Hello all, will be my first OS and read a lot about Trainer Road. Any opinions about its value? What exactly does it do that you cannot track yourself? Thoughts? Thanks!!
In addition to all the EN OS workouts on it there are about 400 other workouts. If you don't have power it has virtual power which enables you to have almost real life power so you can track your fitness improvements. I recently logged my 400th workout on it since I signed up. Many of the rides over 5 hours each and up to 8 hours several times. I could never get by with out it. It is just awesome in my opinion. Hopes this helps.
If you have a regular bike and Powermeter (read: not computrainer or kickr) then TR doesn't "do" anything. But with that said, once you use it, you will likely not every want to ride indoors without it. It is a fantastic interface. The EN workouts are already in there. So you don't have to "think", just follow what's on the big screen. And seeing your past and what is upcoming is a real motivator. Definitely worth trying to see if you'll like it, but I don't know many of have tried it who didn't get hooked.
It's fantastic! It's easy to set up, I know I'm doing exactly the right workout, and the virtual power/HR on the screen (and I'm REALLY not technically inclined from a tri-perspective) is amazing. Made the trainer go from unproductive misery (for me) to a fun excellent workout - really! They have a yearly plan too, which I'll bought since I'll use it for interval sessions even when the weather improves.
I love it because even though I now have a powermeter, I would hate to have to look back and forth between my garmin and my screen showing whatever movie/tv is getting me through that ride. With trainer road, the targets and my power are displayed right there at the bottom of the screen. Might sound trivial, but it is awesome!
So does Trainer Road do anything if you are using a Spinervals or Sufferfest DVD to train by? I.e., suppose I stick my "Pain Cave" DVD in the TV and follow the prescribed workout in the prescribed zones for the prescribed times. I am seeing my power, power zone, HR, cadence, speed, total time, total distance, TSS and more on my Joule 3. The DVD has the coach taking me through the workout, showing me on screen how much time left in the workout, what gearing I should be in, and what level of effort I should be working at (in addition to the coach giving you further explanation). What exactly does Trainer Road add to that?
Both Spinervals and Sufferfest videos are incorporated into Trainer Road. If you have a Kickr or a Computrainer, then Trainer Road will "control" your trainer to the prescribe wattage of those workouts. If you do not have those trainers, the TrainerRoad will tell you what your target wattage should be utilizing vitrual power. Check out the TrainerRoad website and they have all the info you need to answer pretty much any question you have.
Tour of Sufferlandria starts January 25th - you in?
@Paul-- I love the Sufferfest videos in TR. You copy the file to your computer then drop the video into TR. Then instead of just getting generic "8" or "9" intensity level, it actually uses your own FTP and shows you your own Power goal for the given segment. It's really great!
All - thanks for the comments and it sounds like a great tool. I may give it a try for a month and see how it goes. I do have a power meter so like that it works off that. I don't have a Kickr or Computrainer however so guess mine will be virtual.
I do have a power meter so like that it works off that. I don't have a Kickr or Computrainer however so guess mine will be virtual.
Dawn - if you have a wireless power meter, like a PowerTap or Quarq, it is sending out ANT+ signals which can be received by an ANT+ USB stick you can buy (on Amazon & elsewhere), or you may already have if you have certain Garmin headunits. Plug the stick into your computer, install the driver, and then Trainer Road will receive the power signals from your bike, and display them on screen and use them for calculations. If you have a PowerTap, or have ANT+ speed/cadence snesnors, TR can also receive and display those as well.
With a Powermeter, it is not "virtual". ""Virtual Power" in TR is their "calculated" power from the known power curve of your trainer if you do not have a Powermeter. If you have a Computrainer or a Kicker, then TR takes over the interface and sets the resistance realtime so all you do is pedal.
With a Powermeter, you put an ANT+ stick in your computer and it turns your computer (or TV screen) into a giant bike computer. The TR numbers you see will essentiall be the same as what would come up on your Garmin screen. Except these numbers are also enhanced by a cool graph. Sounds simple, but the visual interface with your "bike computer" on the bigger screen with live history graphs is very effective IMHO.
@ Chris & John - I am not just interested in Trainer Road taking control of my powerbeam, I want to know if it displays the same video and voice over you hear if you are watching the DVD? Or is it just some plain computer display? Also, what happens if you have TR controlling your powerbeam and you BLOW UP...would you just end up stopping pedalling?
FYI - I can already set my PowerBeam to any watts level (in increments of 10) and force myself to ride that wattage or end up coming to a stop.
I don't have a Powerbeam or CT or Kickr, so I have no idea about the power setting for controlling resistance. I use Rollers. But at anytime, you can move the power target. There is a little toggle that starts at 100% and with a click of the mouse you can move it up or down as far as you want if you start to blow up. For the Sufferfest videos, I usually do them at like 95-97% because they are ridiculous...
You see the exact same video with the exact same sound and voice, etc... Except there there is a little Trainerroad bar at the bottom of the screen that displays your power target, actual power, HR, and Cadence. And you see a small graph of what is upcoming as far as power goes. Nice to have a real number to target instead of just some RPE goal.
You can also check out this short video. It's mostly about how to load a video in TR, but you can briefly see what the tR bar looks like along the bottom of the video.
@Al - nice, and more interested now. I currently have the quarq pm, and the garmin edge 810. To make sure I follow your thread...if I sign up to trainer road, it can communicate with the edge, which is already communicating with the pm? Or do I need to buy and ant+ USB stick for the interaction? Sorry if silly questions but I am a new be when it comes to this!! ;-)
Dawn - see John's explanation. With TR, the Quarq will be sending out radio signals (via ANT+) which are received by both the 810 and the computer (via and ANT+ USB stick). Think of the computer then as a more powerful and flexible and better looking 810. Like the difference between using a 1960's B&W TV vs a 2010 42" flat screen with all the bells and whistles. Both show the "same" picture, but you can do so much more with the newer model, and it looks better to boot.
