Training intervals with the Wahoo Elemnt

The Wahoo Elemnt is – even if it is getting old – always a loyal companion and still meets all my requirements when it comes to bike computers. Sure, the monochrome display may not be up to date anymore, but I see it more as a retro feature. The Elemnt also masters the support when working through the training plan, whether indoors or outdoors. 

Interval training or HIIT

The topic of interval training itself is very far-reaching and therefore not the subject of this article – just this much here: it’s about alternating high-intensity performance phases with breaks in order to then be even more ready for the next high-intensity phase. You can of course learn such training plans by heart and then complete them on the bike from memory, but it is easy to build the plans with the help of various online tools and then load them onto the Wahoo.

All in all a great thing, the only question is how this training data gets on the Wahoo Elemnt.

The Elemnt acts as a memory aid when you move outdoors (the device shows what needs to be done in chronological order) or can control a smart trainer indoors and thus specify the exact performance figures.

Trainer Day as a training plan tool

The Software Trainer Day has been around for a while and developed years ago from a database for various workouts. The tool (also available as a smartphone app) is now a very comprehensive tool for training: you can use it to build individual workouts, create a training plan and also control smart trainers. Unfortunately, Trainer Day can’t connect to the Wahoo app, so you have to go through TrainingPeaks.

TrainingPeaks as an interface

TrainingPeaks is probably the largest and most well-known training app ever and offers an extremely large number of functions. However, I only use Trainingpeaks here as an interface for Trainer Day to the Wahoo app. You can also do many steps directly in Trainingpeaks – but the costs for the app are much higher than for Trainer Day and the interface is much more complex. That’s why I voted for Trainer Day, but that’s not absolutely necessary.

Step-by-step to the planned workout on the bike computer

1. First, of course, you need accounts and access to all apps (Trainer Day, TrainingPeaks, Wahoo)

2. The individual accounts must be connected: Trainer Day with TrainingPeaks, TrainingPeaks with Wahoo

3. In addition, the correct threshold value should be entered in all apps (FTP value of the trainee – can be determined by FTP test) because the individual performance levels are entered in % of FTP

4. Build the workout in Trainer Day (this is relatively easy to do with the help of individual blocks, there are also functions for recurring blocks)

5. Load the finished workout into the Trainer Day calendar

6. Get the workouts in the TrainingPeaks calendar via the TrainingPeaks sync function

7. Sync the Wahoo Elemnt with TrainingPeaks