Hello everyone.
Being using trainer road for a few months now and love it. Being reading about training peaks and the data you can view on it. Having just purchased a power meter, would getting training peaks benefit me in anyway? Cam trainer road give me the same information? I apologise if this has being asked before.
Alternatively you can sync your TR workouts to https://www.strava.com and let https://intervals.icu to pull those workouts from there. It provides very nice analytics. Haven’t used Training Peaks, can’t comment what will you miss (if anything) with intervals.icu.
Here is topic about intervals.icu where it’s developer also actively participates.
When it comes to analytics, TrainingPeaks has more. More sophisticated CTL equation and performance management chart, better tracking of time in power and HR zones, etc.
But do you really need all that? Unless you’re working with a coach who really knows how to analyse the extra data and make sense of it, I’d guess the answer is usually no.
(But then who knows, I have TR and TP, just because I used to have a coach and I’ve got used to having certain metrics to hand…)
I second starting with intervals.icu. I can’t imagine needing training peaks after seeing what intervals.icu has to offer.
TrainingPeaks is a platform for communicating and coordinating with your coach. TrainerRoad is a platform to coach yourself.
Thanks for the replies. Was just wondering after seeing training peaks mentioned in a few areas I’ve looked for information before buying the power meter. I’ll stick with trainer road alone for what I currently need.
I use both - when I was self coaching and now that I have a coach. I like the metrics more in training peaks and find it much easier to get the data I want, edit rides, etc. That being said, TR has the plans to make you faster. If you can only do one (and you don’t have a coach), it should be TR. Having both is a nice luxury, though.
With a coach, I guess I don’t really need TR anymore, but I still like the platform for doing workouts. I also like to support them for the amazing work they do on the podcast.
Sounds like training peaks is good if you have a coach providing workouts for you. The podcast is what brought me to trainer road. Watched one episode and being a subscriber ever since.
I am a TrainingPeaks coach. In my opinion, if you are planning to just run a TrainerRoad training plan, and aren’t being coached by anyone, I personally don’t see the need for both. TP does offer more analytics, but they’re of limited value, particularly if you are following an already well-structured plan.
TR offers enough analytics for the vast majority of individual athletes. Much of the information people glean from other sources is of limited practicality. Lots of cyclists and especially triathletes are data geeks (me included), but frankly a lot of the extra data just isn’t all that actionable in any meaningful way for all but the pointiest of pointy end athletes.
That said, TrainingPeaks is a really good coaching and planning platform if you’re self coached or seeking a coach. I’ve been on it for a decade and a half, and even though I’m personally training via TR right now, I still use TP to log my personal workouts as well, and occasionally I look at the analytics in addition to TR.
I have a paid Training Peaks (TP) account since I first started structured bike training using Peaks Coaching Group plans (which are pretty good, by the way, but you can’t jump from one plan to another without purchasing them) and require a premium TP account. The article below highlights the differences between free and premium accounts.
However, for me, TP integrates all sports / activities better than any other site. The premium account lets you schedule all upcoming workouts (i.e. runs, swims, weight lifting, etc) and accounts for TSS from all of them. I live and die by my calendar so I find the scheduling and library functionality worth it. The Performance Management Chart that integrates all TSS is nice when peaking for an event, especially a multi-sport one, is valuable.
so Would you say that training peaks really comes into its own with multi sport athletes? All I do is cycling with weekly strength workouts and yoga. I think if I was to pay for training peaks judging on what’s being said above it would purely be for the planning and the data. But saying that trainer road seems to give me enough at the moment my only concern is when I get this power meter am I limited using trainer road with the data it provide or would training peaks show me a lot more power wise?
Ah, that’s right! I forgot that I used to be a triathlete! TP is waaay better for multisport athletes.
CTL equation on TP weights more recent workouts more heavily than older ones, and anything older than 6 weeks is barely if at all weighted. I think TR weights everything equally?
TP’s way seems to make a lot more sense, but the equation is in some way trademarked/patented/licensed/something (someone correct me if that’s not accurate).
Last I checked, TR has no PMC at all. What it has is a graph that shows TSS.
You are in no way limited without Training Peaks. TrainerRoad has everything you need to focus on becoming a faster cyclist.
I’m nearly certain that TR shows the six week average TSS (all from cycling, since TSS from other events like running and swimming isn’t accounted for).
As stated above there is a big difference between the Performance Manager in Training Peaks and the graph of you weekly TSS in TrainerRoad. That is not to say that one is better than the other, they provide different information for different levels of athlete.
Trainer Road provides everything you need to ‘get faster’ and features such as Plan Builder will no doubt put you in the right direction.
That said if you really get into the data and start wanting to expand your knowledge then TrainingPeaks will scratch that itch; although it will have to be the Premium offering as the basic plan just does not provide anything more than you will already get from Trainer Road.
In other words, useless.
As others have said… TP or TP & WKO are great if you have a coach or are a data obsessive. If I were self-coached or using TR, I would just use:
I think that’s what I’m going with tbh. Also like said above as well if I do get a need to look into more data from my rides then I can always sign up for training peaks. What data does trainer road not show that is in training peaks?