Strava Premium V Garmin Connect V Training Peaks V TR analytics V?

This might be a bit of blue sky thinking, and partially since I literally only just jumped in to 2016 and updated to a Garmin 520 but what is your preferred analytics tool?

They all seem to have pros & cons, and some are cheaper than others **Cough Training Peaks!

Personally; at current I have Garmin Connect at ‘the centre of my world’, taking in data from TR, MyFitnessPal & my Garmin, then spitting it out to Strava for the social side.

Strava Premium V Garmin Connect V Training Peaks V TR analytics V ??? What are peoples thoughts ?

I settled on TR analytics and WKO4 for post-ride analysis, and keeping everything in sync with Garmin Connect & TR.

I use TR and Golden Cheetah. There’s a bit of a learning curve to using GC but it’s free and does a lot of analytics. I can quickly get my current CTL, ATL, TSB, W’, CP and P-max. I can also get rid of unwanted power and HR spikes that seem to happen every so often and are annoying when using the power duration curve or looking at HR max.

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I use TR for my planning and performance chart, plus a bit of post-ride analysis, looking at the power curve, etc. TR analytics have made big improvements since I first subscribed, hoping there will continue to be progress. Would be great to be able to suck in more data like sleep, HRV, weight, bodyfat, etc. And to get more reports or even be able to create your own.

I use Garmin Connect which is kind of mandatory since my non-TR workouts are all recorded on Garmin devices, plus it tracks sleep and weight data. Sometimes use the post-ride analytics, find the performance chart annoying though as it seems to derive a lot from the VO2MAX measurement which in my experience is highly unreliable (mine correlates more closely to temperature than it does to fitness). Zero cost.

Basic Strava I use as a social media tool and route planning tool. Good to be able to see what friends and training partners are up to (particularly those who now live in different countries), how people got on in races, ideas for new routes, etc. Nice to pick up the occasional KOM or top 10 but I don’t go targeting them. Strava is also the one place which has all my data since I first started using GPS about 7 years ago, so it’s kind of cool to see the really macro picture of total hours/miles over a period of years. Just have no interest in paying extra for analytics which don’t really offer anything that TR and Garmin don’t already cover.

Also use the HRV4Training app for tracking HRV and recovery data. It takes training feeds to give me some kind of performance chart as well, but am really only interested in the recovery chart which I find useful as an extra data point to help pick up when I might be digging myself into a hole. One off £10 cost.

Also have a manual performance chart which I do in Excel. Two reasons I do this - one is to allow for differences in power readings between my Kickr and my Vector pedals (could resolve this by putting the Vectors on the trainer bike but that means a lot more pedal switching and eating through a lot more batteries, and I’m both lazy and tight…), second is when I’m training for triathlon I want to log running and swimming TSS as well and be able to track these either separately or aggregated, and TR doesn’t currently let me do this.

Did a free trial of TP but that’s a level of analytics that is beyond my interest, would rather be riding my bike. Same with Golden Cheetah.

Golden Cheetah - does all of the pretty graphs that the others do, just infinitely more affordable

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intervals.icu

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I’ve migrated away from all of these on-line tools as I don’t think any of them are really up to the task.

Currently I use a PMC spreadsheet (of my own design) and WKO4 via a free Trainingpeaks account, to make syncing more straightforward.

WKO4 has every tool I could ever need for analysis but isn’t great as a planner - adding stuff in the future isn’t a nice drag and drop like in TrainerRoad or Trainingpeaks, so to cover that I use my spreadsheet where it’s really easy to add future daily TSS to see how things look over the next few months. The only problem with that is keeping the spreadsheet up to date is a manual process. Not the end of the world though.

Strava is just a social media platform that serves as a sync service with a couple of nice to have features for planning routes. I’ve recently signed up to Komoot and like that so… I pay for premium as a way of supporting the company rather than because I need any of the premium features.

Trainingpeaks is fairly limited in as far as how much it can be configured and, as a WKO4 user, there really isn’t much point in having it other than in it’s free form to sync to WKO4.

