Using Trainer Road in Your OutSeason

Coach Rich

Trainer Road: Getting Started

 

TrainerRoad.com is
an adjunct to using an indoor trainer for cycling workouts. TrainerRoad
is an independent web-based service, using a subscription payment model
($10/month). It is designed to be simple to use on a wide variety of
trainers, and the TrainerRoad website has an excellent suite of instructions and videos for initial set-up. 

Please note that TrainerRoad is an optional enhancement to your Endurance Nation cycling workouts and requires a computer and a minimal level of technical expertise. It is VERY cool.  It is not mandatory you use this and it does not replace the TeamEN mojo in the Forums, Dashbord or anywhere else. 

We have put many of our EN
workouts on TrainerRoad in a private group as a resource for ALL TeamEN
athletes. This includes all of our OutSeason bike workouts and the
weekday interval ride for all of our Ironman and Half Ironman training
plans.  Access to this group is limited to paid TeamEN athletes only. 

For those of you without a powermeter, TrainerRoad allows you to simulate having power and improving your workout. For those of you with a powermeter,
TrainerRoad puts your power data right on the screen -- it's a huge
upgrade and it fits very well with how we structure your training.

What Trainer Road Does:

• TR
  works whether you have a standalone power meter (like a PowerTap or
  Quarg), or use Heart Rate to monitor your workout intervals.
• TR supports most standard trainers, and can use them plus your HR data to generate a "virtual power" reading
• If
  you have a CompuTrainer, TR will act in place of your CT software to
  set the resistance on the CT, adjusting as needed during the course of
  the workout.
• TR's on-screen graphics are simple to read even when one's vision is clouded with sweat and heavy breathing.

 

TO REQUEST ACCESS

To get access, please do the following:

1. Create a TrainerRoad account online here: www.trainerroad.com
2. Login to Trainer Road.
3. Go to this URL in your browser: www.trainerroad.com/teams/3-endurance-nation
4. From this
   page you can request access to the group. This process will take one
   business day to happen, so plan accordingly. Eventually this page will
   have more resources for TeamEN, but that is all TBD as TrainerRoad
   evolves.  

DOWNLOAD, INSTALL & USE TRAINER ROAD

TrainerRoad is an application that runs on your PC and Mac. You can find everything you need on their Getting Started page.

When you are ready
to do an EN workout (having already requested access above, and given
us 1 business day to approve you!) you launch Trainer Road and Click on
the Custom Tab. 

Step One:
Click TrainerRoad to find all of the TeamEN workouts alongside the
regular TrainerRoad workouts. Search by workout titles to find them:

• 2014 IM Wk1 BEG = The beginner week one bike ride from the 2014 Ironman plan.
• 2014 OS Wk9 INT = The intermediate level bike ride from the 2014 OutSeason plan. 
• 2014 HIM Wk14 ADV = The advanced level bike ride from the 2014 Half Ironman plan. 
• Test - This will show both options for the EN Power and Heart Rate tests.

 

Step Two:
Find the workout you want using the search bar. "2014 OS Wk9" will, for
example, pull up all workouts for Week 9 of the OS, all ability levels.
"Wk9 Sat" will pull up all Saturday workouts for Week 9, etc. 

Step Three: Click on Workout Name to review the actual workout, then click "Open" to start the workout on your laptop.

SUPPORT

If you need support, please post to the Trainer Road thread in the forums here. You can also submit a support ticket using the black Support Tab located on the right side of every EN webpage, but it's not as direct as the thread above.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Custom Workout Creator: Click here to watch a short video on how to use the (beta) TrainerRoad workout creator. Please note the left sidebar is for PERCENT OF FTP, not absolute FTP. That might not be clear in the video (hat tip to Al Truscott on that one).
TrainerRoad Challenges: Periodically TrainerRoad will run it's own virtual cycling challenges. We hope to have some for the Team soon, but in the meantime feel free to play along with them!
Hi gang, if you will be using Trainer Road this outseason and you have questions, here is a link you should read.

truane

Ha, I have been using TrainerRoad and have been loving it. However, I was thinking how amazing it would be to have the EN workouts on TR. Well, here they are. Thanks for setting this up!

Al Truscott

"...If you have a CompuTrainer, TR will act in place of your CT software to set the resistance on the CT, adjusting as needed during the course of the workout..."

Also, this feature works with many other "Electronic Trainers", per this page:

https://www.trainerroad.com/electronic-trainers

rstrangemd

I have enjoyed using the EN WKO on Trainer Road over the past 2 seasons. Any chance you will reach a similar arrangement with Zwift?

Tom Glynn

When I click on the TR link above, I get the message "Your membership for Endurance Nation is currently inactive." and it does not allow me to request access to the EN Team. Both EN and TR are paid up and active for me. Not sure how to add my name to the list wanting access.

Brenda Ross

Tom, I suggest you put in a support request on this, so the Coaches can see this. They will not be monitoring these threads

Paul Hough

Just curious, but what do you see on your PC while you are doing an EN workout ... bar graphs and the like?  Can you watch a movie and have your EN workout running in TR in the background?  

Doug Johnson

@Paul Hough here is a view from my completed wko today.  The blue is target watts.  As you go through the wko lines are drawn on the graph according to what metrics you are tracking with power being the yellow line in this case.

I believe there is a way to minimize the TR window so that you can watch videos or use other programs such as Zwift.  I just use another screen for that though because I like the full screen view of TR.

Andre Fraser

@Paul Hough you see the TR power screen showing your power, target power, cadence, HR and the full workout graph.   I usually use the Steephill.tv app to watch races via Apple TV on my big screen during the workout.   I also watch my DVR if there are any ITU races or recorded races