WHY WE USE TRAININGPEAKS.

We've tested many coaching platforms. Florian Gast, Head Coach and Founder of runningsociety.de, explains why the choice ultimately came down clearly to TrainingPeaks — and why that makes a decisive difference especially for hybrid athletes who combine running and strength.

What a good coaching app needs to deliver

Coaching is communication and data — and the two need to mesh seamlessly. A coach needs to see what an athlete actually trained (not just what was planned), how the body responded, and how the load develops over weeks and months. An athlete needs clear, structured planning and immediate feedback.

That sounds simple. Most apps fail at one or more of these points.

Why TrainingPeaks is in a different league

TrainingPeaks isn't a consumer app. It's the platform pro teams use to plan for the Tour de France, the Ironman World Championship and Olympic preparation. That's not marketing — it reflects the depth of features needed for professional training management.

What that means for recreational athletes: you're using the same system elite athletes use. Your data gets measured and evaluated with the same metrics. And the level of analysis possible far exceeds anything a normal fitness app could ever offer.

The direct connect: no more data gaps

The heart of TrainingPeaks in daily use is its integration with nearly every device athletes use:

That means every workout flows automatically into TrainingPeaks. No manual logging, no forgotten sessions. Coach and athlete always see the same thing — in real time.

That's crucial for the coaching relationship. When Florian Gast sets the week's training plan on Monday and an athlete completes a run on Thursday, he sees the full breakdown — heart rate, pace, training load, recovery — before confirming or adjusting Friday's session.

TSS: the language that connects different training types

This is the point many underestimate — and it matters especially for hybrid athletes.

Training Stress Score (TSS) is a unified metric that describes the physiological load of a training session — regardless of training type. A 60-minute tempo run, an intense strength session, and a long bike ride each produce different TSS values, but they're all measured on the same scale.

What that means: you can compare the total load of a training week — even when that week is made up of running, HYROX station training, and strength sessions.

Why this matters — a concrete example:

Imagine you've done an intense strength session with sled push, Bulgarian split squat and hip thrust — 45 minutes, heart rate above 80% throughout. The next day, an interval run is scheduled.

Without TSS: you know you did "strength training" yesterday. But how much load did that actually create? Are you recovered enough for the intervals?

With TSS: you see the exact load figure for yesterday's session, can compare it to your baseline, and decide today's intensity based on data.

Whether you did 10 or 11 reps is irrelevant here. What matters is the consistent calculation of physiological load across every type of training — and that's exactly what TSS delivers.

Chronic Training Load, Acute Training Load and Form

TrainingPeaks combines these TSS values over time into three metrics drawn from performance diagnostics:

A positive TSB shortly before a race means: you're recovered and in form. A strongly negative TSB in the middle of race preparation is normal — that's the price of progress.

TrainingPeaks visualizes these three metrics in the "Performance Management Chart" — one of the most powerful visualizations available in endurance sport. It shows you at a glance whether you're training too much, too little, or exactly right.

What this means for you as an athlete

You don't need to be a data scientist to benefit from TrainingPeaks. As your coaching partner, runningsociety handles the interpretation. You get:

What you bring: a connected device and the willingness to train.

Want to see what that looks like in practice? Book a free intro call. We'll show you the platform and explain how we use it for your training.

June 4, 2026