C’mon Rich…you can do it!
I will be doing the same, grinding in my converted breezeway, get the first three seasons of “The Office”, a bunch of laughs while you sweat.
Pick the course you are going to race and test it out but there are lots of choices of IM courses so you can mix it up.
i’ll be cheering you on from a distance 
Andrew
I am going to do an IM in May and I live in Midwest so I am going to have to do a lot of base building on the Computrainer.
And therein lies the 1st problem. 
Building base in Jan when you should be looking to raise FTP.
Use Erg mode like some guys mentioned and hit it hard. You have plenty of time in April and May to get in some long rides. if you do 20 long rides before your IM, and 10 of them are on the trainer, there is a good chance for burnout. Train smart.
I am going to do an IM in May and I live in Midwest so I am going to have to do a lot of base building on the Computrainer.
And therein lies the 1st problem. Building base in Jan when you should be looking to raise FTP.
Use Erg mode like some guys mentioned and hit it hard. You have plenty of time in April and May to get in some long rides. if you do 20 long rides before your IM, and 10 of them are on the trainer, there is a good chance for burnout. Train smart.
Damn straight Mike. I can’t figure out why anyone would do something on the trainer longer than 2 - 2.5 hours when the A race is in May. Make those indoor rides high quality with some intervals and pace work.
I am going to do an IM in May and I live in Midwest so I am going to have to do a lot of base building on the Computrainer.
And therein lies the 1st problem. Building base in Jan when you should be looking to raise FTP.
Use Erg mode like some guys mentioned and hit it hard. You have plenty of time in April and May to get in some long rides. if you do 20 long rides before your IM, and 10 of them are on the trainer, there is a good chance for burnout. Train smart.
Damn straight Mike. I can’t figure out why anyone would do something on the trainer longer than 2 - 2.5 hours when the A race is in May. Make those indoor rides high quality with some intervals and pace work.
Jack -it’s a common belief that base miles have to be long and slow and that’s how the majority of people train, unfortunately for them.
Use Erg mode like some guys mentioned and hit it hard. You have plenty of time in April and May to get in some long rides. if you do 20 long rides before your IM, and 10 of them are on the trainer, there is a good chance for burnout. Train smart.
Couldn’t agree more. Riding long on the CT is a sure way to burn out and leave the sport. It’s just not a smart way to train.
I am going to do an IM in May and I live in Midwest so I am going to have to do a lot of base building on the Computrainer.
And therein lies the 1st problem. Building base in Jan when you should be looking to raise FTP.
Use Erg mode like some guys mentioned and hit it hard. You have plenty of time in April and May to get in some long rides. if you do 20 long rides before your IM, and 10 of them are on the trainer, there is a good chance for burnout. Train smart.
OK, so I used the wrong term when I said “base”. I have no intention of doing long slow rides on the CT. However, I am willing to go down the basement and sweat my balls off from “computer generated abuse”. I do want to train smart - that is why I am asking. I just want to make sure I get the most benefit from the “abuse” possible to meet my long term goal of doing well at the IM in May.
It sounds like most of you are recommending I use the ergo mode so I guess I will have to figure out how that works vs just riding courses. The computrainer is a complex piece of equipment that isn’t real easy to figure out how best to use.
I’m training for IMCDA. So I could save a few bucks I did my own “Pre-Base” training during Oct/Nov/Dec and then re-engaged with my coach in early Jan. She smacked me for doing mindless long, slow trainer rides while I was doing my “Pre-Base” work on my own. I thought all along that was the goal during the winter. And I even had another coach (who I was considering switching to) tell me I was doing the right thing. In the past two weeks I have done about the same duration of riding but the intensity factor is higher. Even on those longer rides I’m still doing pacework and some longer more steady intervals. The nice part is that when you have a plan for a long trainer ride, it makes the time pass much faster.
This is my third time trying to post; for some reason it is not taking. In short, to offer a different perspective, I have seen great improvment simply by riding what other call as long slow “base” miles. I do 99-100% of my rides on CT, doing IM70.3 and IM courses. For my long ride, I continue to stay at base intensity, but simulate race pace for a small percentage of the ride, gradually increasing over time. 2 other days of the week, I ride even slower than “base” at very low super easy intensity for recovery purposes.
