Training Peaks v Coach

steelwheels
steelwheels Posts: 94
edited December 2009 in Training, fitness and health
Strating cycling and hoping to do both short TT and road races next season. Regards training, I am wondering if the Annual Training Plan and Virtual Coach training session I get with my Training Peaks account are suitable and will get me to a sufficient level, or would buying a customised training plan or getting my own coach be better and worth the extra expense ? Any ideas /. thoughts. Has anyone used the Training Peaks plan for a year or more and had success ?

Thanks for any input / advice.

Comments

  • Sirius631
    Sirius631 Posts: 991
    Club mate of mine does Training Peaks + coach. I don't know how long he had been working with a power meter on his own, but this is the first year hes' worked with a coach. He's done a 19min '10' this year, and a 50 min '25.

    I'll be going for power meters this year, with a physiologist set program, rather than a program set by a coach with continuous feedback. My targets, however, are more modest than those of my club mate, targeting a 22' '10' and my first sub hour 25, hopefully getting to 58'.
    To err is human, but to make a real balls up takes a super computer.
  • doyler78
    doyler78 Posts: 1,951
    If you are going to go down the Virtual Coach line then bear in mind that the Virtual Coach is a just a computerised version of Joe Friel's Training Bible Annual Training Plan (ATP). Whilst the book sets the context for the composition of the ATP you do not get that same level of understanding from a plan created by a piece of software which is created from your subjective answering of questions of which you may or may not be able to accurately answer. So if you are going to use Virtual Coach I would say buy the book - the Cyclists Training Bible by Joe Friel and then you will at least be able to contextualise your programme.

    It could never compete with what a coach with a proven record could do. The question is a simple one for me - it's simply economics. If you can afford a coach then you will never regret so long as you have goals. If can't afford a coach and have no structure or aren't making any progress now then doing something different may just help get you closer to your goal.

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