What does Training Peaks have to offer?

Dawn Cass

Am guessing this is probably a silly question...but will ask anyway! ;-)

Training peaks is going to be the recommended tool to use next year for training/tracking. What does it actually fo for you that garmin connect doesn't already?

Is there a "how to" site somewhere to help get started/ensure I am using it correctly? (Or is it that simple that it's not needed?)

Thanks!

Al Truscott

A good way to start answering your question is with the concept, "You get what you pay for". Garmin Connect is free; Training Peaks is not. There really is no comparison in their value to the athlete. GC is OK as a place to "store" your workouts. But when it comes to analyzing individual workouts, intervals within a workout, and most especially, how your season is progressing over time, and how it compares to previous seasons - that;s where the value of TP lies.

There are two options: the monthly susbscription, web-based version, trainingpeaks.com, and the standalone computer based version, WKO+. Personally, I used WKO+, but the web-version may be more user friendly, while WKO literally has endless ways you can slice and dice your data, but you have to be willing to set things ups yourself (not programming per se, but more like the work involved in creating a spreadsheet)

Trying to explain the depth and potential uses of the training peaks system is like trying to explain power and its use in racing and training, but raised to a factor of ten. After years of use, I keep learning new ways to take advantage of it. The best selling point is TP started with two guys named Hunter Allen and Andrew Coogan, the folks who actually invented many of the power metrics we use when talking about our workouts: Normalized Power, Intensity Factor, Training Stress Score and Balance, etc. And Joe Friel, the venerable cycling and triathlon coach, has been involved in the project since the beginning.

Trainingpeaks.com has info on it about how to use - user manual, extensive FAQs, and background articles. I recommend as a place to start looking at the Blog, specifically the first two pages (that is, the oldest articles) - currently pages 35 and 36), where Coogan, Friel, and Matt Fitzgerald in 2008 began to explain the metrics and how to analyze them in WKO.

In the end, my comment is: if you have learned that the value ("You get what you pay for") of things like EN coaching, the use of a power meter, etc., take some time using them to become truly apparent, then TP/WKO is the same way. It is emphatically NOT simply a place to log your workouts; it's value lies in how you use the data generated by logging all your workouts, to help you refine your training and racing.

Personally, I have multiple ways to keep track of my work as a triathlete. First, I use a small program call "the Athlete's Diary", mostly because I have been using it since about 2004, and so have year's of data to pour over and its a quick and easy way to do some overall summary analysis. Then, my workouts all get uploaded automatically to Garmin Connect, which shoots them automatically to Strava - what I consider the social media for workouts. Finally, I load them into WKO 4 (for the Mac) which I use when I want to go into depth about what actually happened during a workout and how things are progressing over time (a week, an IM 12 week build, a season, comparing one season to others). WKO also loads the workouts into my free training peaks.com account.

Francis Picard

Thanks AI.

I started using TP premium with the promo code I received and really enjoyed the PMC. I am thinking of buying wko4 which is almost the same price as a 2 years subscription of TP premium. (as a team, do we have a discount code for wko4)

But before doing so, I want to understand more on how to train with power and understand what the data coming from all the widgets wants to tell me.

Tom Glynn

I've been a very long time user of Training Peaks, probably 10+ years. Much like Al, my data goes from my sports equipment to Garmin Connect and then syncs with Training Peaks and Strava at the same time. I also recently upgraded to the new WKO 4.0 for Mac and that auto symcs from Training Peaks.

I don't think I've ever spent more than a few minutes on Garmin Connect. It's just not that useful. I love the calendar view in TP. I can quickly forecast out my upcoming workouts and see my completed workouts in a glance. The weekly summaries are used all the time.

I was a user of the earlier PC versions of WKO, but moved away from them as I become more and more Mac focused around the house. TP also started putting many of the WKO features into their paid version of the product and so I just started using the paid TP version for much of the power metrics, Performance Management Charts and other data summaries.

I've been using WKO 4.0 since it came out a few months ago and really like it. It's much more robust than TP and for some, probably too much. My plan is to drop my paid TP account and use the WKO as my detailed analytical tool.

You can stick your foot in the water by getting a free TP account. Not sure if you can load older Garmin Connect files into TP in a batch upload, but if you use TrainerRoad I'm pretty sure you can at least get those in all at once. If you like it, upgrade to premium for a few months and learn more about the power metrics. If you like that and feel comfortable with lots of data, then go to WKO 4.0. Mac version is out, PC is coming soon.

Dawn Cass

Thanks all, will have a more detailed look. Based on what you have expienced, would you then recommend WKO 4 from the start?

Tom Glynn

I would recommend WKO 4 from the start if you are fairly comfortable with power data. Do you know your FTP? Do you download and look at power after every ride? Can you talk the lingo? If yes, then WKO is a great product. Otherwise it's going to be data overload and it'll never get used.

If you need some help, there is a ton of good advice all around this place. Pick up the dull but important book "Training and Racing with a Power Meter".

ezellrh

WKO vs TP: I would only offer that TP is available any where you have an internet connection. For example (and not that I would ever do this....) if you are bored sometime at work and want to snoop into your data from yesterday's, last week's, last year's ride or run, its available to you (depending on your local restrictions). Of if you are sitting in the airport and want to pull up the TP app on your smart phone, its there too. Just another variable for your equation. It all depends on what you want from your power analytic tool.

I'm a TP premium member. I found the free version didn't give me quite enough ability to look into the data. A paid TP account scratched my itch.

rlh2000

I think a paid TP account is plenty. I analyze data plenty for my day job, and am pleased at what TP can offer without putting in the huge learning investment to learn WKO. I got the free trial of WKO and when it expired I let it go. I just didn't feel the need for putting in the time when I was happy with TP. If you've been mostly happy with Garmin Connect, then TP will already offer a huge improvement.