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WKO+ vs Training Peaks vs ?

I have been using WKO+ for several years now and I really like and understand it.



During the past year I went through several serious computer problems, and, each time, had to talk the WKO+ people into giving me a free replacement.  As a result I have burned through my good graces with the company and doubt they would spring for yet another free replacement.



My new computer will arrive today, and I have been considering purchasing WKO+ and have also explored Training Peaks.



In that the cost for a one year subscription to TP would cover the purchase of a new version of WKO+, buying the latter seems like a no brainer.



However, I wonder if anyone has used TP and found a compelling reason to go with the TP subscription.



Or are there truly usable freeware versions out there that will  track all three sports and compile them into a total TSS etc picture, and allow me to continue on with the WKO+ type metrics that I have become so comfortable with?



Thanks.

Comments

  • I was a member of TP for several years, and liked it OK when I was using a polar. I also liked the virtual coach that scheduled my workouts for each week. But since I've been in the haus, I have no need for the virtual coach, and find it much easier to upload workouts to wko+. I stopped paying for TP, and put it toward my EN memebership. I don't think there is any freeware that calculates all of the power metrics that normally throw around here. I believe they are propprietary to Allen & Coggan.
  • I absolutely hate trainingpeaks...I used it last year as I was with a Trainingpeaks coach (before EN)... I found that functionality that I wanted was missing and lots of other things...uploading trainingdata and adding notes to coach/self requires a ton of work... basically only used it as coach required it...

    WKO+...not the biggest fan...but waaayyyyyy better than TP
  • Can't speak from experience, but I think a lot of people like Golden Cheetah...
  • I use the paid version of TP and also have WKO. I've been a user of WKO for close to 6 years I think and I like it a lot. (The last upgrade wasn't that good). I switched to a Mac a couple of years ago and had a real hard time getting a couple of my PC based sports programs to work properly. Used Parallels, but still had driver and other issues, so I ended up keeping a PC laptop around to run a bunch of my sports software. Last year I made a big push to get rid of the PC and ended up going with the paid version of TP among other things.

    The paid version, IMO, is a great place to store swim, bike and run data and other metrics, get a good overview of what you are doing, and have done, and that's about it. You really can't analyze data and rides like you can in WKO yet, so for important rides, I sync TP with WKO on my PC and then look deeply at the data.

    My guess is that in the future they will continue to upgrade TP with better analytical support and do away with WKO, but that is probably years away.

    Am I thrilled with the paid TP - No. Is it pretty good - Yes.
  • I bought a netbook a couple weeks ago but haven't got around to loading WKO+ on it (which is why I bought the damn thing) cuz Windows makes my head hurt. I even brought it up to the CDA with me but never found the time to hook it up.

    I thought about Golden Cheetah but I wanted to track run and swim stuff also.

    Didn't want to pay $1xx for Doctor Phil's (?) thing.

    Me vs TP is personal. Not giving them a dime if I don't have too. They are another thing that's wrong with the tri space: spending money on stuff that just doesn't matter. You don't get faster because you log your stuff, track your blood pressure or the # of miles on your shoes. You get faster because you have a good training plan and you do the work. Track your stuff on a cocktail napkin, doesn't really matter, though a tool like WKO does help you understand the data that you generate on each and every ride.

    I've just been downloading my Joule into PowerAgent but need to set up WKO and import my stuff over there.

  • Why not just run Eli in parallels or vmware on your MacBook? Much easier, still have to deals with Winblows, but not a separate laptop.
  • WKO ! Damn predictive text!
  • Because Paralells or VMWare + Windows = almost the $300 I spent on a netbook and I don't have to put that stuff on my Mac. That's what I used to do...didn't really like it.

  • How about a basic EN training log? Just a place to store all of our workouts. Kind of like a beginnertriathlete setup? Wouldn't have to go anywhere else.
  • Posted By Branan Southerland on 29 Jun 2011 07:24 PM

    How about a basic EN training log? Just a place to store all of our workouts. Kind of like a beginnertriathlete setup? Wouldn't have to go anywhere else.

     

    Nope, not gonna happen. Do a search, this horse has been beaten to death. We are coaches, not programmers. Our priority is coaching you, generating content to support that, going to races and putting camps to support you. Zero sum headspace and $$ game, so us building a training log = less stuff available to do that above.

  • TP does not have all the functionality of WKO. It would frustrate you if you're a power user of WKO.

    I no longer either pay for TP or use WKO, but the reason I don't pay for TP is that it's crippled.

    Rich- you would be frustrated by Dr. Phil's thing. If you want more details why, let me know.
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