Bottom line - yeah, if you have a power meter already, you do need and ANT+ USB stick if you want to take advantage of what TR can provide in terms of display and analytics.
@John - Thanks for the above, and I guess any ANT+ USB stick should work, correct? I see a garmin one on Amazon. I have a garmin head unit, and the quarq PM...guessing the garmin stick should work?
Pro Tip: I also bought one of these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001MT1EQM/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 because my computer is pretty far away from my bike (and now I never get data drops), and I also have a cable that hooks my computer up to my TV so I can see my workouts on my 42" bigscreen... But you don't need any of these things to start...
@ John - the video was very informative. Does that work on an IPAD or a computer only? I have a 19" TV in front of my trainer but it is RIGHT in front of my trainer. I don't have enough room in my pain cave to move far enough back to watch a big screen although that sounds really cool!
@ John - the video was very informative. Does that work on an IPAD or a computer only? I have a 19" TV in front of my trainer but it is RIGHT in front of my trainer. I don't have enough room in my pain cave to move far enough back to watch a big screen although that sounds really cool!
There may be some Rube Goldberg way to use an Ipad with TR, but I haven't found it yet. One key problem: the needed ANT USB stick isn't recognized by the iPad, even if you have the iPad to USB port converter used for cameras, etc. Other, more fundamental: you can't download the needed TR software to an iPad, and there's no app (yet).
@Paul, you could either use a laptop, or get a crappy $150 computer on eBay and use your existing TV as your monitor. I use a wireless keyboard and mouse, so the computer can really be anywhere in the room.
Hmm - I could steal my daughters laptop for pain cave time, or conversely, skip TR and use CYCLOPs video erg which I've already downloaded to the IPAD and which ST users assures me works somehow, I just haven't tried it again. I would throw down the old age card on this tech crap but Al has already made me look bad.
Thanks all, just ordered the Suunto and you are right, it gets much better reviews. While I wait for delivery, need to sign up for TR and figure out how to get started! Thread has gotten me excited to give it a go! In the meantime, run test tomorrow. ;-)
@ Paul - TR displays the video and the voice/music you hear while watching the DVD. Based on your FTP, TR also will tell you what power level you should be riding at during the videos. Its pretty awesome.
Head over to their website. They do a very good job of explaining how everything works - very easy to set up to.
Comments
@Dawn,
In addition to all the EN OS workouts on it there are about 400 other workouts. If you don't have power it has virtual power which enables you to have almost real life power so you can track your fitness improvements. I recently logged my 400th workout on it since I signed up. Many of the rides over 5 hours each and up to 8 hours several times. I could never get by with out it. It is just awesome in my opinion. Hopes this helps.
http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/91/Default.aspx?topic=Trainer+Road:+Getting+Started
http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/91/Default.aspx?topic=Trainer+Road+for+Outseason+Workouts
Where are the EN workouts on Trainer Road? I've searched for EN and Endurance Nation and nothing comes up
Thanks,
Chris
Both Spinervals and Sufferfest videos are incorporated into Trainer Road. If you have a Kickr or a Computrainer, then Trainer Road will "control" your trainer to the prescribe wattage of those workouts. If you do not have those trainers, the TrainerRoad will tell you what your target wattage should be utilizing vitrual power. Check out the TrainerRoad website and they have all the info you need to answer pretty much any question you have.
Tour of Sufferlandria starts January 25th - you in?
Appreciate the feedback!!
With a Powermeter, you put an ANT+ stick in your computer and it turns your computer (or TV screen) into a giant bike computer. The TR numbers you see will essentiall be the same as what would come up on your Garmin screen. Except these numbers are also enhanced by a cool graph. Sounds simple, but the visual interface with your "bike computer" on the bigger screen with live history graphs is very effective IMHO.
FYI - I can already set my PowerBeam to any watts level (in increments of 10) and force myself to ride that wattage or end up coming to a stop.
You see the exact same video with the exact same sound and voice, etc... Except there there is a little Trainerroad bar at the bottom of the screen that displays your power target, actual power, HR, and Cadence. And you see a small graph of what is upcoming as far as power goes. Nice to have a real number to target instead of just some RPE goal.
Dawn - see John's explanation. With TR, the Quarq will be sending out radio signals (via ANT+) which are received by both the 810 and the computer (via and ANT+ USB stick). Think of the computer then as a more powerful and flexible and better looking 810. Like the difference between using a 1960's B&W TV vs a 2010 42" flat screen with all the bells and whistles. Both show the "same" picture, but you can do so much more with the newer model, and it looks better to boot.
Bottom line - yeah, if you have a power meter already, you do need and ANT+ USB stick if you want to take advantage of what TR can provide in terms of display and analytics.
dcrainmaker actually likes the SUUNTO one better and it's cheaper on Amazon than the Garmin one. http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2012/02/much-better-usb-ant-stick-for-your.html
http://www.amazon.com/Suunto-Movestick-Mini-One-Size/dp/B004YJSD20/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1389123398&sr=8-3&keywords=garmin+usb+ant+stick
Pro Tip: I also bought one of these http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001MT1EQM/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 because my computer is pretty far away from my bike (and now I never get data drops), and I also have a cable that hooks my computer up to my TV so I can see my workouts on my 42" bigscreen... But you don't need any of these things to start...
@ Paul - TR displays the video and the voice/music you hear while watching the DVD. Based on your FTP, TR also will tell you what power level you should be riding at during the videos. Its pretty awesome.
Head over to their website. They do a very good job of explaining how everything works - very easy to set up to.
Hope that helps,
Chris