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Performance Analytics

By Nick Thom and 1 other
• 8 articles

How to Estimate Training Stress Without Power Data

Ride outdoors with no power meter? Our tool will estimate outside training stress from GPS files. Track training credit for every ride! Training Stress Score (TSS)® is derived from power, so without power data, we are unable to automatically generate a TSS value. Enter our TSS Estimator! (If you're not already familiar with TSS and its components, check out Training Acronyms Defined before reading any further.) TSS Estimator The TSS Estimator is a tool that allows a user to make a TSS score for a workout. You can input your FTP and your perceived effort for that ride (on a scale from 1-10), and TrainerRoad will estimate a TSS value for your work! This TSS value will, by default, count towards your weekly TSS and appear in the TSS chart. Using the TSS Estimator There are two ways to access the TSS Estimator: 1) If you navigate to the Past Rides tab on the TrainerRoad website, you will see an "Estimate Stress" option on any ride that does not have power data. Simply click on this, and it will bring you to the TSS Estimator. 0-tss-estimate.png Additionally, while you're on the past rides page you will see a message about rides missing TSS. If you click the "View Rides" button this will bring you to a page with all rides missing TSS. 1-tss-estimate.png 2) You can also access the TSS Estimator from within an opened ride. If you open a ride that does not have power, you will see an "Estimate TSS" button right underneath the ride graph. 2-tss-estimate-ride.png Estimate TSS Once you have the TSS Estimator open, you'll be asked to confirm your ride's name and your FTP. Once you've input your FTP at the time of the ride, you will see an option to "Choose Intensity". 3-tss-estimate-modal.png When assigning a ride an intensity, you will be asked how difficult the ride was on a scale from 1-10. This is the "industry standard" 1-10 RPE scale in the world of cycling. Of course, assessing difficulty on a 1-10 scale can be pretty subjective, but do your best to be as accurate as possible here. 4-tss-estimate-modal-2.png Once you choose your intensity, you should see an estimated TSS value displayed directly underneath the intensity selector. If everything looks good, check whether or not you want to include this ride's TSS in your Career, and select update. (Note: By default, the ride's TSS is set to be included in your Career.) 5-tss-estimate-modal-3.png

Last updated on Aug 13, 2026

Importing Activities Into TrainerRoad

Athletes often want their training data all in one place. Bring your workouts, rides, and other activities together by syncing Strava, Garmin, and TrainingPeaks to your TrainerRoad account. Automatically Import Your Activities Automatically importing activities is the easiest way to import activities into trainerRoad. In order to allow TrainerRoad to automatically import your activities, you'll need to sync your TrainerRoad account with a third-party platform like Strava, Garmin Connect, or Zwift. You can manage and see all of the available third-party connections in the Connections section of your Account settings in TrainerRoad, located here: TrainerRoad: Activity Sync For a complete breakdown of the third party platforms you can sync with and how to sync with them check out: Syncing TrainerRoad with Third Party Platforms Screen Shot 2025-02-12 at 9.59.04 AM.png Once you've enabled Activity-Sync, TrainerRoad will automatically import all future activities into TrainerRoad from that source. At the time Activity-Sync is set up, TrainerRoad will also import your activity history from Strava and Garmin Connect - Strava: TrainerRoad will import your entire history - Garmin Connect: TrainerRoad will import the latest 5 years of your activity history. However, you can manually upload activities from GC older than this. Check out the instructions below. (Note: After you enable Activity-sync, you will need to complete one more Garmin Connect activity to prompt the app to push your last 5 years to TrainerRoad.) In TrainerRoad, the source of your activity file will be displayed in the Activity Details page at the bottom of the workout details. Screen Shot 2025-02-12 at 10.02.48 AM.png Manually Import Your Activities From your online TrainerRoad Career, select 'Activities List' from the left-hand navigation. Select the Import Activity button to manually upload your activities. We support .fit, .tcx, .gpx, .pwx and .zip files. If your activity file is one of the supported file types and you’re having trouble getting it to upload, reach out to [email protected] and we’ll help you out!

