Visualizations of Power in App

TrainerRoad Software
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Hi,

I was wondering if you’ve thought about (or would consider) changing up some of the visualizations associated with power in the app. I have a crank-based power meter on a non-smart trainer. I often find myself struggling with the mental energy of trying to keep to a power target. I’ve tried to work on getting a feel for my power output and keeping it consistent, but it honestly hasn’t improved much - especially in higher intensity workouts. Just watching the numbers change just doesn’t seem to give the right feedback (at least for me). Just a few thoughts on things that I think would be helpful (and maybe other people can chime in):

  1. Change the below vs. above target color hues. When you’re below your target it could be various colors of blue and above could be various colors of red (as an example. Just the idea that there are different hues so your eye can catch whether you’re a little above or a little below more easily).
  2. Have a zoomed-in (15 second maybe?) section of the interval you’re on. I’ve found that the top window that shows the interval is really helpful if it’s a short interval (less than a minute) as I can see the changing slope of my power line. If it’s a 10 minute interval, it’s not really any more useful than the power line over the entire workout in the bottom window.
  3. Changing the text color or background color around the narration text. I often am trying to read Coach Chad’s text while keeping to a power target. It’s hard to see both my power numbers and read the text, especially in high-intensity intervals (where my brain’s already at it’s max :). If the color was brought down around the text some how might be helpful.

Just a few thoughts. If there aren’t a bunch of people agreeing with this need, just ignore it - it may just be my problem. I’ll keep working on hitting those targets!

Thanks!

Greg

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  • It’s been a while since I tried to use it, but the Win/Mac app allows zooming the main graph via scroll wheel or pad, so you can get nice and tight if you want.
  • If you use the Win/Mac app in the Minimal mode (to watch videos and such) you have an “interval specific” view on the right side, that is closer and may be helpful.
  • On the mobile app, (a while since I used it) you can play with looking at the intervals differently via portrait or landscape orientation at the least.
  • I’m not suggesting these eliminate the need for improvements, just that there may be some tools in place to help a bit right now.

I do agree that something could be improved as pure text/digits are not helpful without close attention. The colors as you note, aren’t helpful either, since deviation in either direction is not clear to whether it is higher or lower.

Something more like the Average Power dot and slider would be far better. A “tachometer” or dial representation would also be nice. Zwift uses something similar on their Companion app and it is quite nice without the need to “read” numbers.

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Thanks for the ideas. I’ll play with it a bit. I don’t have space in my current setup to have my computer in front, but I’ll see if I can squeeze anything else out of the phone app for the time being.

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