One of the advantages of running both at once is that you get distance+elevation data from Zwift while doing your high quality TrainerRoad workouts. All my “outdoor” buddies are obsessed with annual distance and elevation on Strava/Stravistix and there’s a lot of banter at the end of each year that I want to be a part of.
Even when I can’t be bothered looking at Zwift I’ll run it in background so my little bloke is racking up the k’s!
I use the 2 ANT+ dongle route as well (and record with my Garmin 935 for the metrics on it). I do my workouts with TR and Zwift is running mainly for accumulating climbing to get the Tron Bike–so close! I will also do workouts while doing some of the fun events they have which I’m sure baffles some people I’m riding with depending on the highs and lows of the workout 
. I also have another monitor going with a Chromecast stick where I watch YouTube or Netflix for even more distraction/entertainment 
.
Ooohhh…working out on TR whilst getting points on Zwift for the Tron bike. That’s evil. I like you.
Multitasking at its best! 
What happens with the calendar now if both the TR and Zwift workouts are synced to Strava? Does it know that they’re actually the same?
I have to delete one of the rides off my strava or i get double the TSS for the day
For me both rides load to Strava but TR calendar knows to only keep the TR workout. Strava does keep both so you need to delete one of the rides or your Strava stats will be doubled and your followers will probably get annoyed seeing double every day
I do it so that I can unlock Alp du Zwift so that I can do “fun” rides during the winter and get some good climbing in.
With the latest update, I’ve actually started getting a 3rd ride in TrainingPeaks for some reason. Two from TR and one from Zwift, so now I delete both the Zwift workout AND the doubled TR one.
I only use 1 dongle. I run TR on my phone with Bluetooth and use ANT+ on my laptop for Zwift.
To avoid duplicate Strava activities I pause my TrainerRoad workouts with 10 seconds remaining, save my Zwift ride, then unpause my TrainerRoad workout. If the Zwift save ends up in my Strava first the TrainerRoad one doesn’t overwrite it.
They both end up on Garmin Connect but that the actives list there makes it easy to go through and delete the duplicates which I do once in a while.
Does this work for training Peaks too? I’m guessing you still get duplicates there?
Yup, you definitely get duplicates in TP.
They don’t seem to have any intelligence that prevents doubles.
I’ve gone down the two Ant+ dongle route too, as the Bluetooth BLE dongle was causing issues, basically Zwift or TrainerRoad would try to grab both different dongles.
This is how I’ve done it in case it helps anyone.
I have two ANT+ dongles plugged in, as each application can only grab one ANT+ dongle, I won’t have any resource conflicts.
Start Zwift.
Power Source: Smart trainer FEC Ant+
Heart rate: Garmin strap ANT+
Cadence: Garmin Cadence ANT+ sensor on crank
Controllable Trainer: Unpaired
Pick course & start ride but don’t peddle.
Start TrainerRoad:
Smart trainer: ANT+
Heart rate: connect to same one Zwift is using
Cadence: connect to same one Zwift is using
Minimise TrainerRoad and ride to start workout.
Finish workout… finish Zwift ride, select save to Strava. Eventually close TrainerRoad after entering any notes.
I have TrainerRoad set up to sync with Strava, also Zwift saves on Strava when session is finished. So far I’ve had no duplicates on Strava or TrainerRoad. I’ve found that sometimes when I upload a picture from Zwift to Strava it disappears and the one from TrainerRoads appears. Possibly seen twice but I’ve only done limited testing.
Yes, I do get duplicates on Garmin, but hardly ever go there.
I used to use Option 1 but since getting an Apple TV for Zwift when my iMac died, i now have no ANT+ channel 
. I can use TR on my phone to control my Neo but find that the data back to Zwift via my 4iii HRM ANT+/BT bridge lacks cadence so I cycle around Zwift without any movement in my legs, which is just weird. I realise this isn’t a TR problem at all but if anyone has found a way around this i’m keen to hear! Love both TR and Zwift equally - they are both excellent for different kinds of training.
What exact trainer, HR and cadence hardware do you have?
What exact device are you using to run TR (phone)?
I might have some suggestions, depending on exactly what you have.
Oh! That would be awesome thanks. I’ve got a Tacx Neo (for power and cadence) and 4iiii HRM (for HR and ANT+ bridge). I did try adding an independent Garmin cadence sensor but the 4iiii bridge will only convert one stream of ANT+ to BTE i think. I can either use an iPhone XS or iPad Pro to run TR, but I think that amounts to the same thing. Have tried the old school 30 pin iphone ANT+ dongle but neither device will recognise it. I also have a Macbook Pro, which i could use for TR, but it only has USB-C ports. 
OK, that’s what I was guessing. Being BLE biased is the challenge.
Having power and cadence from the Neo is great, and it sends in ANT+ and BLE simultaneously, which is great too.
The issue is the 1:1 paring of BLE. For the mixed applications (TR and Z on 2 devices), it seems best to have one of them on ANT+.
I am an Apple novice and not the best person to help with that, unfortunately.
I do wonder if there is a cable that can take the USB ANT+ dongle and convert to the USB-C port?
Like this cord.
If so, then running that on ANT+ for TR and then ATV direct BLE would be my suggestion.
Thanks! I’ll try that!
In the past a low-fi solution I’ve done is I have connected my devices (HR strap and power meter) via bluetooth (on the iPad or Apple TV) to Zwift and picked any open ride route. Then I run the TR workout on my phone and match the watts in Zwift.
Swift workout hits Strava (when it’s not buggy) and TR pulls it in as a Strava synch (like an outside ride) so I get the correct TSS (but no intervals).
I rarely use Zwift anymore but this worked way better than dealing with ANT+ on the second device…
A $10 usb-c to usb-a adapter solved that problem for me. That and the Garmin USB ANT Stick.
I also use the adapter for a few other things, like backup drives and other USB devices.