What was announced
Garmin’s press release says it “has acquired” the two platforms, both based in Louisville, Colorado. 120 people from TrainingPeaks and TrainHeroic join Garmin, and the financial terms were not disclosed. Brad Trenkle, Garmin’s co-COO, said the two platforms share Garmin’s passion for “empowering athletes and coaches around the world.”
Both were owned by Peaksware Holdings. As reported by the5krunner, Peaksware sold only the sports platforms and kept its music businesses (MakeMusic, Alfred Music and Fons).
What Garmin bought
TrainingPeaks was started in the late 1990s by coach and author Joe Friel, his son Dirk Friel and engineer Gear Fisher, as a web-based training log for Joe Friel’s coaching business. It now covers:
- The athlete platform: training calendar, device sync and analysis. Training Stress Score (TSS), Normalized Power and Intensity Factor are trademarks. As reported by the5krunner, Wahoo, Hammerhead and TrainerRoad license the names, Garmin has licensed them since at least the Edge 810 in 2013, and the trademarks cover the names rather than the math.
- The coaching side: Coach Edition subscriptions, a training plan marketplace and Coach Match.
- TrainingPeaks Virtual, the indoor cycling app it made by acquiring indieVelo, announced October 29, 2024. It’s included with any TrainingPeaks Premium subscription.
- WKO, the desktop analysis tool, which DC Rainmaker says hasn’t seen updates in two years, going by its release notes.
TrainHeroic is the strength side: programming and coaching for gym athletes. DC Rainmaker puts it at some 500,000 users and 10,000 coaches.
What it means for Strava users
TrainingPeaks and Strava don’t sync directly, per TrainingPeaks’ help center. Its advice is to connect the watch or bike computer to TrainingPeaks, since Garmin, Suunto, Polar, Wahoo and the other major device makers sync with it directly, or to export files from Strava and drag them into the TrainingPeaks calendar. So a device connected to both sends its own copy to each, and the deal announced no change to either route.
As reported by the5krunner, nothing announced on July 22 changed pricing (Coach Edition, athlete Premium and the per-athlete upgrade carry on), device compatibility, coach accounts, rosters, the plan marketplace or Coach Match. TrainingPeaks told coaches by email that it “will continue to operate as a cross-platform ecosystem”, according to DC Rainmaker. We found no later announcement from Garmin or TrainingPeaks changing any of this as of October 13, 2026.
What’s still unknown
- Uploads from other brands. DC Rainmaker asked whether Garmin would block third-party uploads to TrainingPeaks; Garmin hadn’t answered when he published.
- Metric licensing. DC Rainmaker also left open whether Garmin will keep licensing TSS, Normalized Power and Intensity Factor to other companies.
- Bundling. Garmin hasn’t said whether TrainingPeaks will join Connect+, the paid tier of the Garmin Connect app launched March 27, 2025 at $6.99 a month or $69.99 a year. The5krunner expects a possible bundle; Garmin has announced none.
Both outlets point to Firstbeat Analytics, which Garmin bought in June 2020. Its physiology metrics were then used by Suunto, Casio, Huami (Amazfit) and Huawei, and Garmin told DC Rainmaker at the time that Firstbeat would keep licensing to third parties. In his July 2026 piece, DC Rainmaker writes that as far as he knows Firstbeat no longer licenses its metrics to new third-party customers.
Other recent deals
- October 2024: TrainingPeaks buys indieVelo and launches TrainingPeaks Virtual.
- April 2025: Strava agrees to acquire Runna, the running training app.
- May 2025: Strava acquires The Breakaway, the cycling training app, as reported by BikeRadar.
- July 2025: Garmin acquires MYLAPS, the Dutch sports timing company.
- April 2026: Zwift acquires ROUVY, as reported by Slowtwitch (our Zwift vs ROUVY comparison covers what has changed since).
- July 2026: Garmin acquires TrainingPeaks and TrainHeroic.
Two other training platforms have closed since 2023. Today’s Plan, owned by Specialized’s Zone5 Ventures since 2019, announced in December 2023 that it would cease operations on March 12, 2024. Fatmap, which Strava bought in January 2023, was set to shut down on October 1, 2024, as TechCrunch reported in June 2024.
Other training platforms that work with Strava
For athletes who want a plan B, several independent platforms document a Strava connection in their listings, each rechecked monthly: intervals.icu, Final Surge on the coaching side, Xert and JOIN Cycling. The intervals.icu vs TrainingPeaks comparison goes feature by feature, and the rest are in the training apps directory.
Sources
- Garmin: TrainingPeaks and TrainHeroic press release (July 22, 2026), MYLAPS press release (July 29, 2025), Connect+ press release (March 27, 2025)
- TrainingPeaks: About us, TrainingPeaks Virtual, How do I sync my workout data from Strava into TrainingPeaks?, indieVelo announcement
- Strava: Runna announcement (April 17, 2025)
- Reporting: DC Rainmaker on the acquisition, DC Rainmaker on Firstbeat (June 2020), DC Rainmaker on Today’s Plan, the5krunner, BikeRadar on The Breakaway, Slowtwitch on ROUVY, TechCrunch on Fatmap
