Training Analysis Software

meesterbond

To date I've been training using an HRM and the Garmin software / Strava - a little analysis, calculating zones etc. Nothing too complicated. I've now got a Power Meter (Power2Max) on the way and was thinking about what software to use. I don't believe P2M have their own software.

So what are the pros and cons of those currently available. I'm not averse to paying for the right software, but I'd prefer something desktop based rather than online, and I use a Mac, which seems to exclude WKO+ which would probably have been my first choice - mainly because it's referenced so often in Joe Friel's book, which I've been reading through.

Golden Cheetah looks good, although until I get some proper data in there it's difficult to tell how user friendly it is, but are there any others I should look at? Is WKO+ sufficiently better that I should bootcamp my mac to use it?

Wrath Rob

Before talking about software, do you know how to use your hardware and construct a training plan to get the most out of it? There's not much point analysing and tracking your rides unless you've got something to track them against. Get the bible. I bought my power meter without it and wasted a season not using it properly. The book will help you understand what everything means and how to get the best out of it.

Once you've done that then you can look at software. Golden Cheetah is free but from my (limited) experience it doesn't give you easy analysis tools, e.g. identifying the best 30s/1min/5min/20min/60min power outputs of your ride and it doesn't use the more standard TSS metrics to track CTL, ATL, TSB etc. Its also not well documented and you're dependent on the internet for support. V2 has lots of information out there, V3 seems to be less well documented at the moment. If you've got a Garmin USB stick you can now use GC to do live tracking of a workout (e.g. on a turbo traininer) and base workouts around this. I've not tried it as I use TrainerRoad but its a neat feature. GC also has the Aerolabs feature, if you're a time trialist you can use this to estimate your CdA and therefore measure the benefits of tweaking position and kit.

WKO/Training Peaks gives you better analysis plus TSS so that you can track fitness and training load but it costs money. I used to use GC but ended up finding it limiting and hard to track my training, especially as I do rides without a power meter and there didn't seem to be an easy way to add these to the GC tracker. WKO allows you to do this more easily. I've still not scratched the surface of what WKO can do but for me it does what I need much more easily than GC does so its been worth the investment.

twotyred

I'd second getting Coggan and Allens book. I use SportTracks and with a few plug-ins it will do most of what WKO/Training Peaks will do.

Tom Dean

The new version of WKO+ is coming out in the autumn and will run on mac.

amaferanga

Golden Cheetah v3 has TSS and all the other Coggan metrics.

GC has had manual ride input as well as an option to add metrics to a ride (e.g. adding TSS or Bikescore for a ride without a PM) for a while now.

I'd try Golden Cheetah v3 and see how you get on before buying WKO+. Training Peaks is far inferior to Golden Cheetah IME so not worth paying for.

meesterbond

Thanks for the input - I've got GC v3 downloaded so I'll try that for a bit before looking elsewhere. If WKO+ ever comes out natively for the mac then I'll rethink but if v3 has most of the familiar metrics then it sounds like the obvious solution.

I've read Joe Friel's 'Training with Power' book (whatever it's called) as it was cheap on the Kindle. I like having paper books I can annotate them so I've ordered the Coggan book in paperback to wade through. Reasonably familiar with setting training programmes using HR so I'm just trying to get my head round all the new metrics and measures available when the PM is fitted.

maryka

Golden Cheetah actually does more than WKO in a lot of ways (you can see your 5 or 10 best peak powers for any standard duration and compare them with the current workout) but it also does less -- it won't let you set a specific duration yourself, for example, as far as I know. Neither GC nor WKO are particularly intuitive, WKO has a frustratingly crap UI as can GC but at least GC is free. If you know someone with knowledge of powermeters and the software, it's worth buying them a few pints to sit down with you and go through how to do all the various stuff so you don't have to spend hours trying to figure it out yourself. GC v3 doesn't have aerolab, but v2 does, if that matters to you. It might eventually if you are a TTer.

But any power analysis software gets more useful with more data, so make sure you're recording your data properly (no smart recording if you're using a Garmin) and keep backups of it, don't just upload it to Strava and delete the file from the Garmin. The more you ride with power and the more data you have, the more you can understand the rider you are and how you can improve.

Strava premium has some decent features for power, worth trying that to see if you like it.

WKO has a 14-day free trial so once you're ready to start putting some work into analysis, download it and set it up. I would recommend getting GC first and getting your head around that first so that when you use WKO you know what you're looking for and therefore can decide whether it's worth paying for the full version.

Personally I use WKO, GC, and SportTracks in that order. Depending on the type of ride/race, I will use WKO more than GC or vice versa. I used to pay for Strava premium but ultimately decided I didn't need the stats they provided, I could get the same from WKO or GC with a bit more work.

ric/rstsport

i use WKO+ on my Macs with Parallels. Works better than when i used to use it on a PC!

Looking forward to see the new version of WKO+

RChung

maryka wrote:

GC v3 doesn't have aerolab, but v2 does, if that matters to you. It might eventually if you are a TTer.

GC v3 does indeed have Aerolab. On the "Analysis" tab, look for the little "+" menu pulldown. It's one of the additional charts you can add.

maryka

RChung wrote:

maryka wrote:

GC v3 doesn't have aerolab, but v2 does, if that matters to you. It might eventually if you are a TTer.

GC v3 does indeed have Aerolab. On the "Analysis" tab, look for the little "+" menu pulldown. It's one of the additional charts you can add.

Cheers for that, I thought it must but hadn't looked hard for it. The GC UI as I said above is a bit lacking at times, once I added Aerolab it's got no label so just a blank box that I will have to remember is Aerolab! (not complaining, it's free software...)

RChung

maryka wrote:

RChung wrote:

maryka wrote:

GC v3 doesn't have aerolab, but v2 does, if that matters to you. It might eventually if you are a TTer.

GC v3 does indeed have Aerolab. On the "Analysis" tab, look for the little "+" menu pulldown. It's one of the additional charts you can add.

Cheers for that, I thought it must but hadn't looked hard for it. The GC UI as I said above is a bit lacking at times, once I added Aerolab it's got no label so just a blank box that I will have to remember is Aerolab! (not complaining, it's free software...)

Ah, yes. When you first add a chart you'll see that the cursor sits inside a blank field. That's the title field, and you can give it any label you want. I suggest "Aerolab" -- or maybe "Chung". (You may have to "close" the window with the little pulldown menu on the top left, then add it back again.)