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Need help getting set up on the trainer for the winter
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I want to put a lot more time and focus into my bike during the off season. I'm coming off my first IM this past season and I'm sick of long, slow, miles. I'm dropping back down in distance and plan on doing sprints, olys and halfs next year. I want to be able to compete. Not necessarily against my age group, I won't be able to get that fast, but more against myself. I really want to see what I can do at these distances, specifically 70.3. The only way to achieve this is to ride as much as I can while balancing run and swim.

I want to get TrainerRoad so I can have workouts at my disposal and follow their 70.3 plan. I've read a bunch already but just need some help figuring out what equipment I will need to use the software.

I don't have a power meter. What I have available to me is my bike, a KK Road Machine and a Sigma Rox 6.0 w/ cadence. I have a heart rate monitor for the Rox but it's not ANT+, so from what I understand it won't work with TrainerRoad. I plan on using it as a guide and see where my heart rate ranges are relating to what TrainerRoad will tell me. Therefore, I'm going to go by their Virtual Power setting to give me some data. If I read the site correctly, I need a ANT+ or Bluetooth speed/cadence sensor? Does any one work? Does anyone have any suggestions as to which one I should get? Is Bluetooth better than ANT+?

Any info you could provide would be greatly appreciated!

On another note...does anyone have experience with TrainerRoad's 70.3 plan?


EDIT: Got everything set up this weekend and ready to go starting this week. Going to pretty much dedicate myself to the trainer for the next 6 months to prep for next season and really become stronger on the bike. I'm focusing on two 70.3s as my 'A' races; one in May and one in September. Does anyone have advice on what plans I should do on Trainerroad? I think I'm going to start with the Mid Volume 1 Base plan for 4 weeks to get my toes wet with the program. After that I'm not completely sure. I was thinking I could go up to the Mid Volume 2 Base for 4 weeks and then maybe do the Mid Volume 70.3 plan? Any suggestions?


My PR bike split for 70.3 is 3:15:XX and I want to drastically drop that. Goal is around 2:50 if not even faster. Is this possible? Am I crazy? After a year of IM training I feel like my body can handle more now and I also know how to push it a lot further than before. For instance I busted my ass the whole way through a 40K test yesterday on my road bike and I averaged 18.6mph, which is probably 19+ without lights. That's by far the fastest and hardest I've ever ridden. I'm also riding around 20lbs heavier than I want to next year. Really struggled to lose the weight during IM training but I've really gotten my eating under control the last few weeks and I'm committed to losing that weight by the end of the year. If I can maintain muscular strength while losing that weight, I imagine I'll gain speed/watts right away.


Thanks for the help again!
Last edited by: teichs42: Oct 19, 14 9:43
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Re: Need help getting set up on the trainer for the winter [teichs42] [ In reply to ]
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Yep, you'll need ANT+ or Bluetooth. For your purposes, neither is really better, although ANT+ stuff seems to be a bit more affordable and you do need a specific Bluetooth dongle with TrainerRoad.


For ANT+, the Suunto Movestick is nice because it's tiny and doesn't stick out of the side of your computer so much. The Garmin Speed/Cadence sensor is solid, and kind of the de facto standard. You can go with just a heart rate strap with TrainerRoad, but with their virtual power, you'd be missing out on a lot.


Good luck with your foray into TrainerRoad - I think you're going to enjoy a really productive winter!

Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador
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Re: Need help getting set up on the trainer for the winter [Travis R] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks! So that Suunto stick and the Garmin are compatible? I thought the Garmin is Bluetooth.

So you're saying I shouldn't go with just heart rate, that I should do the Virtual Power, right?

Any idea on this product? I can get it cheap through the shop I work at.

CycleOps Dual Sensor
Last edited by: teichs42: Oct 13, 14 13:09
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Re: Need help getting set up on the trainer for the winter [teichs42] [ In reply to ]
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Before I broke down last year and bought a Kickr (a great investment), I used the Garmin GSC10 speed and cadence sensor along with a standard Garmin HR monitor and an ANT+ stick with a Kurt Kinectic road machine. It all worked well together - I went ANT+ rather than Bluetooth because I was working off an ancient desktop and I had an ANT+ USB stick from my Garmin 610. If you have the trainer, total investment in Ant+ stuff should be relatively cheap = GSC10 is $39.99 on Amazon, HR strap - $30-40 on and you can buy an ANT+ stick for $25 to $50 (depending on how far your computer is from your bike, you might need a USB extension cable and Amazon basics has those pretty cheap).

Best of luck ...
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Re: Need help getting set up on the trainer for the winter [teichs42] [ In reply to ]
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i bought a mini ant stick off ebay that seems to work well, my daughter smashed the garmin one off as it sticks out the side a bit
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Re: Need help getting set up on the trainer for the winter [teichs42] [ In reply to ]
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teichs42 wrote:
Thanks! So that Suunto stick and the Garmin are compatible? I thought the Garmin is Bluetooth.
Yep, they are both ANT+. The Garmin is not Bluetooth.

teichs42 wrote:
So you're saying I shouldn't go with just heart rate, that I should do the Virtual Power, right?
If you can do the Virtual Power, I think you'll have a lot more effective setup. Heart rate is too variable and power is a direct measurement of your output.

teichs42 wrote:
Any idea on this product? I can get it cheap through the shop I work at.

