By the looks 2grand can buy yourself a pretty cool treadmill with Google street view mapping running to give real time gps co-ord that replicates terrain. The possibilities of actual courses is obviously limited to where Google map has mapped the roads. Add this to your home gym with computrainer, load up a bike course video and now those bricks workouts in the middle of winter take on a new purpose , A ? for those using one just how realistic is the course. Just looking at the demo version below. I know the street for San Diego Rock n Roll start line as shown below is 0% grade, so to have the demo display 9.2% gives concern me on it’s accuracy, (maybe a demo defect). However for those races that are on roads, race simulation takes on a new meaning, I see the merits in race simulation for an out of town/city/country 13.1 and 26.2 race. All that is now need is a sauna room for those humid destination races and an altitude tent for IM-Hoe!!! oh now all i need to do is add a lap pool I’d be set if I was stuck somewhere in the middle of the midwest during winter…so unlike way out west in Sunny Diego…seriously any one using one??
You can definitely find a treadmill under 2k with this feature. Got mine for about 1,400 and it has the IFit/Google maps on it. It’s a nice little feature as a bonus, but I wouldn’t say it completely simulates a course. The treadmill goes to -3, but when using this feature, any downhill is just giving a 0%. You at least can get to see the course and run the uphills. It also doesn’t need the street view for it to give you the gps elevations, although it is nice to try to landmark spots during a race. On a side note, the demo just throws random numbers out there.
Is it called the Boston Marathon Treadmill a la TdF spin bike? Interesting, but treadmills make my shins hurt like hell so pass!
Not the same thing but if there are limited programs for the treadmill you could also watch videos of races with narration about the event at http://viewtherace.com/races. I know I bike a lot on the trainer during the winter months and watching a video of a course I plan on doing would hold my interest for a ride.
You can use this to get ready for the next ime you come grace Cairns with your presence
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GO OUTSIDE! c’mon man.
How cool would it be if you could use a goPro and GPS to generate files to upload to this (or a computrainer).