Which should I commit to and why? I have used TR for awhile now but it’s a bit boring even as a group ride. It’s hard to do big gear, slow cadence riding since it locks up smart trainer. Zwift I believe I can ride more hills over the winter and big gear work.
What do you think? Has anyone followed a Zwift plan?
Thanks!
KK
Why not both as long as the extra ~$15 (USD) a month isn’t an issue for your budget.
I use TR for my plans and workouts, Zwift is something nicer to look at while on a TR workout, and I love going after all the badges and levels. I also have gotten into racing and group rides with a team on Zwift, so that has become part of my training plan. I also use Zwift for running which has helped make the treadmill not so bad.
I am still a big user of TR, I just use both and for different purposes.
I’ve used both. I personally liked the TR plans and I like them even more now with the adaptive training. But I also just like to listen to music and stare at the wall when I ride. Or maybe a movie if it’s a Z2 or recovery ride
So that being said, the best choice is whichever one helps you maintain consistency. So if you at more motivated and excited to get on the bike with Zwift than TR, make the change.
If you’re tired of TR by now from using it already, Zwift is the way to go.
It’s a very different approach, and can be really fun if done correctly.
The best part of Zwift for me are the group events, particularly large group races/rides which always make me work pretty hard no matter the distance - what happens usually is that you end up with a groupetto that moves a lot faster than you would on your own, and you ride with them most of the way until a hard finish. It’s fun to both drop and be dropped by the riders you get familiar with since they’re around you for like 45-90 mins depending on teh event.
. But it’s also great for practicing climbing, and even just going on an easy effort ride with no structure. I haven’t used any of the plans, but do participate in group workouts which seem to make the agony of hard intervals somewhat better!
If all you do is ride solo and randomly on Zwift, it’ll probably get old after a few weeks.
With the group rides, I definitely rider harder on Zwift than I do outdoors, and it translates to outdoors directly. I often ask myself if I’d be better off just doing all my bike workouts on Zwift, as there’s much less wasted time coasting, etc. (I couldn’t say that of Trainerroad - after one season of that, I wanted to throw my whole indoor bike setup out the window due to mental and physical burnout!)
Sounds like Zwift will motivate you to get on your bike more. If so, it’s a no brainer. Another benefit to Zwift is that there races and tour rides can really help motivate you, especially when you’re in a pack of riders.
If you’d like some of both, but don’t like the cost, consider trainerday.com as an alternative to TR. Similar style of app, and the most expensive version is $4/month.
…if you don’t want to even pay $4/month, get GoldenCheetah and use the ‘train’ feature. You can download all your free workout files from trainerday’s workout library. no real coaching or set plans, but it can work well.
Which should I commit to and why? I have used TR for awhile now but it’s a bit boring even as a group ride. It’s hard to do big gear, slow cadence riding since it locks up smart trainer. Zwift I believe I can ride more hills over the winter and big gear work.
What do you think? Has anyone followed a Zwift plan?
Zwift all the way for me* there is something about the group rides that makes 2-3hr rides just disappear. Its not just the social aspect, but there is something about seeing others on the road, even if I am following a ERG workout.
I’ve got FulGaz too for riding the actual routes for my upcoming 70.3 races, but even these are boring without other riders too
*I have a separate TrainingPeaks plan from my actual workouts - but these still come across to Zwift automatically
I used TR for 3 or 4 years and switched to Zwift a year ago and am really happy with it. The integration to my Training Peaks is seamless (it auto imports my workouts from TP into Zwift). I badge hunt new routes when I’m doing my TP rides or focus on really hilly ones for the Everest challenge. And the group rides for anything over 2 hours is great. I’ve done up to 5 hours on my trainer (in a computrainer studio, on TR) and the group dynamic on Zwift is super engaging and makes the time fly by. I don’t even need a TV distraction when I ride with groups. I wish I made the switch sooner.
With reference to your trainer “locking up”, it might do the same on zwift. I have a jetblack volt. I use both TR and zwift. There is one erg mode interval that is worse on zwift, and that is low cadence above threshold intervals. 70rpm is ok, but dip towards the prescribed 65 or 60 and it has a habit of going wonky and power drops off, or I hit the erg wall of death. I think this is just a lower/mid range trainer issue.
If you’re tired of TR by now from using it already, Zwift is the way to go.
It’s a very different approach, and can be really fun if done correctly.
The best part of Zwift for me are the group events, particularly large group races/rides which always make me work pretty hard no matter the distance - what happens usually is that you end up with a groupetto that moves a lot faster than you would on your own, and you ride with them most of the way until a hard finish. It’s fun to both drop and be dropped by the riders you get familiar with since they’re around you for like 45-90 mins depending on teh event.
. But it’s also great for practicing climbing, and even just going on an easy effort ride with no structure. I haven’t used any of the plans, but do participate in group workouts which seem to make the agony of hard intervals somewhat better!
If all you do is ride solo and randomly on Zwift, it’ll probably get old after a few weeks.
With the group rides, I definitely rider harder on Zwift than I do outdoors, and it translates to outdoors directly. I often ask myself if I’d be better off just doing all my bike workouts on Zwift, as there’s much less wasted time coasting, etc. (I couldn’t say that of Trainerroad - after one season of that, I wanted to throw my whole indoor bike setup out the window due to mental and physical burnout!)
I think this approach is best.
I use Zwift mostly for the entertainment value. If you like the races and group rides go with that. You can always cancel if you don’t like it.
I also like it for the pacer rides to make sure I don’t go too fast on easy rides but other times I use it for intervals on the flat routes or hill climbs.
It is a very situational and personal decision.
For me it is TrainerRoad across the board.
I have been using TR since 2016 and consistently log 250-300/hrs each year on there. I love it. It is simple and effective and that is all I want out of my training. It does what I need it to do.
I tried zwift for 3 months last year and hated every minute of it, I truly tried to like it and did all of the things on there but I just could not care less about a bunch of avatars riding around a fake world.
Just choose the one that motivates you more. For me motivation is in improving not in beating some random avatar and reaching some checkpoint.
But to each their own.
I’ve used both and Zwift is much better. Following a power graph on TR isn’t my idea of fun. Of course that was so back when I used a manual wheel on trainer as well.
I like Zwift for the workouts and training plans. The races are good for pushing yourself and group rides are fun.
Things I dislike about Zwift are the animation that doesn’t nothing for me and all the cheaters. They are rampant. It’s sickening actually.
I wish they could have divisons for people with manual vs. Smart trainers. As well, it would be great if everyone had to weigh in on a smart scale for some uniformity.
Since Zwift, I’ve never looked back.