I Have WKO+ But I’m Not Sure Why

Jenn Edwards

Greetings!

Power Noob question #8,000: What is the benefit of WKO+ over Training Peaks? Is there some magic metric or data I can get out of WKO+ that I can’t get out of TP? I'm trying to get my head around this early in the OS as I currently log my nutrition and workouts in Beginnertriathlete.com then log the workouts in duplicate in WKO+. Seems to me they are both in TP?

 

 

Benefits for me of TP over WKO+:

·         Online access

·         iPhone app

·         remote data storage (i.e. not my accident prone PC)

·         logging of swims with distance and time

 

 

Benefits for me of WKO+ over TP:

·         Hmmmmm…?

 

 

Thanks for any insight you can provide!

Nemo Brauch

The reason you have WKO is for the analysis of your power data.  You can log workouts in both places , but what WKO gives you that the online TrainingPeaks doesn't is all the analytical stuff.

This is a good product comparison from the TP folks:

http://support.trainingpeaks.com/fa...rison.aspx

 

mancona

TP and WKO are different products with different purposes.

TP: A training log. I see very little reason to pay for TP unless you have a 1:1 coach that uses it or have purchased a training plan that uses it. The free version of TP or something like beginnertriathlete that you mention will provide 90% or more of the value for free.

WKO: A program to analyze workouts and training. WKO is not meant to just log you workouts. It allows you to do detailed analysis of your workouts and races. On a micro level you can open one workout, split it into intervals and look at all kinds of metrics. The key ones being TSS/IF/NP/VI allong with your highest outputs at various times (1", 5", 30", 1', 5', ... etc). On a macro level you can track weekly, monthly, yearly TSS, ATL, CTL, and TSB to monitor your training load. Additionally you can get charts like you mean maximal power or pace curve, or your power, hr, pace distribution charts.

That said:
- A number of the WKO features are slowly being added to TP, however it isn't fully up to par yet. I assume at one point WKO will go away and TP will have all the feature and be the only product the peaks group offers.
- There are more and more free products out now that can do most of what TP can do such as SportTracks and even the newest CycleOps PowerAgent can give TSS/IF/NP/VI.

Within EN we have been using WKO of a while and it works very well. It is the language we speak and you will be able to get a ton of support if you use WKO. You can get the same value from another program but you will have much less support from within the house and may have to learn another "language".

MattAaronson

For a general log I actually like TrainingPeaks quite a lot. It is not as fully functional as other products (e.g. Sport Tracks, which I also use), but I really like the combination of nutrition and training into the dashboard views. My workout dashboard is set up pretty well now, as are my nutrition and overall dashboards. Compared with Garmin Connect it is an order of magnitude more useful. Paying for it to the tune of $100/year gets to access to more of the "pods" which is helpful. There are many things I don't like about it -- a big issue is lack of total customizability because you are restricted to the available "pods", and also some functionality is quite rudimentary (e.g. equipment tracking, which is implemented very well in Sport Tracks). On balance, though, I like that it is a web based application and I can access it from any PC, and it has slowly become my main daily go-to.

All that said, I have just started with a power meter and clearly WKO has analytical features that the others cannot touch and that are critical to getting the value from the power meter. Although I am on the steep part of the WKO learning curve I find it difficult to see myself using WKO for many features beyond analysis of individual workouts and the cumulative data associated with my workout progression. But perhaps I'll be proven wrong. After all, when I started with SportTracks and TrainingPeaks I thought I'd end up using SportTracks as my main go-to, but as it turned out I gravitate to TP now.

Btw if you use TrainingPeaks I suggest you use the mobile site on your iPhone in addition to the iPhone app. The app is pretty new and a lot of features need to be added and kinks worked out. The mobile site also has a lot of limitations in terms of features, but works well for the few things it does. Frankly they need to improve the mobile interfaces if I'm going to use them much...I use PC access 95% of the time.

Jenn Edwards

Thanks so much for all of the insight. So many choices! I no longer have buyer's remorse over WKO+ and will continue to log there and in BT.  I have TONS of user defined nutrition info in BT so there may not be any way to get fully away from that but at least I understand the best place for the power data.  Thanks again...

Unknown

If I’m completing the EN as prescribed on a Computrainer (it holds the watts) is there any reason to throw every workout into WKO?

Or does the value come for outside rides and ‘tests’? Feel free to refer me back to the webinar. It’s about time I review the info again…

Thanks!

gilliatt

If I’m completing the EN as prescribed on a Computrainer (it holds the watts) is there any reason to throw every workout into WKO?

Or does the value come for outside rides and ‘tests’? Feel free to refer me back to the webinar. It’s about time I review the info again…

Thanks!

Yes, in my opinion if you did the work it is worth recording/analyzing it. I found some old 3d files from 2005 I was able to go in and look at. Why not at least save them if you are using the CS or 3d modes

mancona

@Ryan, I agree with Dan. I record every single ride or run in WKO so I have accurate data. This allows me to look back at any single workout, race, week, month, year, etc. The PMC chart and other metrics in WKO are much more valuable if you include all of your workouts.

Nemo Brauch

What Matt and Dan said. Remember, the value of your Power Meter isn't just in a single ride. If you aren't putting every workout into WKO, you are really loosing out on a valuable set of tools to analyze your fitness, fatigue, recover, etc.