Originally Posted by mr_pedro

Do you know what analytics you are looking for? There is also freeware called Golden Cheetah that provides tools to analyze your ride data. A lot of these tools are interesting for people training to compete in specific events where you know exactly the required power you need for specific amounts of time and need to adjust your training for that. Also it becomes more relevant if you are already close to your limit, these tools can help you to find the spots where there is still room for improvement.

TR provides a basic power graph and allows you to compare one ride to past seasons, a bit like you can also do in Strava premium.

I think in your case a general goal of increasing FTP should be sufficient for now. That means all you need is to do a ramp test to determine FTP and then follow the program with intervals relative to your FTP. Then periodically do the ramp test to adjust FTP such that the intervals remain challenging and you keep growing.

edit: Actually, I see that ramp tests are limited to inside. So you would need to do FTP tests using more traditional 20 min intervals.

Originally Posted by adamrice

I've been using the paid version of Training Peaks for about 6 months. I appreciate it. I've been training with a smart trainer but no power meter on my bike; I do most of my workouts on the erg, and do a long road ride on the weekend. I haven't bought a coach's training plan--I've rolled my own, which might not be ideal, but seems to work. Note: rolling your own training plan is tedious enough that it's probably a decent time/money tradeoff to just buy a canned plan that works for you. I'm just ornery.

I do find myself chasing numbers to some extent. I "cheated" today and took a rest day when I had an erg ride scheduled because my knee is kind of jacked up. In the back of my mind I was thinking about the hit that my CTL would take as a result.

Having power data is super helpful, and has really changed my whole conceptual foundation for cycling and fitness.

Golden Cheetah is worth looking at, but is confusing as hell, and uses slightly different vocabulary and calculations from TP. Also, unless I am missing something (quite possible), you can't use it to map out a training plan.