Status Update

I’ve been writing a post introducing TrainingPeaks, Sporttracks.mobi, Strava, Garmin Connect, and a couple of others. I’m still getting straightened away after my move and settled into my new job while trying to get onto my training program and it’s taking a lot of effort. However, what I’ve realized in trying to conclude the post this weekend (which didn’t happen) is that it’s best to give each piece of software it’s own post rather than piece meal through them all as an introduction first and then follow-ups.

Right now SportTracks.mobi and the TrainingPeaks introduction are the nearest to complete (and extending beyond an “introduction”). I’ve had some interesting experiences with these and other software to date. I suspect that I’m not going to hit much new for the avid users, but I’m going to highlight some cool things. I’m also going to likely highlight some improvements needed for these and others.

The Training Bible is all about training smarter and not harder (than necessary). Your time is valuable. The same can be said about managing your data. As a result there is going to be a particular focus on how difficult it is to do the things you would. Namely:

1. Use a training plan
2. Track the data
3. Figure out if you’re improving

I should finally have my apartment setup next week which means I can put the bike on the trainer. I’m excited for that and daunted by it. Excited to be doing cycle training, daunted by the fact it’ll be boring. However, I’ll be immediately trying out TrainerRoad!

Training Plan

I’m going to refer to it as “The Bible” from here on in. The Bible is my entry point to a training plan supplemented by “Training and Racing with a Powermeter” and all the online resources. Lets step through the book starting with Chapter 5 (assuming you’ve read / thumbed through the beginning). More after the break.

Getting Ready For a Training Plan

As I get ready to move and start a new adventure in work, training, hacking, and more, I need to prepare a lot of different things. Movers, storage, selling things, packing my bikes, training equipment, etc and winding down at my current job.

In the meantime, I’ve been exploring all the various different online tracking apps. The short of it so far is that most of these online applications have way more functionality than I expected. However, there is a lot of functionality that is missing.

Ray posted a great summary on how to sync all your workouts on one service here which is going to be super useful. I’ll be using one of the described methods, probably the first for Tapiriik but I’m not sure yet. I’ll test them all out and see what fits best. Plus I want to wait until Tapiriik isn’t overloaded which happened due to DCrainmaker blogging about it.

So what is the first step in testing / training. It’s the training plan.

Lets break down what’s out there. First a list then a breakdown

• Free Online – Lots of free plans online, lots of purchase plans - EG: beginnertriathlete.com
• Books – I own a lot of these. Old and new. There are some out there that can be considered your “Go To” – I’ll discuss briefly one
• Trainingpeaks.com – Training peaks offers a way for coaches to sell training plans. These are usually by experienced coaching professionals.
• Garmin Connect – Offers a few plans, all seemingly for free

More after the break!