Just did my very first TrainerRoad workout (Tumbe), all went well, but I have a lot of questions!
(I’ve been using Wahoo Systm for a few years, but want to try something new and TrainerRoad seems the best alternative, so am giving it a go)
what do you do to relieve the boredom? Wahoo has entertaining Sufferfest, ProRace and On Location videos which make an hour’s workout fly by. I was struck by how long the hour felt on TR, so what do people typically use? Zwift, youtube, netflix, audiobooks?
Tumbe is a pretty simple workout, are there more involved ones which demand more dynamic changes e.g. dynamic cadence target, seated/standing changes?
Is there a way to integrate Apple Health so that TR gets my daily weight, for example?
How open are TrainerRoad to suggestions? There are few small things that Wahoo’s UI does better and wondering if there is a place for feature requests?
Personally, I almost always listen to music (intervals and endurance workouts) or podcasts (endurance workouts). Sometimes I also read during endurance workouts.
Unfortunatley not. This feature has been requested by forum members for many years, but there is no ETA to my knowledge.
TR’s support has been top notch in my experience. Most (if not all) are serious athletes themselves. They welcome feedback and input.
Be advised, though, that a lot of the updates seem to happen on the server side. Training plans and their adaptive algorithms are tweaked all the time and this isn’t really visible on the user end.
I came back to TR last year after years away on other apps, including Wahoo System. For some of the Wahoo workouts and for almost all of the TR workouts I queue up some music and a cycling POV vid. I greatly prefer mtb vids over road vids as the course is usually way more interesting. Otherwise, I don’t like the virtual cartoon worlds so another option is Rouvy.
Yep. Overall, TR workouts are generally very simple compared to other apps. I think other apps change things up during a workout to try to make it more interesting and less tedious, not necessarily more effective.
I run my workouts in Zwift and usually with music.
If Zwift isn’t working I’ll run TR off my phone and watch cyclocross videos on my TV.
The workouts will get harder and there will be instructions you can choose to follow or ignore. Low Cadence, high cadence, focusing on driving power with single leg, pedaling drills etc. Most of the work though is going to come from the interval. SS, Threshold or VO2max for X minutes followed by recovery.
for whatever reason endurance seems to shift around a lot, probably to try and keep you engaged vs pedaling at 60% for 1-2 hours.
Many have answered your questions, but I’ll give my input as well, just in case:
What do you do to relieve the boredom? Wahoo has entertaining Sufferfest, ProRace and On Location videos which make an hour’s workout fly by. I was struck by how long the hour felt on TR, so what do people typically use? Zwift, youtube, netflix, audiobooks?
As @Elgro mentioned, you can send your TR Workout to Zwift to complete them in their virtual world with the TR-Zwift Integration.
Tumbe is a pretty simple workout, are there more involved ones which demand more dynamic changes e.g. dynamic cadence target, seated/standing changes?
As @Elgro also mentioned, the workouts come with instructions, but you can also choose a Workout Alternates to see if another one interests you more! This is a good way to pick a workout that keep the energy system meant for the day.
Is there a way to integrate Apple Health so that TR gets my daily weight, for example?
Not as of right now, however, you can connect your Apple Watch so that TR can analyze TR Outside Workouts that have been recorded on your Apple Watch.
How open are TrainerRoad to suggestions? There are few small things that Wahoo’s UI does better and wondering if there is a place for feature requests?
I prefer TR’s workout player over Zwift (the changes from block to block are smoother imo), but run TR on an Ipad, then a PC behind with either Zwift & Spotify or Prime, Netflix, Disco+ etc depending on the kind of workout.
TV & films are fine if its steady endurance or tempo, but trying to keep focused on the power changes of anything harder is a nightmare.
Worth mentioning, TR & Zwift are ran concurrently. Zwift rides are then discarded at the end so I dont end up with double mileage on Strava
No denying that weight is super important in cycling, however, TR seems to have made a conscious (and welcome in my mind) decision to not emphasize it too much on the platform.
TRs message seems to be do the workouts and concentrate on increasing your power. Eat healthy and fuel your workouts.
Realistically weight is half of it - but you won’t see much of that side of the equation talked about or promoted on the platform - and I definitely understand the rationale there.
That’s interesting because the first thing I see when opening the TR app front and centre is my FTP, my weight and my watts/kg. So I assumed its placement would signify importance. And it would just be convenient to have the app track what I’m measuring daily anyway.
Oh I totally get it…. I think I even requested it myself years ago because I also weigh daily with a Garmin scale…. but I would be really surprised if they implemented it even though it would be a quite simple thing to do.
Definitely convenient - but is it really that useful?
I tend to only update my weight in TR in 2kg steps now and I think I’m happier for it.
Thanks. These insights to TR’s development and priorities from experienced users are invaluable. There’s a lot of the UI and sessions that looks familiar from Wahoo, so it’s easy to fall into misconceptions about their rationale.
For me it’s high energy music for hard intervals, last night I also had XCO world champs replay on, although for the last 30-60 secs I can’t pay much attention to the video. Just have to keep breathing and the pedals turning.
Nice loud music for hard workouts, podcasts for endurance sessions. I’ve used wahoo x and enjoyed the scenery too. Have you got the instructions switched on as there will often be drills, cadence changes, out of saddle stuff incorporated into a workout?
I tend to watch TV when I workout. I just choose the show/movie based on how focused I can or can’t be. Threshold+ is action. Below Threshold, I can listen to more dialogue. If it’s something like 30/30s, I just use music. I only watch non-sports TV when I’m on the bike, so it gives me added incentive to ride.
Watching other people ride on YouTube doesn’t motivate me at all. I know I’m in the minority though.
As for your question about drills, stand up, sit down, etc., you’ll occasionally see a bit of that, but nothing like a spin class environment (thankfully!!). It tends to be more things like quadrant drills or cadence work.
Like Caro mentioned, make good use of “Alternate Workouts” to help find the workout style you want (long endurance intervals vs. endurance rides where the power goal changes every few minutes, for example).
Thanks for all the tips. Did my fifth TR session today…
Music and/or video definitely helps reduce the boredom, though, as mentioned hard workouts are too demanding for concentrating on the video/audio
I have found the activities so far way more extreme than in Wahoo - the easier stuff easier, the harder stuff right on my limit - is this normal?
TR is definitely less fun than Wahoo, but will stick with TR to get a longer term impression…
From my experience, I was also wondering if someone has studied the effect of the audio and video content on RPE. I do wonder whether TR is actually harder or just feels that much harder due to lack of designed diversion.
Having your easy days easy and your hard days hard is pretty standard - but not sure you should be feeling like you are right on your limit.
But as long as you keep rating your workouts honestly then the system will adjust and you will get the correct workouts. Beauty of adaptive training is that the training will progress but without it running away from you.
I mean this in a positive way, so please don’t think I’m trolling. Have you tried Peloton and/or Spin classes? You sound like someone who might prefer that style of training. Distracting audio and video, lots of changes in pace and position, a large volume of classes to choose from, live classes, etc.
