Training & Nutrition - How to make the trainner less boring

Well basicly I am unable to ride right now due to...well family matters. So I'm trying to figure out how to make the time spent on the trainner I have less boring. I've heard watching tv helps, but any other tips and tricks?

do you have a heart rate monitor?

do you have a heart rate monitor?


Not yet, I hope to get one for christmas

Get a TV and DVD player, insert a Spinervals DVD and you'll get a great work out. I do that 3X a week and just spin 3 days while a TV show is on.

my trainer no longer bores me at all... I don't dread seeing it, I walk quietly on by as i pass it in the corner of the garage... Instead I sneak out for laps around the development.. any time of day or night.. 1 mi loop... over and over and over again... and i dont even mind..ill end up with 1500miles this year, all the same mile, mostly at 10mi a pop...nowhere near the 5k miles per year i was riding at one time.. but enough to have me back in the game until the kids get older... no decisions on which way to turn.. no tools to carry... worst case I have a 1/2mi walk.... will do it in the middle of the night, in middle of winter, in the middle of a pouring rain(a lot lately)..and love it... just not the same being indoors on any kind of hampster wheel.. my treadmill will get some use as a distraction in the winter.. but mostly by my wife 8-)
for a distraction, set it up in front of the tv and watch a movie.. amazing how busying the mind makes it a lot easier.

I feel ya, Elvish Legion. I was contemplating a trainer session tonight.

One thing I've done is watch TV and I'll do commercial intervals: do a nice aerobic spin during your favorite show and keep it in the small ring (middle if you've got a triple); when the commercial comes on, put it in the big ring and keep the same cadence and do that for 30 secs or the length of a standard commercial, then pop into a smaller cog for the next one, and a smaller one for the next. The standard break is four 30-sec commercials. Believe me, on the 4th commercial you will be begging for the show to come back on.

Ditto TV but to play 12-hr TDFs (Giros, Tour Espania, etc.). Phil and Paul are fun to listen to. I'm just finishing the '02 TDF. I think Lance is gonna win. He's about 5'10'' ahead of Botero going into the last stage. :)

If you don't use one, it never gets boring. We ain't a skeered of no stinkin weather! ;)

I don't know why some people think I'm using it to avoid weather, it has nothing to do that. My grandmother just had her hip and part of her pelvic bone replaced and I'm the only one here to take care of her, so I have to stay and take care of her. So I can't go out and ride.

I don't know why some people think I'm using it to avoid weather, it has nothing to do that. My grandmother just had her hip and part of her pelvic bone replaced and I'm the only one here to take care of her, so I have to stay and take care of her. So I can't go out and ride.

Good for you EL!

Just get some DVD's, set up a pedestal fan, and do it.
Maybe LOTR trilogy?

I don't know why some people think I'm using it to avoid weather, it has nothing to do that. My grandmother just had her hip and part of her pelvic bone replaced and I'm the only one here to take care of her, so I have to stay and take care of her. So I can't go out and ride.

Sorry dude, that really wasn't directed at you personally. I know just what you need then - big screen HDTV and 3D vids of cockpit cam videos from Top-Gun dogfights, combined with good ole rock-n-roll. ;)

You could always sit down and put together a full training ride schedule, then plan a training ride for each day. Riding without purpose would be pretty unfulfilling, but if you can take the time to write up what your training ride will be, then focus on the task at hand, I think you'll find that the time on the trainer will fly pretty quickly.

Koffee

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1884737935/qid=1130379084/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-9913991-1966403?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

I recently got this book. It has a lot of good info concerning heart rate monitor workouts and 50 unique trainer workouts at varying intensities focusing on different skills and energy systems. I actually look forward to them and have set a goal to finish all 50 by spring. The spinervals are great but this offers a bit more variety for less money.

Very noble thing you are doing there for your grandmother and I am deeply moved by it.

EDIT: I believe it was koffee who turned me on to these books and I have a couple of them now. great advice.

One day someone will make a TDF simulator game with the bike as controller instead of some silly joystick.

One day someone will make a TDF simulator game with the bike as controller instead of some silly joystick.

They already have...
http://www.cateye.com/en/products/viewProduct.php?modelId=38&catId=8&subCatId=0

They already have...
http://www.cateye.com/en/products/viewProduct.php?modelId=38&catId=8&subCatId=0

COOL! Wonder if there are any bicycle racing games out there.

I don't know why some people think I'm using it to avoid weather, it has nothing to do that. My grandmother just had her hip and part of her pelvic bone replaced and I'm the only one here to take care of her, so I have to stay and take care of her. So I can't go out and ride.

I assume you mean that during the day you have to stay, but that some other people do show up at times. like in the evening. If so, then perhaps you just need some lights so you can ride after dark? Or maybe get up early in the morning and get a ride in before the others leave?

It dropped below 70-F this last weekend here. I think I'm going to be stuck indoors for a while! :(

Rollers for hours on end can get boring, so I'll pop in a tape of some TDF coverage and pretend I'm in the pack with them. When they sprint, I sprint. When they climb, I'll shift up and climb. :)

It dropped below 70-F this last weekend here. I think I'm going to be stuck indoors for a while! :(

You've got to be kidding!

