Intervals.icu – Powerful analysis and training planning

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Ever since I discovered the powerful training platform Intervals.icu, my TrainingPeaks subscription has been cancelled. And that’s saying something…


Do I need another tool?

There is certainly no shortage of training platforms that you can use to record and plan your training. You can’t avoid using the tool from your running watch manufacturer and almost everyone is probably also registered with Strava. This at least covers the topic of a training diary (even manufacturer-independent thanks to Strava).

Structured training workouts can be created on all manufacturer platforms and synchronised with the watch. If you don’t have the option of creating entire training plans there, you can use Stryd, Enduco or Trait, for example.

The jump to even more individualised analysis and training plans then quickly leads to TrainingPeaks or Final Surge. Here you can plan very freely yourself, be supervised by a trainer or work with (purchased) training plans. TrainingPeaks was the tool of choice for me for many years and I was happy to pay around €10 per month – until I discovered Intervals.icu.

Who or what is Intervals.icu?

Intervals.icu has been around for about five years and is a project by software developer (and cyclist!) David Tinker. He originally started it to try out a new programming framework and learn about road bike training at the same time. Originally it was just a kind of analysis extension for Strava, but soon became a platform in its own right. The tool quickly became popular and he continued to develop it in his spare time.

In the meantime, however, Intervals.icu has become his full-time job, which naturally drives development forward considerably. Nevertheless, he is sticking with the free version, but will be working on further premium functions for supporters. At the moment, for example, only as a supporter can you download your complete history from Strava. But there are also plans to display the weather for past training sessions.

He provides an open API for Intervals.icu so that other programmers can dock onto it. However, he also provides extension options within the platform that can be used to create your own fields for activities (with a little Javascript knowledge).

Considering how busy the forum is and how many long-standing users and supporters of the project there are, you can hardly expect it to come to a standstill. 😉

Overview of the functions

Normally I like to go into depth and describe everything in detail. But with the incredible wealth of functions at Intervals.icu, even the overview will be very long.

Activities

For me, the daily view on the platform starts with the activities tab. The calendar view gives me a good overview of past and future training sessions.

The density of information can be set in three levels. Just like the colour coding and 1000 other things. The high degree of customisation is one of the great strengths of Intervals.icu.

Alternatively, you can also select a list view, whose displayed columns can be customised very freely. So you only see what you really want to see.

Anyone who runs a lot of races will appreciate the quick access to them. A click on the entry in the drop-down menu jumps directly to the corresponding calendar day.

In addition to the planned or recorded sessions, other entries can be made in the calendar: Holidays, illness, injuries or notes can be recorded at any time for documentation purposes.

Each training session can be viewed and analysed in detail. There is a tab with the usual summary, curves and a map. Standard tabs have been created for power, pace and heart rate, which offer ready-made analyses (including explanations). Additional tabs with customisable information can also be created.

But even with the standard tabs, you can customise them to suit your needs. This extends to editing functions at data level, which I have only ever seen in Tredict. Given the wealth of information, it is very helpful that all metrics can be clicked on to call up a detailed explanation.

Fitness

The fitness chart provides an overview of the progression of the training load. You need to familiarise yourself a little with the terms fitness, fatigue and form, but then they can be an important aid to training planning.

I particularly use the second graph on form very intensively in my planning to control my training. Ideally, I dip into the green zone (optimum) from time to time during training weeks and only touch the blue zone (fresh) during tapering.

Here, too, you can customise the settings: I have included the progression of my HRV measurements and resting heart rate below – more or less directly synchronised with HRV4Training.

For me, this chart replaces 90% of the daily benefits that WKO used to bring me. But now as an online platform and therefore accessible at any time and from anywhere.

Power

It is not only in the power section that you realise that Intervals.icu is a multisport platform. Anyone running with the Stryd or using other means of measuring watts will find the central performance curve here.

The eFTP determined here is based on a similar calculation model to the CriticalPower at Stryd and, in my experience, also matches it quite well. The eFTP from Intervals just seems a little less sluggish to me.

Pace

What works with Power also works with Pace: the Pace tab contains the curve with the best Pace performances and the resulting critical Pace. For me, this has always matched the calculated eFTP very well.

Totals

This refers to the distribution of time in the training zones. Intervals shows this not only for pace, power and heart rate, but also in combination. The classification in the graphic below is then based on the distribution. You can therefore quickly check whether the actual distribution of intensities also matches the selected training model (polarised, pyramid, threshold, …). The period under consideration can be set at the top.

