Online Training Logs Redux, Part 1: Training Peaks

Last May, I wrote a post comparing two online training logs.  In it, I compared the Runner's World Online Training Log with Dailymile.  Since then, I've tried out some other logs, and now I want to do a more in-depth look into them.  This post will deal with Training Peaks, and the next post will be a look at Running Ahead.

Training Peaks

Main Calendar View

Training Peaks (TP) was a very attractive option for me, and for the last few months of 2010, I had planned on switching to it once the new year came about.  TP has a lot of features, so it's a lot more than just a training log.  You can put your meals in, and it has a vast database of foods that you can select from.  It also allows you to plan your training, making it easy to compare what you've done with what you planned to do.  Furthermore, if you have a coach, or use one of Hal Higdon's Interactive Training Plans, the workouts can be put on your calendar by your coach or Hal.  I'm not coached, but the number of features was appealing.

A downside to all these features is that TP seems pretty dated.  I'm not referring to the visual appearance of the software (although it isn't particularly attractive), but rather how it adds unnecessary steps to simple tasks.  For example, if I wanted to log a 4 mile run that I ran in 35 minutes, 29 seconds, I might try and enter it like this:

Notice the Pace?  It thinks I was running a leisurely pace of 8 hours, 52 minutes, 15 seconds per mile!  You'll see in the black box that all I did was enter my time, 35:29, and it assumed a format of hours:minutes.  Almost every other log I've tried is smart enough to recognize that a two field entry (like 35:29) means minutes:seconds, not hours:minutes.  Is this a big deal?  Not really, but needing to enter something like 0:35:29 is a little ridiculous.

Here is the same run with the corrected time, and you can see that there are a lot of features on this one screen.  It can be expanded even more to let you input planned duration/distance.  And you'll also see an "Exercises & Intervals" tab at the top.  The ability to record reps and intervals is a must-have feature for any training log.  So, if I click on it, what do I get?  This:

Alright...well, that wasn't helpful.  I just want to be able to record my rep times and interval times.  But, I'll click on "Add new set" and see what happens:

Better, but not very helpful either.  What does "Set 1" mean?  Is a set my entire 8x400 workout?  Just the reps?  Or intervals?  Or is it just one entry?  Not sure, but I can only enter a single time and single distance.

Now I've got one rep in there, let's try adding an interval:

So, what TP is offering is the ability to record a ridiculous amount of data for each entry.  Since I'm not using a HRM, I don't need to enter heart rate, or RPE, or intensity for each entry.  That's way more detail than one should need.

Other parts of the software can be just as frustrating.  If I mapped out a route, I'd like an easy way to apply it to my workout.  But, since this is TP, it's not going to be easy.  First, one must find the "Routes Library" on the left side of the page.  From this list, you can drag a route to the workout screen.  Drag?  Why not just a drop-down list?  And, since I'm on a laptop computer, the workout screen overlaps the routes library, and I have to move it all around just to be able to do this:

On a side note, TP uses Mapquest for it's mapping software.  Not to nitpick, but Google Maps is significantly better at including pedestrian and cycling trails on the mapping system.  It can make a big difference in distance if one follows, for example, Minnehaha Parkway or the Minnehaha Trail.  Big difference.  Google can do this.  Mapquest, not so much.

To top it off, the map won't default to my home address.  It's not fun to be centered over Kansas every time I'd like to map a run starting in St. Paul.

But, for me, the thing that convinced me to give up on Training Peaks is that all of the features I'm looking for cost $$$.

All those green things? Premium features.

I get that companies need to make money in some way.  But plotting your weekly distance is a Premium Feature?  There is very little available in the way of analysis for the free user.  When I first started using TP, I tried finding a way to classify all of my runs.  What I like to do is label a run as LSD, or Fartlek, or Easy, or something like that, then I can compare runs of the same type.  It's ideal to compare LSD paces to each other.  Not so ideal to compare LSD paces with Tempo paces.  The TP people are very responsive to questions via Twitter, and the best solution they could offer was to put the label somewhere in the description of the run, then I could search for it later.  Not the most elegant method, but it would work.  I tried to do this, but then WHAMMO, that's when I realized that all the analysis I wanted to do wasn't available to me.

I wanted to like Training Peaks.  I really did.  But I don't.  I think it needs some major updates to make it competitive with other training logs.  Logs like Running Ahead.  Tune back in tomorrow for my review of Running Ahead.

Update: Part 2 has been posted.