If you can spend the bucks, check out something like this. (http://shop.pesoftware.com/ViewProduct.asp?misc=46&prod=184)

I know someone who has a trainer set up with this software and he trained (for Mount Washington race) with guys all over the world. Sounds better than hearing "Coach Troy" yell at ya...

It dropped below 70-F this last weekend here. I think I'm going to be stuck indoors for a while! :(

It got below 70F and you have to stay in? Are your knee warmers broken? They make jerseys with long sleeves now. And you can put a wind vest over that. Below 70?

It dropped below 70-F this last weekend here. I think I'm going to be stuck indoors for a while! :(

Rollers for hours on end can get boring, so I'll pop in a tape of some TDF coverage and pretend I'm in the pack with them. When they sprint, I sprint. When they climb, I'll shift up and climb. :)

Same here, only we stay inside and turn on the A/C when it climbs above 70. ;)

I assume you mean that during the day you have to stay, but that some other people do show up at times. like in the evening. If so, then perhaps you just need some lights so you can ride after dark? Or maybe get up early in the morning and get a ride in before the others leave?


Nope its jsut me and grandma that live here, sometimes my mom comes over, but I pretty much am on my own taking care of her, and if she needs something in the early morning or middle of the night and I'm out righting its bad

One thing I'm in the process of doing this year is converting all my class notes to PowerPoint. That gives me a chance to review them as I'm converting them, and then when I have to study for finals in December, I will set my trainer up in front of my computer and, set the slide show up, and study while riding.

You've got to be kidding!
It got below 70F and you have to stay in? Are your knee warmers broken? They make jerseys with long sleeves now. And you can put a wind vest over that. Below 70?Heh, heh... yah, I was kidding ;)! People get pretty freaked out around here though when the temps drop too much, scares the tourists away. They start wrapping their palm trees with heated blankets and pull their boats into dry-dock. The coldest it ever gets is maybe 60-F in the winter. There's only been a couple years where it dropped into the 50-F range. Way back in 1963 and a couple years ago:

http://www.gururacing.com/artwork/SnowInSBsmall.jpg

I must've been a polar-bear in a past life or somethin'. People bundle up with fur-coats and thermals in the winter. I never ever have to wear anything but T-shirt & shorts w/sandals all year. I've even gone skiing naked as well. :)

Heh, heh... yah, I was kidding ;)! The coldest it ever gets is maybe 60-F in the winter. There's only been a couple years where it dropped into the 50-F range. Way back in 1963 and a couple years ago

*Bangs head on desk

Where the heck is global warming? I want my global warming. "Scientists" with their "climate models" promised me warmer winters. I bought land in Idaho hoping that at some point soon it would become beach front property. Where is my global warming?!

Just kidding. I love the environment. Winter is wonderful. The polar ice caps are great. Icebergs are our friends. Unless you were on the Titanic. Then not.

Heh, heh... yah, I was kidding ;)! People get pretty freaked out around here though when the temps drop too much, scares the tourists away. They start wrapping their palm trees with heated blankets and pull their boats into dry-dock. The coldest it ever gets is maybe 60-F in the winter. There's only been a couple years where it dropped into the 50-F range. Way back in 1963 and a couple years ago:

http://www.gururacing.com/artwork/SnowInSBsmall.jpg

I must've been a polar-bear in a past life or somethin'. People bundle up with fur-coats and thermals in the winter. I never ever have to wear anything but T-shirt & shorts w/sandals all year. I've even gone skiing naked as well. :)

My mother-in-law lived in Irvine and when we visit for Xmas I'd go for a run or ride. It would be 65F but you'd see folks in full tights and sweats with ski hats. (Probably transplanted Minnesotans too.)

*Bangs head on desk

Where the heck is global warming? I want my global warming. "Scientists" with their "climate models" promised me warmer winters. I bought land in Idaho hoping that at some point soon it would become beach front property. Where is my global warming?!

Just kidding. I love the environment. Winter is wonderful. The polar ice caps are great. Icebergs are our friends. Unless you were on the Titanic. Then not.Heh, heh... I think it was that year it snowed in S.B. that there was a crunchy-granola tree-hugger protest up in.... Chicago I think. There was some scientific or industrial summit of some sort and the protestors were gonna be out in force to bring attention to "global warming". Well... the day before the protest, they had to cancel it due to the heavy-snowfall. They said it was going to be "too cold" for people to be outdoors... heh, heh.. so much for global warming, eh?

Heh, heh... I think it was that year it snowed in S.B. that there was a crunchy-granola tree-hugger protest up in.... Chicago I think. There was some scientific or industrial summit of some sort and the protestors were gonna be out in force to bring attention to "global warming". Well... the day before the protest, they had to cancel it due to the heavy-snowfall. They said it was going to be "too cold" for people to be outdoors... heh, heh.. so much for global warming, eh?

Dude, you are a master of logic.

Who watched that Grey's Anatomy show last Sunday where the guy used porn flicks for pain management?

How does that work? Distraction?

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