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How to Log Subjective Feedback on TrainingPeaks

Adam Hodges | September 7, 2018

TrainingPeaks allows athletes and coaches to log and track numerous data points for every workout. But, as a coach, one of the most important data points I like to receive is your subjective feedback on how you felt during a workout.

To solicit your subjective rating for workouts, I often provide a 5-point letter grade scale in the workout description. Just like a grade for an assignment, I want you to give your workouts a letter grade to characterize your fatigue level and how you felt.

In your post-workout comments, you can indicate how you felt using the scale below:

A = Felt amazing; superhuman
B = Felt fairly good; decent workout
C = Felt a bit flat or off (e.g., heavy legs)
D = Had to stop early; didn’t have it today
F = Could not train due to illness or fatigue

Recently, TrainingPeaks has created its own version of this scale. Instead of using letter grades, the TrainingPeaks interface now lets you click one of five face icons in response to the question, “How did you feel?” (see image below).

How did you feel?

If you use this feature—in lieu of or in addition to the 5-point letter grade scale—simply equate the faces from left (strong) to right (weak) with the 5-point letter grade scale explained above (A – B – C – D – F).

The TrainingPeaks interface also asks you to rate your perceived exertion on a scale of 1 (very easy) to 10 (all out). The Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) is how hard your effort felt during the workout. This is another way of getting at how you felt during the workout (see the image below).

Perceived Exertion

To keep things simple, you can ignore this second “Perceived Exertion” scale and just use the “How did you feel?” rating—or, simply note your letter grade for the workout in your post-workout comments along with any other comments you would like to provide.

Below are a few examples of how you might use the letter grade system along with some post-workout comments.

Post-activity Comments
B+
Felt fairly good, but left knee sore for first few miles of run. Better after warming up.

Post-activity Comments
C
Legs dead. Had to take a 20-min nap yesterday afternoon, but still feeling tired today.

Post-activity Comments
A
Slept well last night and slept late this morning. Beautiful day. Rest day yesterday energized me. Easily hit target pace during workout; had to hold myself back from going too fast.

Post-activity Comments
D
Think I’m coming down with something. Cut workout short to get some rest.

Post-activity Comments
B
Felt solid.

Logging subjective feedback in TrainingPeaks after workouts provides both coach and athlete valuable insight into how training is going. Doing this consistently attaches a valuable subjective perspective to all the objective data that can be tracked through the TrainingPeaks app.  

Train smart!

Filed Under: Training Tips Tagged With: Bike, Run, Swim, Technology, Triathlon

Adam Hodges

About Adam Hodges

Adam Hodges, PhD, is a trail runner, multisport athlete, and coach with credentials from USA Triathlon and the American College of Sports Medicine. In addition to coaching multisport athletes, he has coached high school cross country and track runners in California and masters swimmers in Colorado and California. As a USAT All-American triathlete, he has competed in the ITU World Triathlon Championships, the ITU World Duathlon Championships, and the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. As a masters runner, he has won a series title in the XTERRA SoCal Trail Series. He began running in his youth and enjoys passing on the knowledge and experience he has gained over the years to both new and experienced athletes seeking to maximize enjoyment, competitiveness, and longevity in the sport.

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