Last updated on Aug 20, 2026

How to Use and Track Training Stress

Recording/analyzing training stress is important in becoming a faster cyclist. Visualize fitness progress by tracking indoor/outdoor Training Stress Score (TSS)®. Import your outdoor rides into TrainerRoad Sync your TrainerRoad account with Garmin Connect and/or Strava to import your outdoor ride history, and all future outdoor rides into TrainerRoad. Training Stress: What is it? The Training Stress Chart shows you how much work you've done on the bike and how that work affects your fitness. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCxdScieln8 Key Features: - Visualizes how consistent and high quality your training has been - Displays much work you've done per week of training - Shows FTP changes and your training leading up the change - Allows you to drill into any indoor and outdoor ride directly from the chart Training Stress Chart Walkthrough Find Past Indoor and Outdoor Rides The Training Stress Chart makes it easy to find the indoor and outdoor rides you did during your season. Click on the graph to drill into each week of rides. help-tss-overview-gif.gif See the Training Stress of All Your Rides Dark green represents the Training Stress of rides completed with TrainerRoad. Light green represents the Training Stress of rides not completed with TrainerRoad; these rides also show up on your chart with a green dot next to the Training Stress of that ride. help-tss-2.png Analyze Training Consistency The Training Stress Chart shows you where you've been inconsistent and how that impacts your FTP. In this graph, the grey 6 wk/avg trending line confirms the rider has "ups and downs" in their training. help-tss-3.png Spot Patterns In Your Training It’s easy to see when you’ve been consistent and inconsistent with your training and drill into those weeks to reflect on why that was. help-tss-4.png View Training Leading Up to a Change in Fitness The Training Stress Chart shows you the relationship between the quality of your training and FTP increases that result from it. help-tss-5.png Stay Accountable for Your Weekly Training Stress Goals If you have a personal goal to try to maintain a certain Training Stress between now and your key event, the Training Stress Chart helps you stay accountable to that goal. help-tss-6.png

Last updated on Aug 13, 2026

How to Analyze Power Records

Power Records chart on TrainerRoad shows your best power for every duration and lets you compare any time periods side by side to see exactly how your fitness is changing. Note: The Power Records chart is available on the TrainerRoad website, not in the mobile app. What is a Power Record? A Power Record is your highest power output for a specific length of time. From your best one second power to your best two hour power, your bests are tracked for you no matter what sort of event you are training for. Power Records are earned from both indoor and outside rides. A Power Record is shown by a small trophy icon on any completed ride in your account. completed-ride-pr-trophy.jpg This completed ride has earned Power Records, shown by the small trophy icon. When you open the details of a ride, you will also see how many season specific and all time Power Records you earned in that ride. completed-ride-pr-count.jpg Total Power Record count is shown next to the season, or all time, name. Why do I have so many Power Records? Power Records are different for every athlete and rider type. The number next to the trophy icon is how many you earned during that ride. TrainerRoad calculates Power Records at intervals across your whole ride, so a single ride can set a lot of them. Each rider type cares about different durations. A sprinter watches 30 seconds and under, while an endurance rider wants to see much longer efforts. How often records are awarded depends on ride length: - 0 to 5 minutes: awarded every second - 5 to 30 minutes: awarded every 5 seconds - 30 minutes to 2 hours: awarded every 30 seconds - 2 hours and longer: awarded every 5 minutes Getting Power Records across the whole ride lets you focus on the durations that matter most to your riding. Do not be surprised by a ride with a large number of them. That is a good thing. Import your outdoor rides into TrainerRoad Sync your TrainerRoad account with Garmin Connect and/or Strava to bring in your outdoor ride history and all future outdoor rides. Outdoor power counts toward your Power Records right alongside your indoor workouts. What is the Power Records chart? The Power Records chart plots your best power for every duration as a single curve, so you can see your whole power profile at a glance and track how it changes over time. With it you can: - See your best power for any duration, from 1 second to several hours - Create custom Seasons (your own training and racing periods) to analyze - Compare up to three time periods at once: Seasons, quick ranges, or custom date ranges - Switch between average Power and Normalized Power (NP) - Focus on a duration range: Total (all durations), Sprint (1–30 sec), or Endurance (30 sec +) - Click any point to see the exact ride(s) where you set that record - Open a ride's full Ride Analysis page to dig deeper - Use SeasonMatch to compare the same weeks of two different Seasons Finding your Power Records Step One: Login to your account on the TrainerRoad website. Step Two: In the left sidebar, select Career and click Power Records. Screenshot 2026-06-15 at 2.49.22 PM.png Reading the chart Each line on the chart is one time period you've selected. The horizontal axis is duration (how long you held the power); the vertical axis is power in watts. A higher line means more power for that duration. Hover or click any point to see the watts and the ride behind it. Screenshot 2026-06-15 at 2.49.22 PM.png Power vs. Normalized Power Use the Power / NP toggle above the chart to switch what the curve shows: Power: your best average power for each duration. NP: your best Normalized Power, which accounts for the surges in a ride. Screenshot 2026-06-15 at 2.53.49 PM.png To the far right of the power filter you can also filter for duration. Total includes all power durations while sprint captures power outputs between one and thirty seconds and endurance captures anything longer than that. Screenshot 2026-06-15 at 2.55.52 PM.png Create and Manage Seasons A Season is a custom period of training and racing that you want to analyze. A month, a training block, or a race build are all custom seasons you might create. To create one, open any of the range selectors above the chart and click Seasons, and then select Manage Seasons. In the Manage Seasons panel, click + Add New Season. Screenshot 2026-06-15 at 3.00.23 PM.png From there you can give it a Season Name, set the start and end dates of the season and hit save. Seasons can cover any past, present, or future period. You can create several so you can compare your power at different points in your training. Compare up to three time periods Above the chart are three range selectors. Each one can hold: - A Season you created - A Quick Range: All Time, Year to date, Last 6 weeks, Last 90 days, or Last year - A Custom Range: any start and end date you choose (You can also limit a range to Indoor workouts only.) Select two or three ranges to overlay them and instantly see how your power compares. Screenshot 2026-06-15 at 3.04.06 PM.png See the rides behind a record Click any point on the chart to pin a tooltip for that duration, then click View Details. The View Power Records Details window opens with three tabs: Screenshot 2026-06-15 at 3.06.00 PM.png Drill Into Individual Rides From the details window, click a ride to open its full Ride Analysis page, where you can study the effort that set the record. Screenshot 2026-06-15 at 3.07.25 PM.png Power Profile Below your Records you will find your power profile with a quick view of your all time power records, power records from last year and power records from this year so far. You can hover over individual records for links to the rides with those records. Screenshot 2026-06-15 at 3.14.30 PM.png

