I am a TrainerRoad advocate (annual subscription). I love the structure it gives to my workouts, the calendar feature, forum, and podcast. I also look forward to its upcoming Google/iCal sync feature. I’ve mentioned this before but I’m a TR lifer for sure.
This post is with the hope that TrainerRoad addresses some of the app shortcomings, IMO, that may potentially sway subscribers elsewhere. Aside from having limited resources, I can’t help but feel some of these aren’t implemented due to pride. Just because a competitor did it first doesn’t mean you can’t either, as a matter of adopting best practices. I know TR has its niche (serious cyclists, no frills, etc.), but I seriously doubt other apps would hesitate to copy things from TR - thereby eating a share of your target market.
Here goes:
(1) Customizable screen: where you can choose which metrics to display such as current TSS, HR, cadence, power, etc. This is a feature request I’ve seen before and it makes sense to be able to customize screens depending on workouts/drills.
(2) Color-coded intervals: where sweet spot efforts are distinguishable from Vo2max efforts, neuromuscular, etc. Seems pretty standard to me. My guess is the blue screen is part of TR’s identity and branding, so management is apprehensive to change this. I sure hope this is revisited.
(3) Adjustable intervals: where users have the option of increasing/decreasing certain intervals. For example, I find the sprint efforts relatively easy and would like to increase the intensity of these. In fact, Coach Chad’s workout text is 99% spot on to what’s happening (amazing!) except for sprint efforts where he says “you’re probably cooked by now,” or something to that effect, and I’m actually smiling (I swear it’s not from the pain).
(4) Yoga? I understand you’ve made YouTube videos addressing other issues related to cycling (strength, flexibility, and more), but maybe a spoon fed approach that’s integrated to the training plan might help? Not sure about this and would like to know your thoughts.
(5) Color-coded calendar: where easy, moderate, hard days are easy to see at a glance. Here’s a workaround I’ve made using annotations:
I won’t be subscribing to Suffestfest anytime soon - and most probably never will - because I can’t seem to trust a company with a marketing spiel like “FTP is dead” and then base workouts relative to FTP. I know that’s not their point and the slogan isn’t literal, but it’s still a turnoff (sorry).
On the other hand, I trust TrainerRoad. I trust Coach Chad, Coach Jonathan, and I occasionally trust Nate. Let me be clear that I appreciate the constant improvements the TR software presents. The TR team, from management to its engineers, support team, all have been phenomenal. Here’s to TrainerRoad’s continued success!