helpful??
