What do you do on the trainer (other than pedal)

"bioguy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This has probably been done before, but I couldn't find it. I'm curious to know what you all do on
the trainer. I find it incredibly boring, and need something to make it easier to do mentally.

Watch hockey on TV. Otherwise, yeah, dreadfully boring.

Cheers,

Scott..

"bioguy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This has probably been done before, but I couldn't find it. I'm curious to know what you all do on
the trainer. I find it incredibly boring, and need something to make it easier to do mentally.

First of all, I don't ride the trainer in the off season. I try to do a little running to maintain
cardio fitness. As the riding season approaches, like sometime in February, I start to spend some
time on the trainer. That way, I keep the total number of sessions to a minimum and each session has
the specific purpose of getting me ready to ride outdoors. A workout every other day works pretty
well for me. (Just to make a liar out of myself, there's so much snow outside today that I can't run
so I just might get on the trainer for a few minutes anyway)

Usually, I start out with 20 minute sessions, then 30, then 45, but no more than that. I try to
shoot for quality (intensity) rather than quantity. I break each session down to segments. It varies
each time and I change it as I go, but for example, the warm-up segment might be where I make it a
point to reach a heart-rate of 120, but no more than 130. This might take 5-10 minutes. The next 10
minutes might be where I try to keep it between 140-150. I'll also throw in an occasional "interval"
of 1-2 minutes of maximum effort just to break it up even more. And so on.

I'm not rigorous about staying in "zones" and pretty much go by feel. I'm sure that with a more
scientific approach, I could maximize the results, but I'm not interested in that last 10% of
improvement. The first 90% will be just fine. For me, the hard part is just getting started. Once
begun, I tend to be self-motivated and don't have to worry about pushing hard enough.

Not to imply that the trainer isn't boring because it most definitely is, but breaking it up into
segments does help pass the time a little.

Ride on and on and on and on..., Don

"bioguy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This has probably been done before, but I couldn't find it. I'm curious to know what you all do on
the trainer. I find it incredibly boring, and need something to make it easier to do mentally.

I don't use it much, but when I do I usually just watch a movie and ride at a fairly mellow pace.
When I want to hammer, I make a songlist (mp3) to set the pace.

Get the Sally Edwards that describes 50 workouts you can do on your trainer. Also a nice heart rate monitor helps to not only relieve the boredom but to improve your training. I usually do intervals while I watch the hrm for cadence, stopwatch and heartrate. When I'm done I download the workout to my computer and take a look at the graphs, it's actually fun to get a visual representation of the work I just did and also to be able to visually compare it to previous workouts to see how I'm doing.

Training on an indoor trainer is still "work" but it can be more fun when you have goals and know what you're doing.

By the way I use a Cycleops Fluid2 and a Polar s720i, both purchased new on eBay. It does take some patience to wade through the manual for the hrm though.

Mel

Try a video. I know they're kinda of expensive but instead of thinking about just pedaling you're actually trying to do what the guy on the video tells you to do. It's very challenging. After about 5 times when that gets boring though just try to work on your self-motivation. Then if that don't work, start to invest in some winter gear and get outside because whether the air is cold or not, just being out there does wonders.

I usually do the same workout on my trainer that lasts about 1.5 hours. That is just long enough to
watch a rented movie.

"bioguy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This has probably been done before, but I couldn't find it. I'm curious to know what you all do on
the trainer. I find it incredibly boring, and need something to make it easier to do mentally.

--

bioguy said:

This has probably been done before, but I couldn't find it. I'm curious to know what you all do on
the trainer. I find it incredibly boring, and need something to make it easier to do mentally.

One winter TNT (IIRC) was running "Babylon 5" every afternoon. I got to watch the entire series
while getting in one hour sessions.

It looks like getting into the mid-40s here in Aurora, Illinois this afternoon, so yet at least one
more day of real riding this year. Guess I can delay deciding when and how to start using the
trainer this winter. :-)

jeverett3<AT>earthlink<DOT>net home.earthlink.net~jeverett3Open ↗

Rivermist <[email hidden]> wrote:
: I usually do the same workout on my trainer that lasts about 1.5 hours. That is just long enough
: to watch a rented movie.