Last updated on Aug 17, 2026

How to Analyze Ride Data

Dig into the details of your indoor ride, including power, heart rate, cadence, TSS, Intensity Factor, and more in the workouts ride analysis page. You will see a ride analysis page for both indoor and outdoor cycling workouts with full breakdown of the workout and the data from that workout. How to Find a Workouts Ride Analysis Page Step One: Log in to your account on the TrainerRoad website. Step Two: In the left sidebar, select Career and click Activity List. You can filter by activity type, filter by zone, or search for a ride by name. ride-analysis-01-activity-list.png Step Three: Click any ride from this list to open its Ride Analysis page. You can also open a completed ride directly from your Calendar by selecting the ride on the Calendar and then selecting View Details: ride-analysis-14-calendar-drawer.png Everything Included in the Workout Analysis Page The workout analysis page includes a few different sections. Here's what each section includes and how to drill into them: The Workout Graph The graph at the top of the page shows your ride from start to finish. Move your cursor along the graph to see target power, heart rate, and power for any moment in the ride. ride-analysis-03-graph-tooltip.png Within the workout graph you can click and drag across the graph to select a section of your ride. The metrics panel updates to show stats for just that selection, so you can check the numbers on a single climb, interval, or surge. ride-analysis-04-drag-selection.png With a section selected, you can also use the buttons above the graph to, zoom In to magnify the selected section, add Interval to save the selection as a custom interval and reset to clear the selection and return to the full ride view. From the workout graph at the top of the ride analysis page you can also find: 1. Legend toggles: Click the items in the legend above the graph to show or hide each data series, like heart rate or Normalized Power. 2. Key Metric Panel: The panel to the right of the graph summarizes the ride, including duration, average and max power, heart rate, TSS, Intensity Factor, and kJ. For TrainerRoad workouts, your numbers appear next to the workout's target numbers. 3. Workout FTP: The horizontal line labeled with your FTP shows how the ride's efforts compare to your threshold at the time of this workout. Intervals The Intervals tab below the graph lists every interval in the ride with its duration, Normalized Power, average power, heart rate, and cadence. TrainerRoad workouts list each interval by name. Outdoor rides list the laps recorded by your bike computer, plus any custom intervals you create. ride-analysis-06-intervals-tab.png Click any interval in the table to highlight that section of the ride on the graph. The metrics panel updates to show the stats for that interval. ride-analysis-07-interval-highlight.png How to Create Custom Intervals You can also create custom intervals for a workout using the workout graph at the top of the ride analysis page. Here is how you can create a custom interval: Step One: Click and drag across the graph to select the section you want to save. Step Two: Click Add Interval above the graph. Step Three: Give the interval a name, fine-tune the start and end times if needed, and click Save. Your custom interval now appears in the Intervals table alongside the rest of the ride's intervals. ride-analysis-05-add-interval.png Power Zones The Power Zones tab shows how much time you spent in each power zone during the ride. Click a zone in the table to highlight that power range on the graph. You can also click Add Zone to create a custom zone with your own power range, and the bottom of the table shows which power source recorded the ride. ride-analysis-08-power-zones.png Power Records The Power Records tab shows your best power for every duration within this ride, from short sprints to the full ride. For TrainerRoad workouts, the Prescribed line shows what the workout asked for, so you can see how your effort compared. Use the date range selectors to compare this ride against other time periods, and use the toggles above the chart to switch between Normalized Power, average power, and heart rate. To explore your all-time power records across every ride, see How to Analyze Power Records. Analyzing Your Outdoor Ride Data Outdoor rides have everything that indoor rides with a few additional metrics like: 1. Elevation profile: A gray elevation profile appears behind the graph. 2. Outdoor metrics: The metrics panel adds distance, elevation gain, speed, and average gradient. The tooltip also shows elevation and grade as you move along the graph. 3. Time or Distance: Use the toggle above the graph to switch the graph between time and distance. ride-analysis-11-outdoor-graph.png Rides with GPS data also include a map of your route with start and finish markers. As you move your cursor along the graph, a position marker moves along the route, so you can see exactly where on the road each effort happened. ride-analysis-12-outdoor-map.png What About Rides Without Power Data? If a ride has no power data, the power-based tabs are hidden and you'll see the Intervals tab only. You can still estimate the ride's training stress so it counts toward your training. Click Estimate TSS in the banner at the top of the page and rate the ride's intensity. For more detail, see How to Estimate Training Stress with Heart Rate Data. ride-analysis-13-estimate-tss.png More on the Ride Analysis Page - Post Workout Survey: The banner above the ride details shows your survey response, and lets you add or change one. Your responses help TrainerRoad AI adjust your training. Learn more in What are Post Workout Surveys? - AI Predicted Difficulty: For TrainerRoad workouts, this chart shows how difficult TrainerRoad AI predicted the workout would be for you. Learn more in AI Predicted Difficulty. - Workout Levels: For TrainerRoad workouts, you'll see the workout's levels and any Progression Level changes you earned. Learn more in Workout Levels. - Edit, Delete, and Download: Use the panel on the right to edit the activity's details, delete the activity, or download the ride as a .fit file. Analyzing a run instead? See How to Sync and Analyze Runs in TrainerRoad.

