Computrainer tips?

[Eden]

So the hubby had a fit of angst and decided on some retail therapy, so now we have a computrainer and I get the benefit of being able to use it too. I've been on it without it being hooked up to a PC. (we had to buy one since the thing isn't MAC compatible, but it doesn't need anything fast or fancy so the complete computer and system we got used only cost $80 - brings us up to something like 8 computers in the house though..... that's what you get for being married to an engineer.) Now its all set up hooked to the PC and I'm ready to give it a whirl. I was pretty impressed with my first ride on it stand alone - it really did feel a lot more like the road than a regular trainer, so I'm looking forward to trying some of the 3d courses.

Anyone else have/use one regularly - do you have any tips on the best way to take advantage of it. I did the spin scan at my coach's office when I had a bike fit there and I thought that was really cool, so I'm looking forward to using that. I'm new to all of the power information, so I'll have to read up on training with power too.

[velogirl]

Hi Eden! I have a computrainer that I use to test clients and for bike fits, but I rarely train on it myself.

My suggestion is to first really think about the purpose of each workout, and then choose a course that will work for that specific workout. And if you record your rides, you can then use previous rides as your pacer....kinda cool!

And now I'm panicing about the mac thing. I just bought a macbook last night -- should be here today. I have to be able to run my CT on it!!! They said with parallels I could do it. Yikes!

[dirtygirl1]

Hey There,

I have a CT and love it .. have had it for a few years now. Some thoughts on how to best use the CT for training ...

1. Race Simulation. Last year I picked a 15 mile course and did 4 laps of this course; in race mode. The first race sim I opted to choose a pacer and did not allow drafting. After that, I would race against my last best performance. Save each ride and you can race yourself! It is very motivating. You can see your weaknesses in the course (do you slow down before you crest the hill? do you rest too much on the downhills?) and you can fix them. As time goes by, it is harder and harder to beat yourself -- and you are confidently ready for the race season. Tailor the course and duration to the types of events you do or want to do.

2. Motivation for longer rides. There are a few ways to stay motivated for those longer indoor rides. One is to watch a movie .. or two .. or three. Another is to ride a long course. Finishing the course may just be the ticket to keeping you on the bike for that long.

3. Spin Scan -- very good for getting that perfect pedal stroke. I like to focus on this for the easier rides.

4. Power workouts -- you can do very specific intervals using the CT. This is just using the controller, not the programs on the PC. It's easy to add resistance and do specific strength, zone4/5 training , etc. You can also track the watt level that you do it at so that next time ... you can try to beat the time, or the watt level!

I guess in general terms, it really helps keep you motivated. Whether that is to stay on the bike longer, to ride harder (race sim) or to beat your last interval workout ... it offers motivation.

Being an engineer myself I love the numbers and am an avid number chaser in the winter. Come summer give me some girlz to chase around the track!

Explore the options of the CT and have fun!

dirtygirl.

[Eden]

Hi Eden! I have a computrainer that I use to test clients and for bike fits, but I rarely train on it myself.

My suggestion is to first really think about the purpose of each workout, and then choose a course that will work for that specific workout. And if you record your rides, you can then use previous rides as your pacer....kinda cool!

And now I'm panicing about the mac thing. I just bought a macbook last night -- should be here today. I have to be able to run my CT on it!!! They said with parallels I could do it. Yikes!

We had the option of running a PC emulator on one of our macs, but we decided since that can be unreliable and we could get a whole PC system so cheap that we would rather go that way. It also means we can leave it set up down in the basement permenantly. The hubby says that a program called Bootcamp is better than Parallels. None of our macs are new enough to be Duo's (the new Intel chip macs), but since you are getting yours new it might be.

Did my first ride on it using the software today. I was scheduled for a fairly long ride (at least long for a trainer) at 1 hr 40. It's still harder than riding on the road - there isn't any resting even when you are going "downhill", but it was still plenty to keep me occupied and entertained and made the whole thing seem to go by faster. I set my pacer up to go a little too fast though and he ditched me :-} Going "downhill" is pretty fun- it really does almost feel like you are going down. My husband laughed out loud the first time it went into a negative gradient and he almost went into the drops automatically. I think I'll enjoy using it even if for no other reason than it is more interesting than a plain trainer.

[velogirl]

The big question is what color is your icon, Eden?

My macbook has the dual core processor. Long story short, but it didn't arrive today. I guess I'll find out tomorrow if it'll work. If not, I have an old pc laptop that I could probably pull out of the closet to use.

[Eden]

There isn't a teal one, so I picked red. My pacer that dropped me was metal man.... I think I'll add some custom road signs just for fun. I saw something either in the manual or on the web site about how to do that and it seemed pretty easy. Eat at Joes or Visit the Beautiful Grand Canyon would be more fun than the endless Saturn signs. I think I'll try to find old bill boards for road side attractions.

I think your new mac will be able run PC software so it should work. Our newest is a couple of years old - its a G5, so we would have to run third party emulation software.