Mtracer

Based on this post I looked into Pillar and I'm giving it a try. I don't like that it doesn't have a web version, only smart phone versions, but I get it, I'm an old fart and doing everything on a smart phone isn't my preferred method. I also didn't like that it assumed a much too low FTP simply because in whatever time frame of my Strava data it used, it just took the highest power 20 minutes or similar time span. I was really close to just bagging it, but continued with the setup.

Now, very early days for me on this. But what I already like is it is very flexible. You can easily adjust the amount of time and days you can ride. They call this "availability". For example, next week, I can't ride for several days and I can set this and it adjusted the training for the days I can ride. It gives a score for how well this meets the plan goals.

The first week seems to just be recovery rides, which makes sense to just get you to a baseline. But next week, the first efforts do seem to be realistically simply with some 3x15 minute interval sessions (I'm doing an FTP build). Though I did select to do an "aerobic test" today and it was complicated enough I exported it to Zwift and did it on the trainer rather than try to do an outdoor ride.

Anyway, we'll see how well it actually works in terms of meeting my goals, but I like that it seems to work very easily with real-world circumstances. The first month is the full premium version for free, then $10/month for continued premium subscription. So, inexpensive for the premium version, as far as I'm concerned.

I haven't done any formal training for about 2 years, so I'm looking forward to focusing on building some fitness.