Well, unless my CT is outdated, to go to Ergo mode I simply unplug the jack going to the computer. Easy. Change the watts using the handlebar control panel. And I agree completely with the other coaches – the long dark days of CT training in the basement are perfect for LT and VO2 building CT workouts primarily using ergo mode. Short, planned, and fairly intense – anything longer than 90 min isn’t really necessary unless you won’t be allowed out of the house before your Ironman.
I am going to do an IM in May and I live in Midwest so I am going to have to do a lot of base building on the Computrainer.
And therein lies the 1st problem. Building base in Jan when you should be looking to raise FTP.
Use Erg mode like some guys mentioned and hit it hard. You have plenty of time in April and May to get in some long rides. if you do 20 long rides before your IM, and 10 of them are on the trainer, there is a good chance for burnout. Train smart.
OK, so I used the wrong term when I said “base”. I have no intention of doing long slow rides on the CT. However, I am willing to go down the basement and sweat my balls off from “computer generated abuse”. I do want to train smart - that is why I am asking. I just want to make sure I get the most benefit from the “abuse” possible to meet my long term goal of doing well at the IM in May.
It sounds like most of you are recommending I use the ergo mode so I guess I will have to figure out how that works vs just riding courses. The computrainer is a complex piece of equipment that isn’t real easy to figure out how best to use.
EXACTLY what Marty says - and we all know the Germans know their cycling! Try some harder efforts 90"-2’ at 8-12 bpm below LT (85% of FTP) and your recovery is 30" - do about 10-15 reps. If you feel good, as you get closer to the end, up the watts by 5-10w.
If the computer is right there, don’t unplug it. Just load the CS and load an erg file as a chart (my preference) or start manual erg mode.
I’ve been riding ~2300 kJ a day on my VT. No TV, no music. Sometimes with all the lights off and as late as from 1 am to 4 am.
“You go and meet the power or you get dropped.”
With Erg how do you get dropped, visually? With the CT 3D software the little metal man disappears up the road. But with live video, if I were to slack off, what happens on the video?
Steve, after an hour on my CT, that is all I can handle!! My butt if sore, my mind is burned out.
I have not been able to ride outside for over a week now because of the rain. But, it will be clear tomorrow
so have my 60 mile ride set for the hills on Sat. If I do not keep my training fun, even though it might
be far from “perfect”, there would NO way to get in the hours I am doing.
Dave
I didn’t realize that your product worked with a CT Paul, that is great!
Since I am still learning how to use my CT I am going to take another look when I have a chance at your videos to enhance my CT enjoyment.
Andrew
Hi Paul
Given that you are a Canadian company and you’ll be shipping to me in Canada is there a part of your web site with Canadian pricing.
Right now 1$ US = 1.01$ CDN so you can charge me 46$ CDN if you want. But the difference with what the credit card company charges for
conversion I’ll end up paying probably close to 50$ and you wont make any extra money only the credit card company will.
From your web site:
“Delivery is by regular mail. We use a service that CLAIMS 4-6 business days to the US. We have found that when you do not place your order via this PayPal interface, but rather call it in to us, we need to use a service that is administered from Canada Post and not EBay/PayPal. The extra delay for the same cost is several days. Please use this ordering interface and PayPal.
Call or write “support -At - ergvideo dot com” if you need your order to ship via Xpresspost with on-time guarantee. Costs will exceed $20 to the USA and Canada.”
I don’t care about a couple of extra days you can just put a few stamps on it and send it to me using regular Canada Post Bad service,
I would just like the opportunity to put my order in, in CDN$ not US$.
I looked at you web site, they Videos look fantastic and I’ll probably order quite a few I just don’t see given that we live in the same
country why the credit card companies should benefit with no advantage to either you or me.
Peter
I personally ride the multi-rider software most of the time, however, I have tried the coaching software as well. As Paul states both works well and I just use the Multi-rider software for convenience:-) You don’t have to make another 150$ purchase to get all the benefits from Ergvideo.