CycleOps Dual Sensor

I'm not familiar with it, so sorry, I can't provide any feedback on that one.

Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador
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Re: Need help getting set up on the trainer for the winter [Travis R] [ In reply to ]
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BUMP for edit...apparently edits don't move threads to front page
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Re: Need help getting set up on the trainer for the winter [teichs42] [ In reply to ]
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If your A race is in May that means you have somewhere around 28 weeks of training left. I would choose a Sweet Spot Base Plan, Intermediate or Advanced Build Plan, and then a Half Tri Plan. Depending on what you choose that would give you around 27 weeks of TrainerRoad plans (6 weeks for SSB, 9 weeks for Build, and 12 weeks for HIM).

Also, once it's nice out again or still is (depending on where you live) you can still follow the TR plan but do the same duration with similar efforts outside.

I am a HUGE proponent of TrainerRoad...it has led to massive gains over the last 2 years for me but you have to be able to suffer on the trainer. Do an honest FTP test where you feel like dying and don't decrease the intensity on any of the rides after that FTP is set (unless you want to make it harder!). I did my FTP test for my winter training block earlier this week and it was one of the most terrible experiences I've had - since my last FTP test. But now I know I can't cheat myself because my FTP is accurate.
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Re: Need help getting set up on the trainer for the winter [badgertri] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks, I hadn't really considered those but I like the look of them. Is the 8-minute FTP test they have at the start of most of these plans a good one to base my numbers off of?
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Re: Need help getting set up on the trainer for the winter [teichs42] [ In reply to ]
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In my experience using the KK road machine in conjunction with a powertap, I think all you "need" is an ant+/bluetooth speed sensor to get very usable power data. Just make sure to inflate your rear tire to the exact same pressure before every ride and crank down the roller the same amount (I find 2.5 turns prevents all slipping). My speed data on the KK always tracks right in step with my powertap power data-- should be a straight forward transfer function. Oh, and after 10000 trainer miles, my KK still operates just like new.
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Re: Need help getting set up on the trainer for the winter [teichs42] [ In reply to ]
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for the most part the training you do will be long blocks in the zone between your "sweet spot" and just a little above your threshold. Those are the real key workouts, so do a good test and get going, then test again in a month or so. I would not waste a lot of time with shorter intervals or long slow distance, just get the volume in at the "somewhat hard" level
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Re: Need help getting set up on the trainer for the winter [teichs42] [ In reply to ]
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teichs42 wrote:
Is the 8-minute FTP test they have at the start of most of these plans a good one to base my numbers off of?

That's a controversial topic. Some say yes, some say no. Some get very emotional/defensive about their feelings. Personally, I've done both multiple times and find that the values pretty much come out the same. Thus, I now stick with the 8 min test because I like to get it over as quick as possible.
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Re: Need help getting set up on the trainer for the winter [logella] [ In reply to ]
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When I do the all out 8-minute interval, should I focus more on a bigger gear or pushing at a higher cadence? Or just do whatever I have to, to go as hard as possible? Should I use cadence as a guide? Or the virtual power number from TR? I've never done an FTP test before, if you couldn't tell!
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Re: Need help getting set up on the trainer for the winter [teichs42] [ In reply to ]
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teichs42 wrote:
When I do the all out 8-minute interval, should I focus more on a bigger gear or pushing at a higher cadence? Or just do whatever I have to, to go as hard as possible? Should I use cadence as a guide? Or the virtual power number from TR? I've never done an FTP test before, if you couldn't tell!

mostly you want to do a consistent effort, if you "game" the test by spiking the power up you will get a less reliable number. As to the other questions, just figure that one out this winter, everyone is different and it's great knowledge if you can figure out your best way to ride
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Re: Need help getting set up on the trainer for the winter [teichs42] [ In reply to ]
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I did the KK Road Machine + Garmin GSC-10 Cadence + Sunto ANT+ thing last winter. Worked great. I was in an online mentor group for a few months and trained using virtual power. I used Golden Cheetah software that had the KK power curves loaded so I could see virtual power on my laptop screen while riding. I didn't use HR which would have been nice but with virtual power my riding got much better. Saw good improvements on the bike this year.

My FTP test consisted of a 5' test and 20' test. I think that's a good method to establish FTP.

I don't think hitting the 2:50 mark on the bike is crazy. Make it a goal to increase your FTP over the winter/into the spring. Retest for FTP every 7-8 weeks. This will result in better bike performance come race day. Workouts should be structured etc. to have interval work, i.e. 5x2' at 105% FTP etc. stuff like that.

The thing about using virtual power is keeping your setup consistent. Once I set my trainer, I don't mess with it which means I remove/replace the bike with as little re-adjustment as possible. So leave the tension in the barrell where it is and run the same tire pressure every time.

Good luck.
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