TrainingPeaks

How I use TrainingPeaks and WKO5 to analyze rider data.

I’m sure most of you are familiar with TrainingPeaks, and maybe WKO5. If not, here’s a concise summary. TrainingPeaks is an online software platform where athletes of multiple sports varieties can plan, track, and analyze workouts. Workouts or races are recorded on whichever device you use and then uploaded to TrainingPeaks. Over the years it has become a staple software for thousands and thousands of athletes and coaches worldwide. I personally used the platform as a rider, and now deep dive even more as a coach. Here’s how I use it to coach my athletes.

First and foremost, above data, the athlete-coach communication chain is vital and can sometimes tell more than just looking at a power file. I ask that all of my athletes write a short summary after each workout; How did you feel? Could you have done more? What may have influenced your underperformance during today’s workout? These are just a few examples of comments my athletes may leave and topics they may cover. Before anything else, I read every comment. Every single one of them no matter the coaching level you are on.

The perfect example of great feedback from my athlete.

Now, with context to the data thanks to the comment, I look at the file. I use TrainingPeaks in conjunction with WKO5. The latter is a much more in-depth data software coaches use because the plethora of graphs and metrics one can create is next level.

I mostly look at Power, HR (heart rate), Cadence, and Duration. I look at the laps created and analyze if the power was held steady and in the prescribed zone. Did the athlete meet the prescribed power target, or did they over/underperform? Did their HR stay in the corresponding power zone i.e. zone 3 power and zone 3 heart rate? Did they meet the prescribed interval duration? Did they ride the prescribed cadence (if applicable, say performing SFRs)? These are just a few questions I ask while analyzing the TrainingPeaks workout file.

Below is the screenshot of the Heart Rate heatmap in WKO5, continuing with the workout above as the example. The athlete had to perform 4 x 30’ Aerobic Economy Blocks during a long endurance ride. These were done at 78-83% FTP, so high zone 2 / low zone 3. It’s clear that by analyzing and isolating the HR from power the Aerobic Economy blocks became more and more taxing as the ride progressed. The internal cost of each interval became more and more as their HR increased during each interval. Had I only looked at the power and not received any feedback, or if the athlete didn’t wear their HR strap, the data would have suggested a perfect overachieved workout. This is why looking at the whole picture, asking for feedback, and using HR and power are important in my coaching style.

WKO5 Heart Rate Heatmap.

Now that I know and clearly see the workout was more challenging than what it should have been I take into consideration the feedback. “Really humid and smoky out.”, “Longest ride in three weeks by quite a while”, “Went a bit over, should have probably kept it easier too”. I know this athlete is 100% capable of completing this workout, so after reading their feedback I’m not concerned that their power-to-heart rate didn’t match. It was humid, so most probably after a couple of hours on the bike they were slightly dehydrated which can elevate the HR due to less blood volume. This increases the HR to keep the same amount of blood flowing to the working muscles, keeping the core body temperature stable, etc. as it would under ‘normal’ hydration levels. Next feedback point; Longest ride in three weeks. After a little mid-season break seeing this decoupling is normal, and if they had to perform this workout again in 2 weeks it would look completely different. Also, losing a little bit of blood plasma volume during a mid-season break is normal due to complete rest days or heavily reduced training volume.

Isolating the power in TrainingPeaks would have painted a different story.

Another graph I like to look at is the Seiler Cardiac Drift in WKO5. This basically confirms all of the above and is just a great visual to help put it all together.

Cardiac Drift, another WKO5 graph I can use to analyze the file.

As I mentioned earlier TrainingPeaks in conjunction with WKO5 is such a powerful tool to analyze rider data. This post is just a tiny snapshot of how I analyze rider data. Depending on the coaching level of the athlete, I might do this every day for every ride and provide critical feedback to the athlete.