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I’m DC RAINMAKER…
I swim, bike and run. Then, I come here and write about my adventures. It’s as simple as that. Most of the time. If you’re new around these parts, here’s the long version of my story.
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Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘Gear I Use’ equipment list, from swim to bike to run and everything in between (plus a few extra things). And to compliment that, here’s The Girl’s (my wife’s) list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
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Hopefully they won’t be as restrictive and gatekeepy as Garmin with their API and allow anyone to sign up and use it. I’ve been messing around with generating workouts with ChatGPT and would love to have a way to bring those into Zwift programmatically.
Have you tried filling out an application? My understanding is really the only thing you have to have is a privacy policy on a site somewhere.
Please say Fast Cat is one of the three.
Sadly we did not make the cut … not a potential big enough user base to earn Zwift more subs.
we are hoping to be in the next round which I’m told will be ‘quick’
I certainly hope that TrainerRoad will use the new open door and make the connection for their workouts. There is plenty of interest in that judging from their forum and I see it as a win for both sides.
Xert Workouts please!!!
I second this :). Most the time I’m in Zwift I have Xert running the workout anyway. If it wasn’t for the occasional Zwift race I would probably quit Zwift.
Same. Until this was announced I have seriously considered dumping my Zwift membership and just keeping Xert.
Zwift currently give users the ability to run custom workouts provided the software they’re using is capable of saving a workout in the .zwo xml format. All you have to do is save the .zwo file to the \Zwift\Workouts\nnn where nnn is your Zwift user id. When Zwift starts up it will locate the new workout and make it available from the Custom Workouts screen. I’m wondering whether the advent of the new API will affect this existing functionality.
I’ll confirm, but I don’t expect any changes at all there. My impression when I visited them a month or so ago, was that I got the impression Zwift is learning not to eff with things that don’t need effing with. It only upsets users for no good reason.
“We’ve all been there – you’ve found an hour window, jump onto Zwift to squeeze in a good workout, only lose a precious five minutes choosing between a new route and a structured workout. ”
I’d like to quickly scroll trough the events, like group rides or group workouts, to see if there is anything I’d like to join in. The stupid thing is, that as soon as you start up Zwift on your zwiftbox, the events disappear from the companion app on your phone…
The events remain accessible under “more”…
haha, I have been Zwifting for over 3 years now…
Another gripe is that I have never been able to figure out the upcoming hills, so that I know when to bst use the “feather” powerup. So good that they will be fixing that in the HUD update.
Thanks DC, if I well understood I should be already able to create a Garmin connect workout and move it into zwift? At the moment I always edit workouts in zwift via notepad or building them with zwofactor for example…
At present, no, the ‘Connections’ API covers pushes to other platforms, moreso than pulls. Meaning your completed workout from Zwift to Garmin Connect.
Perhaps Garmin will adopt the inverse, I don’t know. I’m trying to think of any other platforms that Garmin pushes a scheduled structured workout to, and at the moment I can’t think of any. Whereas for most training platforms, having such an API in place is pretty commonplace, therefor the work-effort is likely pretty trivial.
It would be interesting if the suggested workouts by Garmin devices followed this path; albeit probably via Garmin Connect.
Very promising. So far I’ve recreated TR workouts in the Zwift workout editor which is quite annoying especially since I had to install the Zwift app on my MacBook for that because the iPad editor is almost unusable.
I use both TR and Zwift in the manner that you do. TR to control the trainer and Zwift passively in the background to get the XP. Please please please Trainerroad, use this new connection!
Thanks Ray, hope you are right.
Im excited for my list…navigating and finding workouts in Zwift is ridiculous…even if you are following a plan.
I’d love to see more done to prevent ‘cheaters’, nothing worse than seeing someone riding at 3.2w/kg at 50rpm with no HR cruising through the routes (uphill and downhill).
3.2 w/kg is about high zone 2/endurance pace for me, and it’s not very hard to do that up and downhill…
Its the guys that are doing 12-14 wkg for several minutes that need to be cracked down on.