For me the analysis features in TrainerRoad are half baked and although the calendar is great for planning, without a proper PMC, I’ve found that it’s pretty pointless for me. I could use it, but what’s the point then you can spend a few hours making a spreadsheet and have a fully functional ‘industry standard’ way of looking at training stress. At the moment I’m just using TrainerRoad as a way of reliably using power match to run my own custom workouts. :thinking: Cool company though so they can have my money.

Tried Xert a few times but couldn’t get on with the black box approach.

Garmin Connect and Polar just serve as ways of getting information off my devices.

Mike

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I use Strava for social purposes, summit is barely worth it. Training Peaks simply to tell me current ATL and future ATL. And of course TrainerRoad for my workouts.

I could ditch Training Peaks if there some other tool that could quickly tell me my ATL.

I use https://www.wattsboard.com for this - free alternative

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Trainer Road to plan, design, and carry out indoor workouts.

Training Peaks (premium) to analyse them (I like the PMC, and details like analysing how much time you spent in power and HR zones over the course of a week)

Strava (free) to show off about them.

intervals.icu website…more info. It’s free. You just link up with Strava (or whatever). Pretty good site for free.

Here is the calendar:

Here is the fitness chart:

There is also a power curve chart:

image

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Im not that into it, i was using Golden Cheetah for a while, but i couldnt be bothered keeping it upto date on my PC (i format a lot so dont like stuff i have to install)

I ditched Strava premium since TR analytics got going. I use TR calendar for planning, TR analytics for most stuff and Strava for social :slight_smile:

I push stuff to Garmin > Strava > TR (TR also syncs to Strava so my TR workouts show up there)

Just jumped on Intervals.icu this looks promising :slight_smile:

I use TR for the calendar and TSS and obviously the workout app. Outside rides sync using Strava fed from my Polar Flow units.
Polar is my go to GPS / HR recorder and the nice features are the Recovery Status screen which shows when I’m undertrained, “strained” or “highly strained” in their terms. The Orthostatic and fitness tests are also very useful to relate to HRV and VO2 respectively. Not too technical as I’d get lost in the detail.
I am also able to recreate outside interval sessions with timers and count downs with set HR targets to aim for, on the M460.
There is no fee for Polar software, comes free with the purchase of a polar unit
Polar also cater for multi sport, but I don’t really need this. The HR strap can work off line and reconnect after a run or swimming to the Beat app.
Finally I like the coach feature which allows for season planning and remote calendar or workout analysis. Downside is wearing two HR straps on indoor workouts as this is needed for the recovery data in Polar Flow.

I’ve always liked the look of the Polar software but as far as I know it’s not possible to get non-Polar activities to sync back to Polar Flow. Is that still the case?

I use a Polar watch for CX but a Garmin head unit for everything else.

Mike

The polar Flow software syncs with their devices being Bluetooth connected, but am aware it exports to TP, Myfitnesspal, Strava, Endomondo, Nike+ and Facebook.

I use Strava (am a premium or whatever they call it member) to log miles/hours and see KOM times. I literally ignore all other data and/or glance at it just too see random numbers.

TR is my data and analytics source.

Each platform has it’s pros/cons. The real issues is to pick one and stick to it as your source. Don’t flip between sources and expect an apples to apples comparison, you won’t get it.

I like data, but over the years I’ve learned that more isn’t always better. I think what TR provides is plenty, but I also use Golden Cheetah on the side and have free Strava and Training Peaks accounts. If I decide I want more deep dive metrics or I go back to programming my own training (within TR or outside of it), I’d probably use Training Peaks/WKO4 again, but right now I don’t have the need. I’m only “coaching” myself for a couple of reasons this year, but that’ll probably change again next season where I think I’ll have at least two runners and two triathletes, in which case I’ll again use TP/WKO4 for tracking my athletes and myself, but TrainerRoad for workouts and for daily reviews on myself.

I use TR, TP and Pioneer’s Cyclo Sphere. pioneer’s Web site sucks but IOS app provides me all the information I need. I also use Pioneer’s pedaling monitor where I can see my left and right real time power.

I use Strava just for socializing

I use Garmin but I have now got the Whoop 3.0 device it’s so intuitive. And is quite inexpensive.

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