My favourite regular steel 'training bike' is running a Tiagra Hollowtech (9 speed) compact crank. Tiagra rear mech (8 speed) with an SRAM cassette and Sora shifters.
It changes brilliantly and I can't fault it as regards it's performance. Where it is giving me a problem is that the gaps in ratios compared to my Campy 10 speed seem to be exactly where I would have a comfortable climbing ratio for some of the hills we tackle. Not nice.
As a result I would like to change it to 10 speed, I can't put up with it feeling nearly perfect, when it can easily feel just perfect. The simplest choice might be to bin the groupset entirely and put on Mirage, or Veloce, which maintain compact choices (which I want as well!) But since the crankset is brand new, can anyone suggest some mix of equipment that will work efficiently as a 10 speed and maintain the crankset?