Training peaks seems to offer a LOT of data analysis I’d never have much use for, but I would like a wider selection of structured workout plans than Zwift offers. So I’m considering signing up for the free account and buying a training plan to use on Zwift. Anyone else doing this? Are you happy with the quality and results of the training plans? Anyone you’d recommend for FTP gains? Basically, what I want is the wide selection of workout plans on Trainer Road but with the Zwift interface so I’m not looking at bar graphs for two hours.
Amadou, while I have never purchased a paid Training Peaks plan, I have an opinion on this. I am a WKO5 user. WKO5 is a cycling data analysis program. One can buy a license for this software through Training peaks web site. It is much more sophisticated when it comes to data crunching than paid Training Peaks. It is also very well supported by the developers. You can find on Youtube many lectures presented primarily by Tim Cusick, a cycling coach who coached a number of world champions, who describes how he uses WKO5 (or previous version, WKO4) to develop training plans for his athletes. These videos are very educational. I learned from them that (a) the training plans which his athletes use are not very sophisticated and they do not use a whole lot of different workouts, and (b) they are very precisely tuned to their baseline performance, and this is accomplished from detailed analyses of their past races and workouts using WKO5 - they are not based on their FTP alone! They are used on the whole power-duration curve. Both power levels and duration of intervals are customized for each athlete to achieve maximum gains with minimal possible fatigue. Well, this brings us to my thought: a customized workout plan can be very useful if it is based on your past performance data and if it was prepared by a knowledgeable coach. If you just buy a plan scaled to your current FTP, well, it will probably not be much different from training plans on Zwift. Having said that, nothing stops you from buying an inexpensive plan with a good rating to try it yourself. Maybe it will work for you, either because of its merits, or because of the “placebo effect” that it must be better if you paid for it.
If you have access to Trainer Road, there was an article (probably on Zwift Insider, or on Trainer Road itself) how to run both Trainer Road and Zwift concurrently, so that you can see TR workout but ride in Zwift.
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That’s great info, Andrei. Thanks!
Hi Amadou,
I just signed up for a Trainerroad last week, and I’ve been using its workouts while riding Zwift worlds for the past few days. I find the plans are much more customizable to your exact goals, experience, and time available for training. I’ve also found that
“Coach Chad” gives valuable tips on form and pedaling and cadence that are very helpful. I will probably only do this for a few months as it doubles the expenses, but so far, (and I know it’s early days), it seems like it’s going to be worth it. My ability to maintain a higher cadence at higher wattage just by focusing on form has already improved. The only downside so far is that you do have to read the coach’s advice on the screen and if you’re focused too much on Zwift you might miss some of it.
I’ve set it up so that trainerroad is connectedvia Bluetooth to my Android phone and Zwift is connected via Ant+ to mac laptop; works well for me!
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