Frustration Leads To Innovation

It was the late-90's and Joe Friel's coaching business was growing rapidly. He had just finished writing The Triathlete's Training Bible and The Cyclist's Training Bible and both were selling quickly to endurance athletes and coaches eager to gain an edge on their competition. Despite Joe's success coaching, consulting and selling books, he was still convinced he could do more for athletes and coaches. In the dawning age of the Internet, when the advantage of speed and accessibility meant everything, Joe’s coaches and athletes were still reliant upon paper, fax machines and snail mail. Coaching athletes and helping them reach their potential was being hindered by a growing communications gap.

Joe's son, Dirk Friel was himself a coach and a professional cyclist. As both an athlete and a coach, Dirk was handicapped every day with inefficient communication methods such as handwritten journals, home-made excel spreadsheets or notes on a calendar being used to monitor training. If the athlete remembered to fax or mail the log to their coach, some analysis could be done. However, all too frequently, the logs were lost or neglected and as a result analysis of fitness was based on assumptions and instinct.

One of Dirk's close friends, Gear Fisher was an engineer and internet business wizard – yet also an athlete and frustrated. He too could see the need for improved communications between coaches and athletes. However, Gear had a solution to Joe and Dirk's dilemma. Gear was riding the wave of the late '90's internet boom and saw the value in leveraging technology for communication and efficiency. He himself was a cyclist and knew first-hand the benefits of training. He was also watching with great interest the rapid technological advances in the cycling world as new products, training methods and nutrition practices pushed the old boundaries.

The Evolution

In the fall of 1999 Dirk expressed to Gear his frustration with the communication inefficiencies he was experiencing with his athletes. Gear confidently said that he could create a web-based data system that could act as a training log and coaching software. Why not just build a web-based program that included the coaching guidelines that Joe had been preaching for years? Not only could Gear create an interface between coach and athlete, but he could eventually create a self-coached version to help an unlimited number athletes. That day Gear and Dirk began an evolution of leveraging technology to monitor, analyze and plan all aspects human performance, and in doing so also developed the worlds first software system allowing any coaching business the ability to manage an unlimited number of athletes.

Between June and October of 2000 the program evolved to also include a self-coached version that went live on October 1st, 2000. From what started as TrainingBible.com, the company evolved to include CyclingPeaks software, designed by a team that included Hunter Allen, author of Training and Racing with a Power Meter. Eventually, the company's name changed to TrainingPeaks, and the WKO+ software was added to the software family for premium desktop analysis. Now called Peaksware, TrainingPeaks remains the company's premier product offering.

The Purpose

Originally designed to support endurance sports such as cycling and triathlon, TrainingPeaks software has adapted to serve the needs of the running, action sports, general fitness, and health industries. TrainingPeaks continues to evolve as technology changes. TrainingPeaks consistently releases new features inspired by the fitness professionals and athletes who use our system. In addition to being compatible with the most popular training devices on the market, TrainingPeaks also provides the ability to publish and sell customized training plans through the Professional Edition.

Our Mission

Our goal is to help our customers to reach their training and fitness goals, whether it's to win the Tour de France or to look good at your 25 year high school reunion. Today, nearly a decade after the start of the digital fitness training evolution started, Peaksware continues to develop cutting edge software systems which can be used across the lifestyle continuum. The evolution remains in the hands of real athletes, coaches, trainers, dieticians and people like you motivated to achieve goals of fitness, health and peak performance.