Compare

I haven’t quite got used to the compare tab yet. There are some predefined graphs that you can display. But the potential probably lies in the customised ones.

Compare Activities

In the Activities tab, you can mark workouts and save them for comparison. The diagrams are of course freely configurable so that you can see and compare exactly what you want.

To be honest, I have never seen this type of direct comparison of several training sessions in any other tool, but it is a function that is very often requested. Here you can compare competition performances, for example.

Settings

At the top of the settings you can see that as a supporter I pay €10 per quarter to support the development of Intervals.icu. This is not a must, because you can use the tool free of charge without any time or functional restrictions.

Otherwise, you can define the respective zone settings for your sports, manage equipment (not just shoes!) and make many basic settings.

The connections to other services can also be found here. Intervals.icu generally likes to use Strava, but also offers synchronisation with all relevant platforms. Running watch manufacturers even allow synchronisation in both directions, so that the training sessions planned in Intervals.icu are then available directly on the watch.

Polar is an exception, as they do not allow imports. There also seems to be no direct connection to the Apple world. What does work in a roundabout way, however, is exporting the planned workouts to TrainingPeaks: a (manual) connection can be established via the tp2intervals tool. I sometimes need this, for example, because my treadmill only accepts structured training sessions from TrainingPeaks.

Intervals is also very open in conjunction with other tools. This allows functions to be realised for which there is no direct way (e.g. Apple Watch).

Forum

With such a complex tool, which is also under constant development, a forum is worth its weight in gold.

The wealth of knowledge and help in the forum is great. The community or the developer himself will help with problems. So far, I have always found an existing thread for my questions that has helped me.

Athletes page

I have skipped the groups, chats and profile section in the side menu because I can’t say much about them. There’s certainly no need for a lot of explanation. 😉

If you click on your user name at the top, you will be taken to an overview page for this athlete profile. Here you will find settings for email notifications or the Intervals invitation link, which you can use to connect with other users.

The trainer entry is somewhat inconspicuous. In Intervals.icu you can ask (professional) trainers for help or make another user your trainer. In other words, you can create training plans for someone else free of charge and (presumably) without any complications, or vice versa. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to try this out yet, but the option alone is pretty unique.

Writing training plans

I didn’t discover the library at first glance. But it is a very powerful tool. Individual training sessions can be stored there so that they can be dragged into the calendar as required and thus be planned.

But what really blew me away was the way in which structured training sessions are created. This is done in a text field with a very simple syntax. Even repetitions or sets for intervals are created much faster than in any other tool I know.

If you are still familiarising yourself with the syntax, you can alternatively select ‘Add step’ and will then be supported in the creation process. In both cases, you can plan according to pace, heart rate or power and do so very flexibly according to zones or as a percentage of a reference value (FTP). The result is also displayed graphically.

If you’re already enthusiastic about creating workouts, you’ll go crazy with the training plans! 😉 Because you can create and manage your own training plans here. This is just as easy as dragging the prepared workouts into a (planning) calendar. The fitness graph can be displayed to check the load and thus optimise the plan.

The training plan is then applied by dragging and dropping it from the library into the training calendar. Workouts can then be moved here at a later date. When deleting, there is then the option of removing either just the individual session or the entire associated training plan.

This is not even possible in TrainingPeaks, because it stops at creating and managing workouts. You can only buy complete training plans from trainers and then use them (again and again). What Intervals.icu offers here is quite unique!

Conclusion

I had fed Intervals.icu with data for some time and didn’t actually use it. The tool can be quite overwhelming at first glance and you certainly can’t grasp the many powerful tools with just a few clicks.

However, the more intensive use very quickly led to me not renewing my TrainingPeaks subscription and becoming an Intervals.icu supporter instead. I find everything here that TrainingPeaks and WKO have offered me so far – and more.

I like the open architecture, with connections to all important services and the high level of customisation options. Many functions such as the creation of structured training sessions or even entire training plans are quite unique and very valuable to me.

I am very enthusiastic and can only recommend Intervals.icu to anyone who is looking for a manufacturer-independent platform for analysing and planning their running, cycling, swimming or multisport training.

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Hi! It’s me, the Harlerunner.

This is where Thomas Pier writes about running and (much more than just the necessary) equipment. I don't run particularly fast or far. But I like to share my experiences as an ambitious recreational runner, curious early-adopter and as my own trainer.

I am happy about every digital contacting - but even more so about every kilometer run together.

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