Originally Posted by
satori
Bump.
It's been close to a year now that I've had my smart trainer and Zwift and I thought I'd post an update. I must be in the rare group that honestly can't be assed to ride outdoors anymore. I only ride in my pain cave. I know, I know. You're probably thinking this guys mental, and I'll rightly admit it that I am; but I just get such a better workout from my indoor trainer than I ever could outdoors.
So, I'm a slave in the Japanese work system and average 70-80/week, so time is extremely limited which is why the efficiency of the indoor trainer maximises interval sessions with limited time. So, over this year I've spun about 3-5 days a week on Zwift. I started out building up a base on it though I was riding outdoors a good bit because it's quite different. My 80K rides outside were about the equivalent as my 30-40K indoor interval sessions. So, the time I save by riding indoors is huge for me, especially because I can only work out before work and I hate getting up early. Even when I was racing in college my 5:30am workouts were the bane of my existence. I despised early morning runs. Now, I'm getting up before 5 to start riding by about 5:15ish and then ride for 60-75 mins. It's hard for me to ride any longer than that before work, but on Sunday I'll ride for 90mins plus.
The last few months I've been enjoying Zwift more because all the Sufferfest workouts are now available on it. Some of the SF rides like Fight Club or 9 Hammers have left me on the verge of puking. Just bloody brutal. And those have enabled me to switch up a lot of the interval sessions I have been doing on Zwift. I've made lots of my own intervals as well as recovery rides too.
But, the last couple of months I've been wanting more than just what Zwift offers. I've wanted structure in my riding. So, I was given a free month subscription to TrainerRoad by a former teammate of mine who is a sub-9 hour Ironman and 2:30 marathoner. Needless to say he's an incredible athlete. He was the one who recommend TR from the outset but at that point in time it wasn't what I was after. Now, the tides have changed and I've been on it for a few weeks now.
I have to say I really like it and have almost decided that I'll pay for TR and run it through Zwift, or ride Zwift on my off rides or join races. I like how TR sets up an entire program for you and you just follow it, and it keeps reassessing your FTP throughout different builds. I am on the General Build (low volume which is 3 structured interval sessions a week) because of time restrictions, and I'll ride once or twice additionally along with one to two 10K trail run as well. The intervals are really well designed and there are something like 800 rides versus maybe a 100 or so on Zwift. Lots more to choose from and I also really like the instructions. The instructions made me think about breathing, posture, relaxing, legs, etc while in a complete world of hurt. I didn't know if I would find the workout instructions lame, but they're pretty solid overall. I'd say 3/4 are really useful, so I leave them on and will for the immediate future.
Zwift, Sufferfest, and TrainerRoad are all quite different and they basically mention that on their webpages/information. I like all three for different reasons, but I wouldn't pay for SF. That's just not something I'm interested in paying for.. TR costs $99/year and $120/year for Zwift. I wouldn't say it's cheap to pay for both, but I used to pay the equivalent of $120/month for a shitty gym membership here so I'm quite happy paying this as I really see the value in both memberships. I'd say if you're looking for structure to your workouts and are sick of the guessing game, then TR is right for you. Probably more for serious cyclists/triathletes, or demented people who like their pain caves and just the numbers in front of them while riding. Of course, it enables you to watch your favorite ski porn, tv show, move etc. If you're into video games and like the interactive community and want to mix it up with free rides, intervals, races etc then Zwift might be a good choice. I'll continue with both over the winter and reevaluate again probably in Spring.
Loving my pain cave and can't wait until I can set up an even better pain cave!!
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