Recently my wife was asking about indoor training.
She want to do a duathlon probably in 2021.
I got her a bike.
Looking for advise on ideas to get he engage.
I dont think TR is the right tool for her.
and riding for the sake of spinning is not my idea of doing something useful.
But I have no clue on how to deal with a person who might not enjoy proper structured training.
My girlfriend enjoys TR because of its simplicity. All she has to do is put the bike on the trainer, and pedal.
I’m going through the same struggle now, will keep you posted if I find anything 
Spinning can be plenty useful, it’s all about goals! Does she want to race the duathlon, or survive it and have a good time? Does she want to improve as a cyclist, or stay fit and healthy generally?
I don’t race but I’ve been min/maxing in video games for decades, so TR was a natural fit for my personality even without “events”. Your wife might really enjoy the structured, progressive overload and data emphasis from TR, or she might prefer spinning around in Zwift (or similar) giving and getting ride-ons. There is no right answer; they’re both great options for beginners.
Honestly the Peloton digital app would work. You wont see power on the screen but can follow the workouts relatively well. I think it is $12.99 a month after a 30 day trial.
I think she want to prove she can finish a race. She also want to improve her fitness and to be an example to out daughters (8 and 4).
Although our kids know I do a ton of exercise, watching mom do it too might be an inspiration for them
If she feels like she’s got something to prove, speaking from personal experience, TR 100% 
Ok no but seriously: Can you show her both platforms and see if either one is more appealing? Gut instinct is a perfectly good starting point for this, she’s got tons of time to experiment.
My wife uses the peloton app, but she rides so infrequently. The problem I see with using peloton if you’re preparing for an event is that it seems to me that users just have to cobble together random workouts that may or may not help them prepare. I’ve learned to just keep my mouth shut and let her sink or swim because apparently my knowledge is unwelcome lol
I hate to say it out loud here, but if you don’t think she will like the idea of structure then TR is likely not going to work, as TR is literally only structure. Entertainment is left to the rider. She may like that other platform that is more social and less focused on structure. Plus, there are tons of facebook groups for women on that platform that make it even more enjoyable. And all the group rides!
Then who knows, maybe in the future she will want to do structure!
Thats my thinking.
I want her to be engage and want to ride.
TR is kind of hardcore since she is not used to structured training (and for unknown reason to me, she doesn’t like to follow instructions when i tell her what she should do on her workouts).
On her case a free ride like Zwift might work better. I want to belive she will be ready for TR in the future tho.
A good test to see if she wants to move on to structured training after Zwift would be to have her following some training workouts on that platform first.
Structure doesn’t just have to mean “do XX watts for XX minutes XX times” but it also applies on a more macro scale of how many hard days/week and how many easy and progressive overload (whether that is duration or power). So even if she won’t be motivated by the intervals in TR, maybe she would do better with just riding around Zwift and then doing 1-2 Zwift races per week to get some intensity.
My GF started riding the trainer back in the spring and while the thought of just riding and starting at TR would probably make her want to shove a brake lever in her eye she likes the progression and the focused work. So she does the TR workout, with a movie playing with subtitles, also with upbeat pop music in her headphones.
I know my first and second paragraphs say two different things but the point is that no one here can probably give you the right thing for her but rather it might be one, the other, or a combination. Maybe start on Zwift and then move to TR. Maybe she needs Zwift races to really push herself. etc. But
I’d say that depends on her level of training going in. If she is a true beginner then almost anything will be beneficial. And the most beneficial thing would be to keep it fun.
And I’ve heard quite a few runners sing the praises of the apps guided run workouts. It might be the perfect tool for a newbie duathlete.
How many of us “just rode” without concrete structure at first and made huge gains? I bet all of us. Structure is great but at the beginning just pedaling along several times a week can do wonders. Zwift with its “climbs” will make a newbie do some efforts. Trying to keep up with someone does the same. Isn’t that the way we all started?
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with unstructured training just to dip your toes in the water.
My wife did her first tri last year, mostly trained by free spinning one day, jogging thirty minutes the next, and adding in a few swims a week.
She finished, had fun, got to see what it was about. Sometimes it’s worth just seeing if you like making training part of your daily life before you get serious. Unless you’re already pretty fit just spending some time on the bike isn’t a waste of time.
I recently just dealt with this same issue. My fiance got into riding during the pandemic. I had a free 3 month zwift subscription from when I bought my trainer that I had never used and gave it to her to try. She wasn’t really a fan of the platform. She likes the atmosphere of a group style class with someone telling her what to do. She signed up for the peleton digital subscription and loves that.
(As an added benefit the yoga classes are pretty good too.)
My wife took up cycling during the pandemic and is a TrainerRoad subscriber now. She likes the instruction with the workouts and the layout of the numbers. We try to do our workouts together on the trainer.
Start by getting her to ride regularly. Since has an event, sketch out a simple duathlon training training plan for her to follow. As a beginner, she mostly just needs to ride anyway.
Many great advises.
Ill talk to her about her options and see what she wants to do and how she wants to train.
She is a school teacher (kinder) so she is currently under a ton of stress! I would like her to take no less than 30 minutes daily to do something…she currently doing nothing because she has no free time
I’ll chime in as the spouse who also rides. 
From my experience, it’s not your worry to get her engaged and if you push it might backfire. I started riding about a year after my husband did. I went through a progression, starting with Peleton on a spin bike, then moving on to outdoor riding, then Zwift and eventually to TR. Now we ride together outside, both train and compare our workouts, gains, etc. It’s lots of fun but if he had pushed me I probably would have resisted as I honestly didn’t think this was of interest to me at first. I had to figure it out on my own. Husband just did his thing, clearly enjoying it and making big gains on TR and I eventually caught on. I would suggest you keep doing your thing, share some of your successes with her but don’t push too hard. Let her know what options there are and let her decide what/where her comfort level is. Even if she’s not there now, she may very well decide that structured training is great, or at least helpful, on her own.