Last updated on Jul 29, 2026

How to Create and Compare Seasons

Bike racing seasons are unique to each athlete. Seasons lets YOU define and analyze racing and training data in the way that best fits you. Import your outdoor rides into TrainerRoad Sync your TrainerRoad account with Garmin Connect and/or Strava to import your outdoor ride history, and all future outdoor rides into TrainerRoad. Overview From the Personal Records Chart, riders create Seasons to analyze and compare progress at different points in their training. What is a Season? Seasons represent past, present and future periods of racing and training. You do not need a history of indoor or outdoor rides to create a Season. If you do not have past ride data from Garmin Connect and Strava to import into TrainerRoad, create a Season for the period of training and racing you are in now, e.g. Road 2018. Examples of Seasons help-pr-2.png Create Seasons for Actual Training and Racing Seasons Multi-discipline athletes create Seasons to represent past and current training and racing seasons; e.g: - Road 2017 - MTB 2017 - Tri 2018 Single-discipline athletes create Seasons to represent past and current years of training and racing; e.g, - Road 2016 - Road 2017 - Road 2018 Create Seasons for Training Phases and Plans Athletes create Seasons to represent training phases or plans followed within a single season; e.g, - Road 2018 Base - Road 2018 Build - Road 2018 Specialty How to Create Seasons You can create an unlimited number of Seasons in order to help you analyze and compare your training progress. You can create a Season from the Personal Records page by clicking the Manage Seasons button in the upper right hand corner. help-pr-1.png Then, simply create a name for your season, choose a start and stop date, and select "Save Season." seasonsmodalfix2.png You can now use your Season as part of the Personal Records chart to help analyze and compare your training progress. How to Compare Seasons You can compare up to three Seasons at one time from the drop-down menus of the Personal Records Chart. help-pr-3.png What's Next? Get an even more precise view of your progress. Learn how to compare your Seasons' PRs using SeasonMatch.

Last updated on Aug 13, 2026