There are two ways to build a swim workout in TrainingPeaks. The method used will dictate some behaviours when importing the workout to FORM.

The builder

Description-based

Note: if a TrainingPeaks workout uses both the builder and the description field, by default, only the builder information will be imported. 

Getting Started

If you already have TrainingPeaks connected to FORM, you will need to disconnect it and reconnect since new permissions are required for this integration. For more information on how to connect to an external service, see here.

Upon connection, FORM will pull in all workouts in your TrainingPeaks calendar over a nine day span: two days in the past until seven days in the future (the date range is listed in the app). The imports can be seen under My Imports on the Home tab of the app.

When a workout imports, it arrives in draft mode and will not be automatically saved to your goggles. Before the workout can be saved to the goggles, you must review the workout by tapping on it to open the details and then tap "Approve & Save" at the bottom of the workout. This allows you to check the workout for import accuracy and make any modifications that you need.

The workout description is pulled into the FORM app for reference so that you can see all the context that was contained within your TrainingPeaks workout.

Once the workout is approved and saved, any modifications to the original TrainingPeaks workout will not import to FORM automatically. It is recommended that you update the FORM workout manually, if needed, and save it to the goggles again.

To swim an imported workout, turn on your goggles and navigate to the My Imports option in the menu. 

The Builder

TrainingPeaks builder is a building block style tool that allows you to quickly drop workout blocks into a swim and then modify some of the details of each one. 

You can modify distances or durations, efforts, and add any contextual notes to those blocks. 

Efforts

When creating a workout, the user can set the units for their effort type which is then applied as the default effort type for every block. It can be modified at the workout level but also at the individual block level. Below is a table showing how the effort types translate from TrainingPeaks to FORM. You can find out more about FORM's effort types here.

Note: If an effort range is used, FORM imports the mid-point of that range.

Distance and Duration

In TrainingPeaks, swim workouts can be designated to be distance- or duration-based. 

Distance: builds the workout structure in meters or yards

Duration: builds the workout structure in h:mm:ss

FORM does not support duration-based workouts at this time but will convert a time-based set to a distance factoring in each user’s average swim pace in the FORM app.

Set Type

There are four set types to choose from in TrainingPeaks. You can see more about FORM set types here.

Drills

Drills aren't supported in the TrainingPeaks builder at this time. 

Drills are supported in the FORM app and can be added to the workout once it is imported from TrainingPeaks.

Stroke Type

Stroke type is not currently supported as a selection in the TrainingPeaks builder. Since it is not specified in TrainingPeaks, FORM will show "choice" stroke for Warm-Up, Pre-Set, Post-Set and Warm-Down sets and "freestyle" for the Main sets. This can be modified in the FORM app before approving the workout.

Equipment

There are no defined fields in the TrainingPeaks builder to indicate equipment for intervals, sub-sets, or sets. Equipment is supported in FORM and can be added to any part of your swim workout once it’s imported from TrainingPeaks.

Subset Title and Notes

There are two free-text fields in TrainingPeaks in each block. The top one is referred to as Subset Title and the second as Subset Notes. 

These can be used to add context and/or more detailed instructions on how to execute each block in your swim.

These fields are imported into the appropriate subset so they can be referenced when reviewing workouts

Rest

To create a rest interval for swimming, you can add a duration-based block, set the target pace to zero and the block type to "Recover."

FORM will look for this and place the desired length of Rest after sub-sets or sets. 

Description-based workouts 

FORM can import and translate your text-based workouts from TrainingPeaks. 

 

Text can be written and structured in many ways - this means that our import system may struggle to understand all possible workouts.

We aim to get the vast majority of workouts into the platform with a high level of completion, if not 100%. Some items may be missed, or misinterpreted but we try to lean on simpler rules on import that allow for smaller adjustments to perfect them. 

Here are some tips to ensure the highest chances for a successful import. Simpler structure tends to work better, adding a lot of context and instructions can start to bring confusion into translation.

The main identifiers:

1. We look for Warm-ups, Mains, Warm-downs to group instructions into those sets. If those terms are missing there will be less specificity in the workout in FORM. 
2. We look for distance and multipliers (2 x 100)
3. We look for stroke types, drills, rest, and equipment in each instruction line
   1. We look for FORM drill names (e.g. closed fist, 1-arm, etc) and match those
   2. We look for common swimming drill names and add those as custom drills with an abbreviated term to fit in the goggles
4. We look for as many effort terms as possible and either match them with ours or translate them to something similar 

We place the entire TrainingPeaks description into the FORM description box so that you can refer to it when reviewing your workout. We also place the instructions into our sub-set notes fields so that any tips, instructions, or helpful context can be seen in the app when reviewing your workout.

Examples of easier descriptions to import

Good clear, simple structure

 

More complex structure but has clear terms and breakdown

 

 

Less specificity but translates well with simple instructions

 

Example of a workout that won’t import as well 

This workout contains a lot of descriptions and additional numbers in those descriptions that will cause some confusion for creating this workout. The longer and more nuanced those descriptions are, the harder it can be to make the translation into FORM workout instructions.