Why should I choose TrainerRoad over Zwift?

both two different objects, one for structure training(TR) another one ZT more like entertainment . So I am using both services . But TR must be my long term training tools.

I use both, and have for years. Itā€™s not a divisive topic for me and here is why:

  1. Structured Training Quality
    TR wins hands down. Both platforms represent different qualities. I gave Zwift a shot at their workouts and found them to be too busy, too many lights and bells. TR is exactly what its supposed to be and wins in this category for me. The plans are well constructed, albeit the intros to most are IMO a bit too much for a warm-up in a lot of cases. If you want to target a specific point on a power curve and make that repeatable, you can.

  2. Dynamic training quality
    Zwift wins this hand down with the virtual racing. I donā€™t have the opportunity to race at all this year on the road due to the plague. Me and a few teammates have been able to ā€œraceā€ with domestic elites, and other local riders safely. It lets you know where you are at in terms of endurance, thoughts, mental toughness. It keeps your mind sharp to react to dynamic attacks from other humans, and not some programmatic pattern.

  3. Recovery/Endurance days
    The combo wins. The 2hr monotonous TR sessions arenā€™t fun. Adding TR as an overlay to Zwift allows me to not get Zwift goaded into a cat6 race, but also provides a nice way to mentally stimulate for the duration of the effort.

  4. Sprints / Anaerobic / Neuro
    Zwift wins hands down. This always need to be dynamic and having others sprinting full out next to you is the critical carrot to growth. Consistent blocks at 200% will help you, but rarely does a sprint last in convenient time segments. It does not reflect the same quality as outside, but there is a lot of neuro growth potential here not to be discounted.

  5. Social
    Zwift. Through the planned events and racing, Iā€™ve chatted with people from all over the world. Everyone on the chosen rides is there for the same reasons and like-minded in effort. I canā€™t envision a time where the TR version of Zoom is appealing to my world. I get enough of that at work. I really don;t want to see my collaborators half naked and breathing hard at 04:30. They donā€™t want to see me either. I do want to cheer people on chasing a KOM jersey on a climb or trying to get a sprint jersey back on a group ride. That is far closer to sprinting for the city limits on a real ride.

  6. Cost
    In contrast to a gym membership I am money ahead and Iā€™m in the best shape of my life. Paying for both.

Summary
Choose both if you can, and take the best parts of each towards maximizing your results. I donā€™t mind paying for both platforms. The holy grail would be for one to buy the other and win the indoor training software battle for all time.

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Il be honest I couldnā€™t follow trainerroad without zwift.

Iā€™ve started and stopped probably 5 or 6 times with TR as I just canā€™t get on with looking at graphs, itā€™s like torture. Canā€™t watch Netflix or the like whilst doing intervals. I had some success watching cycling videos / races but it was still tough.

Zwift on the other hand has consistently engaged with me, whilst the training plans arenā€™t great the visual aspect goes a long way, plus the races/group ride are both good training and stimulating.

Iā€™m currently running both together and Iā€™m
Finding this is working, but I donā€™t believe I could ever run TR for a significant time as my sole platform due to needing more than graphs on a screen.

Strange thing is, I trained at a wattbike facility for a good while that had a coach and powerpoints on the wall of the intervals and I was fine with that, it must be the social aspect and the coach that made me accountable which enabled me to do it there.

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Strange coincidence that I should come across this thread so soon after seeing this earlier today. Looked familiarā€¦ :thinking:

https://app.trainerday.com/workouts/bashful-6

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Not the first time we have seen TR workouts posted there. Harder to police since it seems that anyone can make and post workouts. Them copying TR is bad and should be removed immediately.

@Nate_Pearson, looks like you guys need to have a chat over there again.

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And now they have an app to use all those TR workouts on there too. All they are doing when challenged is to make the workouts private, rather than removing them

they know TR GOOD stuffs

I get the sentiment, but suing would have little if any financial sense for TR. Hard to know, but I doubt the general copying we see on occasion probably doesnā€™t ā€œcostā€ them as much as litigation would. But I have no legal training and no real sense of the financial impact to TR from these various ā€œstealingā€ episodes. I just make TR aware when I see them and let them handle the rest however they see fit.

Dead against the copying of workouts and plans to avoid a TR sub, but i do wish TR would re think their position on not exporting ā€œtodayā€™s workoutā€ to other apps like Zwift that have the capability to receive them. Training Peaks and Todayā€™s Plan do this and it seems to be totally consistent with TRā€™s view that you provide your choice of entertainment

5 or 6 days a week i use TR & Zwift together, and always having to use both apps is sometimes a pain

The beauty of the daily push, is that the workout availability would be controlled by TR, and the user never has access to download it and retain it, thus avoiding TrainerDay type issues

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Doesnā€™t work that way. Only todayā€™s workout is pushed to Zwift, and next day it is replaced etcā€¦

You would still require a TR plan

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I think it makes sense to consider what motivates you to train. I (and a lot of other TR users it seems) am a pretty data- driven and process-oriented type of person. I really enjoy the daily grind of training and keeping track of my progress, and I stay pretty consistently motivated to do hard sessions without social support or an ā€˜end goalā€™ or racing- of course those things are enjoyable too, but at the end of the day iā€™m pretty content to just improve.

On the other hand, a lot of people are more goal-oriented and need a race on the horizon to keep themselves motivated- or they benefit significantly from the social support and ā€˜fun factorā€™ of groups and external stimulus. I donā€™t think either are necessarily better or worse- but the most important consideration should be what makes it most rewarding to get on your bike and do whatever you need to do to reach your goals.

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Thatā€™ll teach em! :joy:

Yeah, I think the corporate entity that is trainerroad can fight their own battles without us snitching on our fellow peons.

Well done fella, congrats on doing something about it.

What youā€™ve done is tantamount to telling the teacher you saw one class mate copying another.

More like telling the teacher some one stole the answers to tomorrows test.

OK, I guess?

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Sorry decided to delete this post, not something I want to get involved in, and Nates aware and should be taking action, I pay to use TR not get involved in their legal problems

ditto. Point taken

Have used Zwift a bunch, and every so often go back to it, but I find that it never takes long for the gimmick to fade. Zwift is neat, but for what it offers Iā€™d much rather just do an actual outdoor ride, as both always end up being junk miles for me.

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Yep, Iā€™d agree with this, as posted in another thread.

I can see why the guys donā€™t want to, having invested so much in the Training Interface, but since lockdown and work from home Iā€™ve got used to the moving wallpaper of zwift. Two devices is just added faff very early in the morning (for me).

Iā€™d prefer to just push the workout, like it does to my Garmin and my Wahoo. Unless thereā€™s something very funky in the Zwift T&Cā€™s for this?