What is TrainingPeaks and why would I bother to use it?

[Gaius]

See subject, basically!


Faced with yet another system to log into and add all my data and monitor and...


What is the advantage of TrainingPeaks? I can see there are the free training plans, which are informative in their way, but which don't suit my timetable and make assumptions of doing the BTC group activities (many of which I won't be able to get to). I can see that I can duplicate my data between other devices and TrainingPeaks… I can also see it gives me yet more numbers to worry about...


But beyond seeing that two of my numbers are up and one of them is down, what will it give me?


ETA: Though, it does have some prettier graphs.

[Gaius]

Fun, but not for me.
I have enough digital nannies to not need another one right now.
Maybe later.

[niallm]

Hi Gaius,

Training peaks is a tool you can use to assist your training and ensure you are training correctly. The training plans are written by the Belpark coaches with a goal to peak at specific races through out the year. They include a good cycle of build and recovery and target what we should generally be doing to improve in Triathlon.

Yes some of the session say club spin, or club swim which is after all a small part of training in a club, but if you cannot make many of the sessions for one reason or another then the details of each session is also contained within the work out so you can do it on your own.

The time commitment for each plan you choose is up to you, be it novice, one a day, 2 a day, ironman cork etc which gives a good option.

No one is going to hold it against you if you sign up for a one a day plan and can only do 50% of the sessions, after all we are all here to enjoy the sport at the end of the day and have other things in our lives we need to commit to.

It is also not set in stone, I often end up swapping the days around or similar to suit my schedule. Or I swap a run so I have to bikes on a day and do them commuting to work to fit into my schedule.

I wouldn't say its a nannny but it is good for you to monitor your progress and is probably better than Strava or anything as it is private for you and not to share with the word how you smashed a segment.

I want to take a moment to thank the club for organizing training peaks plans for us and I find them very useful.