For starters using ERG mode will keep you at the same w/kg going up or down hills so it’s not that uncommon to see. Also 3.2w/kg is not exactly a massive effort so seeing people ride at that for long periods of timing isn’t super uncommon.
Also, in free roam does it really matter if someone is cheating themselves? So they pick up drops and garage items faster. Eh. Racing on the other hand, for sure needs to be dealt with.
“I’ll often have TrainerRoad control my trainer for a structured workout, but still let Zwift connect to the trainer passively so that I can ride ‘in Zwift’ (to gain points). This is more common than most people realize.”
Exactly this, I am just using intervals.icu to feed to my Elemnt Bolt V1.
I would like to execute the structured workouts directly in Zwift – However, since I use ERG mode a lot of the time, I would also like the possibility to scale the workout intensity as I have on the Elemnt. Eg. if the structured workout seems to hard I can scale it down during execution. Or I can scale it while riding group rides when going up-hill or downhill in order to keep up with the pack.
Thanks for the TrainerRoad with passive Zwift tip. I use TR when I want a known quantity – time, effort profile.
Or I want to read a book – since I don’t have to continuously look at the Zwift scenery.
I wish that Zwift would allow one to increase the size of text / dialog boxes in the App. I use a Note 24 and almost need a magnifying lens to read the Zwift text, status display.
Today’s Plan just went out of business. I used it for 7 years and for many years, I was able to have my workouts automatically load into the custom workout on Zwift. It will be nice to have the same with Trainerroad.
Curious to see if the new friendship between Zwift ans Wahoo will lead the latter to push the SYSTM WO to zwift or not :)
Anyway, those are really good things, all across different levels, on the zwift side.
I am still paying the intro rate for TR for the few times a year that I use it. If it integrates into Zwift more directly it would make life so much easier. (Don’t know who put the kibosh on that partnership initially , but it was a mistake).
Training connections api could be interesting depending on its limits. Simple download of workouts for the user and the next few days? i.e. a better UI to download zwo files and maybe dates they are for (download x days in the future of your training plan). Nice, but still seems pretty restrictive.
Many like Trainerroad require the user to give feedback at the start and end. Is the workout hard set. Xert workouts on their workout player are smart and change based on how things are going. Will this API do that? How about training like aiendurance that needs r-r timing data to compute alpha1? Or if your couch needs data from another sensor like a Moxy for SmO2 or Core for body temp?
Yeah, they’re just going for the core feature of being able to execute a workout from within Zwift – which is really what everyone wants.
For things like TrainerRoad requiring feedback, it’ll still ask you post-workout on the app for that feedback, just like it does today for an outdoor workout. So no different there.
If the zwift app doesn’t provide the UI to give that feedback it can kind of limit the apps that depend on that data to influence the workouts done. With outdoor workouts you still use the training program app but with this some may think there is no need to do so. Think of the user who would use this feature to follow a training program who then doesn’t spend any time using the app meant for that training program and so never gives feedback.
In much the same way as TR is strongly “we’ll provide the structure, you bring your own entertainment”, is it fair to assume that Z is now “we’ll provide the entertainment, you bring your own structure” and leave the training plan side of things to a third party? I think most would agree that if Z took the training side seriously and the price was right, they’d clean up – why pay for two (or more) subs if Z was a one stop shop?
Ray, Maybe you can post a video on how you did this. On my Android phone I can have either TrainerRoad or Zwift connected to my Zwift Hub One. thanks
“… I’ll often have TrainerRoad control my trainer for a structured workout, but still let Zwift connect to the trainer passively …”
Found Ray’s post: How-To: Using Zwift and TrainerRoad Concurrently
link to dcrainmaker.com
So it looks like I will need to move my Garmin Rally pedals over.
Or maybe see if I can get an ANT+ dongle to play nicely.
Recommended ANT+ Sticks (Dongles) for Zwift link to zwiftinsider.com
Hiya, does anyone have an update on when the Zwift/Trainerroad integration will launch?