Computrainer..Which Program?

I've had my computrainer for several months but it is my second one. I had one of the early models and finally the electronics went south. The Coaching Software was included with the new one and at the time I thought it didn't seem like much but it is more useful than you may think. I thought I would use the 3D linked to the PC a lot but I find that I'm using ergometer mode much more often. I'm using a coach who has me doing specific wattage workouts and to do them it is necessary for me to increase and decrease the wattage during the workouts. Some might see this as a hassle but it keeps your mind occupied and may help to be a distraction when the efforts get intense. Anyway, you can also use the Coaching Software to build your own .erg files. I can then build my specific workouts scaled to my wattages and run them from the Coaching software. This frees me from having to manually make the wattage changes. I don't do this for all workouts but some require a lot of changes so it is nice to not have to mess with it. You can also download .erg files from Training Peaks scaled to your wattage and run them through the CS. If you want to use Intellicoach or Cycling Peaks I think you have to have the Coaching Software to interface with these. Lastly, there is something called Intellicoach Real 3D which allows you to take GPS data from a Garmin or whatever and turn it into a .3dc file that will run in the 3D software. Pretty cool. So I don't limit myself to just one software package when using the computrainer. I recommend a pdf book from onlinebikecoach.com called Watts per Kilogram which outlines how to get the most from your computrainer. It's $20 and well worth it.

I've had my computrainer for several months but it is my second one. I had one of the early models and finally the electronics went south. The Coaching Software was included with the new one and at the time I thought it didn't seem like much but it is more useful than you may think. I thought I would use the 3D linked to the PC a lot but I find that I'm using ergometer mode much more often. I'm using a coach who has me doing specific wattage workouts and to do them it is necessary for me to increase and decrease the wattage during the workouts. Some might see this as a hassle but it keeps your mind occupied and may help to be a distraction when the efforts get intense. Anyway, you can also use the Coaching Software to build your own .erg files. I can then build my specific workouts scaled to my wattages and run them from the Coaching software. This frees me from having to manually make the wattage changes. I don't do this for all workouts but some require a lot of changes so it is nice to not have to mess with it. You can also download .erg files from Training Peaks scaled to your wattage and run them through the CS. If you want to use Intellicoach or Cycling Peaks I think you have to have the Coaching Software to interface with these. Lastly, there is something called Intellicoach Real 3D which allows you to take GPS data from a Garmin or whatever and turn it into a .3dc file that will run in the 3D software. Pretty cool. So I don't limit myself to just one software package when using the computrainer. I recommend a pdf book from onlinebikecoach.com called Watts per Kilogram which outlines how to get the most from your computrainer. It's $20 and well worth it.