TrainingPeaks 4+

If you’re serious about fitness and competition then get this app. There is a lot of configuration and a lot of science behind making this app work for you but if you’re laser focused on a goal and purchase a high quality training plan to integrate into the app (MyProCoach, 80/20 Endurance etc…) then this will take your training from “Strava Social” to Stratospheric. If you’re looking for “likes, kudos and fuzzy feeling” save your cash. If you’re looking for a forensic breakdown of your abilities, some hard truths and hard work, get this. No one cares about your epic selfie on here or the group ride coffee stop. Just numbers and work. It’s beautiful.

Training Peaks is by far the best service I have found to plan and track serious training. I’m not a professional, or even high level amateur, athlete, but I was looking for a tool that would help me manage my training in a professional manner and not clutter the experience with gimmicks. I wanted something that would enable me to follow the advice I had gleaned from Training for the New Alpinism — that would help me monitor effectively my progress toward achieving my climbing training goals. I am not interested in sharing my stats with strangers, gamifying my training, seeing where I sit on a leader board, or sharing my training “stories” and photos on social media. Training Peaks (TP) gives me what I am looking for. In truth, to really get the most out of TP, you will need to pay for Premium, but if you’re serious about training (as opposed to just exercise) it is worth it. And this mobile app, whilst fundamentally good, does have some limitations / frustrations. For example, it would be good to be able to drag and drop training sessions in the calendar the same way as within the web app. In addition, the user experience is a little lacking — the design is a touch dated, and would benefit from better use of colour and larger typography.

I’ve been using TrainingPeaks for about a year now having previously used their trial package. I’m so glad I decided to subscribe and use this for my training. I use no other tracking app like starva as I am training to compete, not entertain and show of my rides to others. This is an athletes app.
To make the most of the data and analysis you ideally need to have power data available although not essential. Highly recommend.