Login required to started new threads

Login required to post replies

Best platform for planning workouts
Quote | Reply
I've been using Training Peaks Premium with a coach for the last couple of years. Now I am self-coached again and am trying to decide on the best platform to plan my workouts ahead. Mainly just plotting out daily workouts for the upcoming week (what I am doing each day).

I can pay for premium on TP, which I am familiar with. I've been experimenting with Garmin Connect but I haven't found that it does what I'm looking for (although admittedly I need to do some more research). I don't think Strava Premium does this?
Quote Reply
Re: Best platform for planning workouts [smoom] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
I use TP premium---I've been a member since the early 2000s, so all my data is there. I really wish they had a better "planning" facility than the calendar---its a blunt knife, at best. I've submitted (along with several others) several points of feedback to this effect on their uservoice forum.

I use workout builder for Bike and Run workouts and export those to my 920xt.

For swim workouts, I create those directly in GC---TP builder doesn't support Swim workouts because Garmin hasn't released the swim workout FIT file format. Then, I just create matching TP swim library items that match the yardage and basic description.
Quote Reply
Re: Best platform for planning workouts [smoom] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Lately I've just been using an excel file saved on a cloud service to coach my SO. I have an outlook 365 subscription through work so I can use the android excel app to access it and edit it on the go (no subscription is needed for view-only on mobile). This is advantageous over the google sheets app because some excel functions such as range names/look-ups weren't coming through on google sheets.

Spreadsheet is strictly planning-- obviously you miss out on stuff like TP color coding your workouts based on what was planned/performed. It's free though and let's me put everything into a nice calendar view for her, while having back-end data for myself to make it easy to compare week-over-week increases in mileage and what not. Wasn't terribly hard to set-up but if you're wanting a calendar view you'd need to know how to use VLOOKUP to pull data from the simple spreadsheet onto something more presentable.
Quote Reply
Re: Best platform for planning workouts [smoom] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
I moved the majority of my clients to Final Surge - and we all really like it - not as data driven as TP - but it gives me most of the info we all need- I think it is free for individual use. But as a coach I pay an annual fee for using this excellent platform.

Graham Wilson
USAT Level III Elite Coach
http://www.thewilsongroup.biz
Last edited by: feman: Jun 26, 17 15:31
Quote Reply
Re: Best platform for planning workouts [feman] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
I haven't played with final surge but I enjoy Xhale's layout. It's easy on the eyes. Also that it's free. I'm probably going to buy WKO for analysis and just use free platform planners

________________________________________________
Quote Reply
Re: Best platform for planning workouts [feman] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
feman wrote:
I moved the majority of my clients to Final Surge - and we all really like it - not as data driven as TP - but it gives me most of the info we all need- I think it is free for individual use. But as a coach I pay an annual fee for using this excellent platform.


Thanks. I'm going to give this a go. Been looking for alternatives to Garmin Connect / Training Peaks for my SO. Final Surge seems to be the solution we've been looking for.

edit: should add we're abandoning the spreadsheet method I referenced above. I built it out to be fairly featured but unfortunately mobile sync issues have been a PITA.
Last edited by: racehd: Jul 19, 17 9:00
Quote Reply
Re: Best platform for planning workouts [racehd] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
I'm searching for something that offers the fitness/fatigue graphs without any other fanciful features.
I've looked at Xhale and final surge (didn't sign up) but seems like based on the website, it doesn't offer these benefits (does it?).

I'm currently just using Garmin Connect and Strava to look at / plan my sessions.

just missing the fitness/fatigue - anyone knows of any others (besides TP / Strava / SportsTrack) which offers these sort metrics?
Quote Reply
Re: Best platform for planning workouts [myjunk] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
myjunk wrote:
I'm searching for something that offers the fitness/fatigue graphs without any other fanciful features.
I've looked at Xhale and final surge (didn't sign up) but seems like based on the website, it doesn't offer these benefits (does it?).

I'm currently just using Garmin Connect and Strava to look at / plan my sessions.

just missing the fitness/fatigue - anyone knows of any others (besides TP / Strava / SportsTrack) which offers these sort metrics?

Fitness fatigue are very easy to calculate with just a small amount of googling.

https://markmcdermott.substack.com
Quote Reply
Re: Best platform for planning workouts [smoom] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
I keep it simple and put my workouts on a google calendar. That way I don't just have the training information but also what time of the day and how this works with other appointments etc. Super simple and very reliable.

I use WKO+ for file analysis and that's where everything is saved. However, WKO+ is based on the history of files and not the future so if I create my own training plan, it will not allow me to predict fatigue and fitness levels. So, I made a spreadsheet with a simple calendar where i entered predicted values for specific workouts. For example, if my main race is on 10/7 this year, I'll have estimated, predicted fitness and fatigue scores already from now till then. After every training I overwrite the estimated score with the actual, so I have a chart based on true data (similar to WKO+) as well as a prediction going forward.

The prediction is great to see potential risks in the training plan - like excessive fatigue. It allows me to easily reschedule or modify training. Same if something would come up preventing my training like travel, I can restructure my workouts much easier that way.
Quote Reply
Re: Best platform for planning workouts [feman] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
feman wrote:
I moved the majority of my clients to Final Surge - and we all really like it - not as data driven as TP - but it gives me most of the info we all need- I think it is free for individual use. But as a coach I pay an annual fee for using this excellent platform.

cool. thanks for mentioning this. I had never heard of final surge. I like TP and currently use premium with my coach. But in the future, I'd prefer a free tool. Final Surge might be the one.
Quote Reply
Re: Best platform for planning workouts [mickison] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
The more we use it the more we all like it - glad you found it. Good luck

Graham Wilson
USAT Level III Elite Coach
http://www.thewilsongroup.biz
Quote Reply