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Thinking of TrainerRoad but have questions
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How do you use it year round....it states that plans for are 8 weeks? Do you just sign up for an 8 week and then sign up again? What if I am contemplating different distance races next Spring such as a spring, olympic and possibly 70.3?
How does it compare to Sufferfest? Does anyone use both?

What do you like and dislike about it?

Thanks!
KK
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Re: Thinking of TrainerRoad but have questions [Kat_Kong] [ In reply to ]
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You pay per month and use as often and as long as you want. Once you are in you have access to all the plans and workouts. Their blog (and podcast) has some articles regarding multiple events/peaks per season. Never used sufferfest though.
I really enjoy their product. (I'm sure you'll get more complete answers, just wanted to drop my 2cents)
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Re: Thinking of TrainerRoad but have questions [Kat_Kong] [ In reply to ]
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You either sign up for a month to month subscription or a yearly subscription. They have many plans for all the distances from sprint to full in 3 different levels from low, to mid and high volume plans. You can pick and start whatever you want based on what distance you want to focus on and volume. Each plan follows a base, build and speciality phase, which for most distances are 8 weeks each. You can choose when and where to start a plan, and can also move workouts to wherever you want to do them based on your time schedule. You also don't have to follow a plan and can pick any workout you want based on your needs and preference.

Ive been using TrainerRoad for the last 4-5 years and find it to be of great value. I just follow the bike workouts though and do the swimming and running on my own. Partly because they are more focused on the aspects of cycling, and I personally feel they haven't put in the same amount of time into their swimming and running workouts, but hopefully in the future they will. I would suggest starting out with the low to mid volume plans with whatever distance you want to focus on, especially if you haven't done structure indoor workouts. It takes a while to get use to because there are lots of hard/challenging workouts. But if you can be consistent with the low or mid volume plans, or if you just decide to cherry pick workouts instead of following a plan, I find its a great product to use.
Last edited by: TriEnduro: Sep 28, 19 22:06
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Re: Thinking of TrainerRoad but have questions [Kat_Kong] [ In reply to ]
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I permanently subscribe to TR and I use it year-round. I do most of my training indoors anyway-- I am lucky if I can do an outside ride more than once/month. If you are considering multiple race distances, train for the longest. I train for 70.3 races, and I pretty much crush Sprints & Olympics. I have only used TR and the free Kurt Kinetic app.

I don't think the question is like vs. dislike for these apps. The question is what works best for you, and how well do the apps align with you. For example, I do not like the gamification or virtualization aspects of indoor training. So, I actually dislike those types of apps (Zwift & Rouvey). But, my dislike is not applicable to anyone else but me. On the other hand, I like the structured plans that TR offers, so that is why I really like TR. And, I will watch Netflix while riding, so I do not want an app that requires my attention-- I want the app to do all the work for me, and I just sweat.

So first figure out what is most important to you in an app (real ride simulation, gamification, structured plans, spin class simulation, etc.) Then, figure out which of the apps offers the best product for your interests that will motivate you to train.
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Re: Thinking of TrainerRoad but have questions [Kat_Kong] [ In reply to ]
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Iā€™ve used trainerroad for at least 5 years and just pay the annual fee using it all year long. They now pull in your outdoor rides into your ā€œcareerā€ so I use it to track all of my cycling, indoors or out.

As far as what plan to choose, I would start with looking at your most important races of the year and work backwards to plan how many weeks of training you have. If you have an Olympic in June and a 70.3 in September you can use those specific plans going into them. If your races are closer together, choose a plan that applies to your ā€˜Aā€™ race and fit your other races into the plan using the calendar in
Trainerroad.

I donā€™t use sufferfest but I use zwift for challenges and the occasional race. I pretty much always have zwift running on another screen while Iā€™m following the trainerroad workout because I gotta get those sweet level ups.
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Re: Thinking of TrainerRoad but have questions [Kat_Kong] [ In reply to ]
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If you want to try it out I have some free 1 month trial referrals to give out. Just PM me your email and name (first and last) so I can send out the invite. To others who are reading this I have 3 total currently to dole out so in essence 2 left unless the OP doesn't want it.
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Re: Thinking of TrainerRoad but have questions [loxx0050] [ In reply to ]
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I got a bunch of free months too, if anyone wants one. I can't recommend TrainerRoad enough.

Strava
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Re: Thinking of TrainerRoad but have questions [Kat_Kong] [ In reply to ]
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Kat_Kong wrote:
How do you use it year round....it states that plans for are 8 weeks? Do you just sign up for an 8 week and then sign up again? What if I am contemplating different distance races next Spring such as a spring, olympic and possibly 70.3?
How does it compare to Sufferfest? Does anyone use both?

What do you like and dislike about it?

Thanks!
KK

I love TR. This year I'm using it for an Ironman and last year I used it last year for an Olympic distance season. I did the typical base-build-specialize sequence for my first race of the season and then repeated the specialize phase throughout the summer when I was racing. IN the off-season I'll do a sweet spot base. I use the full triathlon plans, not just the biking. TR offers plans for each of the tri distances from sprint to Ironman. You pick the plan and phase and load it into your calendar. This year I'm doing IM TX so I loaded the three phases into the calendar (with a blank week in between each) .

Like a lot of TR users I stick very close to the bike schedule, but I tweak the runs and swims a bit to suit my needs. For instance, TR usually recommends a continuous long swim on Sunday, but I don't like that. I do 100 repeats equal to the recommended distance and rest five seconds in between. It's close to a continuous swim, but gives just enough rest to maintain form.

The only reason not to get TR is if you don't like indoor training or require something more social (Zwift).

One thing I will warn you about is to choose the right volume. There is a low-, mid-, and high-volume option for each distance. Last year I started with the high-volume Olympic and it was too much. This time I'm doing mid-volume Ironman and it is plenty.
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