Monday 20 June 2016

My Favourite Training Peaks Features

With Training Peaks, you can get all sorts of charts set up.
This one shows the longest ride I have completed in any given week, going back over the last 6 months.
For folks interested in longer sportives, this sort of information is important.
You can't train for a 5-hour event just by doing "hard" one hour rides!



Yes, I know I am old and unfit.
This is my "top" feature - the Performance Management chart.
Blue is fitness, purple is training load, and yellow is "freshness/tiredness".
The chart shows my cycling figures for the last 180 days PLUS the dotted section to the right is a prediction of where things will go in the future. If I enter planned future training sessions it will count those in, too.
The point?
Well, in just 6 days time I have a local charity sportive, and I want to be rested enough, but not too rested!
The chart can be customised as required, with different time periods and any combination of a wide number of sports.
I regularly use a version of this chart that shows both my cycling and my running added together.
I think of it as a "cardio fitness" chart.
After all, that bit of cross-training still develops the heart and lungs!

Training Peaks has a height correction feature.
And, unlike most other programs, you can see the effect BEFORE it happens!
For the activity shown, I was sitting on my new turbo trainer. So obviously my elevation didn't change.
But I forgot to switch the GPS off on my Garmin 310XT, so the file shows the elevation all over the place.
Indeed, this pic shows just how inaccurate GPS is for elevation.
The proposed elevation correction is shown in red.
Clearly, the corrected heights are about right, because I was on a stationary trainer!
If, on the other hand, you are going off road, you might not want the files corrected.
So it is good to have the correction feature, and it is even better to see the effect before you apply the correction!



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