Results tagged “indoor training”

I was asked recently how I create computrainer workouts to use with my indoor trainer. So I thought a write-up might be useful to others.

The videos I use are from The Sufferfest. Much of my workouts are based off older videos from The Sufferfest, but this method applies to the new videos as well as probably working with any video you can create timings for and apply to a computrainer.

First off my trainer is the Cycleops PowerBeam Pro, it has a built in PowerTap that also adjusts an electromagnetic resistance thingy. The PowerBeam works with the PowerAgent software to download and analyze workouts as well being able to create workouts based on several different criteria.

To start I take the Sufferfest video and import it into iMovie on my Mac. Then at each transition between workout segments I create a split in the video. Once I have all the video split, I can click on each split to get the length of time for each segment. I try to make the spits whole seconds, iMovie allows splits smaller than 1 second but that just gets painful to calculate and fill the eventual gaps.

I take the timings to these splits and enter them into a workout in the PowerAgent software. Then I apply the appropriate intensity to each segment. Right now I have things setup to work in power zones. The power zones are created based off a field test I did for sustained power and fall into five categories of Recovery, Endurance, Threshold, Race pace, and Max. So for me, race pace is 4Watts/Kilo (248Watts for 20 minutes divided by 62 Kilos). Max is around 281Watts (this is like a five minutes sustained average), although I tend to push the max to around 350-400Watts depending on how strong I am feeling. I align these PowerBeam categories with the intensities in the Sufferfest video, so a 10/10 is Max, 9/10 is race pace, 8/10 is Threshold, 5-7/10 is Endurance, and everything below 5/10 is recovery. There is no exact science that I apply for this, just whatever seems right and what I can actually do. If I cannot complete the 60 minute workout then I created something too hard and I go back and tone things down a bit.

The next iteration I plan on doing is rather than using Power Zones based off my field test will be to create Power Zones based off some setting higher than my field test. So I'll probably start out with Power Zones 2-5% higher (harder) than what I have tested at. I am not really looking forward to this, so I keep putting it off. I should just man up and do it though.

This first screen shot is an image of the workout in the PowerAgent software.

The second screen shot is what the workout looked like when I did it.

Hope this helps.

The Kurt Kinetic Road Master is a marvel of indoor agony when used right. I had picked up mine up in early December as a Christmas gift to myself. Unfortunately a couple of unusual bouts of the flu kept me off it until Christmas. Between being sick, the holidays, and it being cold outside I had put on a few pounds and lost a lot of endurance.

Since Christmas I have been on the trainer every day except those few that seemed warm and calm enough to venture outdoors for a real ride. Anyone who has done indoor training knows that sitting on a trainer is pretty boring and at least for me not very motivational. So to keep myself motivated and entertained I discovered The Sufferfest, a free podcast. Since starting the daily rituals of sweating, hyper ventilating, and near vomiting at times, and pushing my heart rate up to 200 and sustaining that for several minutes at a time. I have slimmed down to below my slimmest weight over the summer and based on the few outdoor rides I have been able to get in, am pretty close to my peak abilities from the summer. Pretty cool!

The specs for the Kurt Kinetic are on their web site. A few items to note though is that is a fluid/liquid trainer that is calibrated to simulate riding on the road. The harder you pedal the harder the resistance. Also, since it is fluid is pretty quiet, but still gets scorching hot! The only regret I have is not getting the Pro version which comes with interchangeable flywheels, a 6lb and a 12lb.

Since I am hoping for a spot in this years Leadville 100, the Kurt training is helping me off to a great start