My sense is this is a money question - who is paying whom?
1 Like
Given itās a win/win - an incentive to subscribe to both platforms - I doubt either (Zwift or TP) is paying the other. Of course, with respect to Zwift and TR, both would need to cover their portion of the integration development costs. It should not be much for Zwift having already done something similar for TP. Not sure about the requirements for TR to convert a workout to the Zwift format, but given several other platforms have done so, I doubt itās that difficult.
2 Likes
It really comes down to, I think, at the end of the day what is legally capable of being considered IP of the company. Coaches have had coaches and workouts have been taken and used them for a long time. Inspired by, adjusted workouts to suit their needs.
Ultimately this is all stuff that would need to be evaluated in a court, but I feel like there is a reasonable argument to be made that the power levels of the workout donāt constitute intellectual property. The queues, the full package involved sure. So many of these workouts are variations of tried and true workouts.
Are you telling me that 30/30s are an original idea (itās not)? Or is it doing them at 120% of FTP thatās original (itās not)? Or is it that you do 8 of them per set and 3 setsā¦ etc etc. I gotta give credit there, they have built a lot of them, they have a lot of workouts with a lot of tried and true formulas. A lot of time saved not building things out and a lot of culled together workout ideas, but the core idea isnāt exactly new.
I say this as someone who pays for the service, and I value what they have done creating the library of workouts so I pay for it. I appreciate it, Iāll continue to pay for it, but calling it IP feels like a stretch. Like if a coach has used TR and sees a workout they like they arenāt going to build something similar? Thatās the way it has always worked, because there arenāt many novel ideas in this industry and those that are are usually from academic journals (ie Tabata intervals canāt be trainer road IP).
1 Like
whatās the difference between creating them on Zwift or Garmin? other than Zwift is a ādirectā competitor? I donāt have the time to do that, but wanted to do it many timesā¦ been a TR user since 2018 and the graph is some times very boringā¦
1 Like
Just came across this thread.
Iāve seen two coached friends on Strava completing TrainerRoad workouts that their shared Coach had created and scheduled for them in Training Peaks. No attempt to hide the fact, as they used the TR names. Neither are TR subscribers.
I discretely asked TR if they had a program where Coaches could use TRās workout library with their clients and the answer was no, but they were not concerned about them doing so as the secret sauce is not in the workouts, or words to that effect.
Given this, I canāt see they could take issue with a paid up TR user recreating workouts in Zwift if it works better for them
Nonsense! TR has no IP claim on 30/30s, 4 X 3 min. or anything else. However, I do subscribe to TR, Zwift and TrainingPeaks. I really wish TR would integrate with Zwift and TP. I use all three. TR plans are solid and have great progression and periodization. I also really love not having to do FTP tests! But the visuals, HUD and graphics are so superior on Zwift and the Zwift companion app, I do almost all my indoor workouts on Zwift. The Zwift training plans and workouts are for the most part horrible. I do like the Zwift and TrainingPeaks workout creators though. At this point, I canāt live without TR, plans, adaptive training, FTP estimation etc., nor can I live without doing the workouts in Zwift. I just long for the day when they work together.
6 Likes
No but they do have IP claims to their workouts that were created specifically for TR.
If you wanna create your own 30/30ās or 4 x 3ā, have at itā¦but if you exactly copy the structure of a specific TR workout, you are violating their IP.
That day is not likely comingā¦they are competitors and there is no reason for TR to provide any integration into Zwift.
1 Like
Honestly, the actual workouts arenāt that special. Itās the AI behind them that is what makes TR amazing. If someone dumped a bunch of TR workouts onto the web it wouldnāt really help anyone. itās how TR pieces them together thatās special.
Please TR - make some more integrations! Zwift workouts and plans arenāt very good. You arenāt risking much.
4 Likes
+1 on the request to support Zwift based workouts just like TP does. That would be sweeeet!
2 Likes
I honestly thought there was a way to link them after I saw a friend do a ride in Zwift that was clearly a TR workout.
Nope. You either have to run side by side or build the workout yourself.
2 Likes
You have to create the workout in Zwift or run TrainerRoad and Zwift in parallel.
Someone created a Python script for exporting the TrainerRoad workouts some years ago btw.
This is still the biggest reason I canāt keep up a TR subscription, despite periodically and optimistically reupping my sub every once in a while when something new and shiny comes out. Even if WLV2 and the rest of its feature set come out and are awesome. Iām fairly ADD and I need some kind of visual to keep me from going insane with boredom on more difficult workouts. The blue bars donāt cut it, and if weāre talking VO2Max or threshold workouts, having a video going at the same time is an annoying distraction.
Iāve tried running them at the same time, but for whatever reason Zwift and TR inevitably end up fighting for control of the trainer no matter what combination of devices and multiple ANT+ and Bluetooth connections I use. It may work for a little while but they will always brawl like siblings in the end. Not to mention the annoyance of having to delete one each of the multiple exports that get sent to TP, intervals.icu, Strava, etc.
I understand their initial resistance to it in terms of plan/IP retention, but given that at this point everything important is happening on TRās servers and the plans arenāt static, it doesnāt seem like anything would be lost.
Iām guessing brand identity is a big part of this. Thereās a lot to be said about the importance of TrainerRoad as a company remaining its own animal. Thereās a risk of it being seen as an essential accessory to Zwift rather than its own product, and then thereās the risk of the slippery slope where TR could become increasingly dependent on Zwift as the Venn diagram of subscriptions looks more and more alike, but I think this could actually work out as a fantastic partnership/integration, considering that it would fill one of Zwiftās biggest gaps.
So having successfully proven the degree of my ADD in this post, Iāll bring it back full circle and say again that TR should do an integration with Zwift for workout exports. 
6 Likes
Agreed all the way around. I dropped my subscription to TR for this reason. I donāt understand why TR canāt use the same method Traning Peaks has for using their workouts on Zwift where they are held in a separate folder on Zwift and canāt be shared with others. In fact, the workout name can state that it is a Trainer Road workout which would be good marketing for Trainer Road.
3 Likes
The reality is that Zwift is a competitor to TrainerRoad. I would not expect any support to export TR workouts to Zwift anytime in the future. As much as I would like it (and it would simply my setup significantly), I just donāt see it happening.
1 Like
TrainingPeaks doesnāt have a proprietary interface to do workouts in. It relies on them being exported to other platforms.
1 Like
I may be thinking of the TR to TrainingPeaks export script, but I thought this stopped working after adaptive training was released.
Not true. You can use their āworkout builderā to make your own workouts (like Zwift), or select to use a purchased (proprietary workout) offered from TrainingPeaks or the coaches selling them on their site. True, they donāt have a player like Zwift and TR, but the workout files can be exported to your Garmin and executed there (as can TR files). The point is TrainingPeaks has a method to use their (or a coachās) intellectual property on Zwiftās player via a custom Zwift folder and I donāt why TR canāt do the same thing.
1 Like
To clarify further, the folder is controlled by TrainingPeaks and the workouts only appear there if you have an active license for them. So for TR, that would mean the workouts would go away if / when you let your subscription lapse.
You disagreed but agreed 
2 Likes