1.5 hours on a trainer! The mind boggles. 40-50 mins is as much as I can stand.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune clune.orgclune.orgOpen ↗ "Technolibertarians make a philosophy out of a personality defect"
- Paulina Borsook

bioguy said:

This has probably been done before, but I couldn't find it. I'm curious to know what you all do on
the trainer. I find it incredibly boring, and need something to make it easier to do mentally.

When I did do a lot of training indoors, I used to watch a lot of Anime. You can find freely
downloadable fansubs of series that haven't been licensed in the US. [1] When people would ask me
how I lost so much weight, I would tell them I was on the Anime diet. 2 hours of Anime a day. 🙂

[1] The companies that produce the Anime in question have an understanding with the Fan-subbers that
the fansub episodes will stop being circulated once there are commercially available
translations. It seems to work out fairly well for everyone involved.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g The master programmer moves from program
to program without fear. No change in management can harm him. He will not be fired, even if the
project is canceled. Why is this? He is filled with the Tao. -- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of
Programming"

www.spinervals.com

members.aol.comfoxcondorsrvtnsOpen ↗ (Colorado rental condo)

members.aol.comdnvrfoxOpen ↗ (Family Web Page)

S. Anderson said:

"bioguy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This has probably been done before, but I couldn't find it. I'm curious to know what you all do
on the trainer. I find it incredibly boring, and need something to make it easier to do mentally.

Watch hockey on TV. Otherwise, yeah, dreadfully boring.

How does watching hockey on TV change that?

Quoted message said:

Cheers,

Scott..

--
Rick Onanian

"Rick Onanian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

S. Anderson said:

"bioguy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This has probably been done before, but I couldn't find it. I'm curious to know what you all do
on the trainer. I find it incredibly boring,

and

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

need something to make it easier to do mentally.

Watch hockey on TV. Otherwise, yeah, dreadfully boring.

How does watching hockey on TV change that?

You mean he didn't mean that watching hockey was boring unless on the trainer.

Not as much at all....I really need to get motivated to ride on the trainer and I wish I had a
mountain bike so I could ride outside. Rod Raisanen Chillicothe, Oh

To reply remove garbage

"bioguy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This has probably been done before, but I couldn't find it. I'm curious to know what you all do on
the trainer. I find it incredibly boring, and need something to make it easier to do mentally.

--

"Rod Raisanen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Not as much at all....I really need to get motivated to ride on the trainer and I wish I had a
mountain bike so I could ride outside. Rod Raisanen Chillicothe, Oh

All you need is the right clothes and tires.

"Matthew" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

How does watching hockey on TV change that?

You mean he didn't mean that watching hockey was boring unless on the trainer.

How about, "Watch <insert sport of your choice that interests you greatly and alleviates
boredom here>", does that make it easier for you to stomach?? Bowling?? Lawn darts?? Whatever
turns your crank.

Cheers!

Scott..

S. Anderson said:

Bowling?? Lawn darts?? Whatever turns your crank.

My legs turn my crank.

Quoted message said:

Cheers!

Scott..

--
Rick "Yeah you crank my tractor, you flick my Bic" Onanian

users.rcn.comicebikeOpen ↗
bikewinter.orgbikewinter.orgOpen ↗

Peter Cole said:

"Rod Raisanen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Not as much at all....I really need to get motivated to ride on the trainer and I wish I had a
mountain bike so I could ride outside. Rod Raisanen Chillicothe, Oh

All you need is the right clothes and tires.

"Rivermist" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I usually do the same workout on my trainer that lasts about 1.5 hours. That is just long enough
to watch a rented movie.

"bioguy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This has probably been done before, but I couldn't find it. I'm curious to know what you all do
on the trainer. I find it incredibly boring, and need something to make it easier to do
mentally.

--

I bought a Tacx I-magic virtual trainer. Plenty of virtual courses to train on and race other people
that have I-magic trainers. Its a blast to train on. It shows wattage, heart rate, cadence, miles,
%grade, lots of tables, graphs , overlays of other peoples rides or your own. We have a challenge
going on right now at bicycling .com forums. The velodrome rocks too. The 1 kilo run is great for
long sprint training.