trainingpeaks.com

[solveig]

Hi all,
I've been faithfully lurking all summer & fall, while the farm sked was too crazy for me to type complete sentences once evening came.

So now it's winter and I'm thinking about training for the next cycling season. Anyone tried trainingpeaks.com? A friend of mine really liked the Virtual Coach package, and I think I'm going to do the 7-day free trial next week. Just wondering if any of you had experience.

Thanks lots!
Solveig

[Pedal Wench]

I'm on week two of a pre-built plan from one of their coaches. So far, I love it, in that sick working-my-a$$-off kinda way. Having structure makes a few hours on the trainer go by much quicker than just mindlessly spinning. I'll let you know as I get further into it.

[solveig]

Thanks for the reply. I also do much better on the trainer - or bike in general - when I have a goal. Do let me know how it goes for you!


S

[blueskies]

I used one of their pre-built plans to train for Cycle Oregon over 20 weeks last year. I loved it & it worked. It gave me faith that if I followed the plan, I could reach my goal, even when my goal was a BIG ginormous one, given that I wasn't cycling at all when I signed up for it.

[katluvr]

Ok,
So my bike shop guy (who I love and trust--but who is training and used to race) HIGHLY recommended these plans. How interactive are these? How flexible? Easy to understand? I have yet to calcuate my Lactate Threshold or really test/calculate my max HR (although I have been biking for years).
I guess the plan can only be as good as me following it...just don't want a mapped out plan that isn't very interactive.
I also just ordered The Cyclists Training Bible that he also highly recommended.
Any info would be great!

[blueskies]

Ok,
So my bike shop guy (who I love and trust--but who is training and used to race) HIGHLY recommended these plans. How interactive are these? How flexible? Easy to understand? I have yet to calcuate my Lactate Threshold or really test/calculate my max HR (although I have been biking for years).
I guess the plan can only be as good as me following it...just don't want a mapped out plan that isn't very interactive.

Well, the training plan that I purchased was just that, a plan. It covered 20 weeks, cost about $100, and wasn't interactive at all.

Flexible? Let's see... I read a couple books about training for cycling, and then used my understanding of the basic training principles to make some minor adjustments along the way.

If you want assistance with a plan, to make it interactive & flexible, you probably want some sort of coaching program.

I found my plan very easy to understand. You can preview the plans on training peaks, and that just means to basically see what a sample week or two on the plan looks like. You can see for yourself if it seems easy to understand to you.

Blueskies

[Pedal Wench]

My plan was quite hard, but I purchased one of the most intensive plans they had -- 24-hour Personal Best. It did get me exactly the results I wanted. I got mine from Coach Lynda Wallenfals -- I highly recommend her plans. She will answer questions about the plan, and helped me move things around for a business trip and when I caught a cold two weeks before my race.

I agree with blueskies -- look them over and download a two week preview and see if you can understand what you need to do.

[madisongrrl]

Trainingpeaks pre-built plans are a good value for the price. But the trainingpeaks software still has a long way to go IMO.

[solveig]

I ended up signing up for the Virtual Coach, and overall I like it. It gives me some structure to my workouts and drives me to workout more frequently & harder than I would if left to my own devices. (Especially while in trainerland over the winter.) As a result I'm going into the spring in my best shape ever.

But the software isn't all that interactive. With Virtual Coach, it gives you workouts, and you can shuffle them around to the days of the week that fit your life. You can also delete them & change lengths if you need to - but it helps to have done some background reading so you have an idea of the training effects your changes might have.

And you also have to be a little bit reasonable and go ahead and lift weights for more than 26 minutes on a given day, or not do all 1:58 on the trainer if you just can't deal.

And the nutrition part leaves quite a bit to be desired in terms of user-friendliness. I'd like to use it, but it would take way to long to enter everything in.

This has been a good intro to using a training plan for me, but it's not like interacting with a real human person who can deal with you as a whole human person.

Let me know what you think!

[Drtgirl]

I have yet to calcuate my Lactate Threshold or really test/calculate my max HR (although I have been biking for years).
I guess the plan can only be as good as me following it...just don't want a mapped out plan that isn't very interactive.
I also just ordered The Cyclists Training Bible that he also highly recommended.
Any info would be great!

I also use Training Peaks (although I have a custom plan from my coach). It's easy to follow and I like it a lot. I just like having a training plan in general. I would highly recommend figuring out your actual HR zones before starting. I was using a generic formula (based on max HR of 200, and my zones in 20bpm increments). Turns out I spent a month or two training at a really low heart rate.