PM3 on Model C - what "easy" update options?

[basilfawlty1981]

Hi everyone

I have an older Concept2 with PM3, for which I have the USB cable from 10 years back.

I am still not using my Erg to the max of its capabilities (as in regular weekly rowing) but the past 3 weeks now have found myself actually getting back to it on the back of a lent resolution, and still at it very much to my surprise.

My main issue is pacing myself to do bit by bit longer pieces, and for that it would be great to have a "5 or 10 stroke average". For a 5k I usually row for 2-3km, at a fixed pace and then see how I feel to see if I upgrade one or two pips or take it easier, with the focus on finishing (I don;t do that well, and find I often blow up around the 3.8-4.3km mark).

Now setting up my computer with the USB stuff etc. is all a bit cumbersome, and I am on the other hand not very keen on fiddling with the machine to fully buy and mount the new PM5.

Has anybody gotten any ideas how to use the old dongle or so and connect it or other options, or is the PM5 now the only feasible mode of operation ?

Or is there a setting on PM3 I am missing for calculating a 10 stroke average ?
Christian

[MPx]

I may be misunderstanding Christian, but I don't think you can do what you want with either PM3 or 5. The PM will display your choice of Watts/Pace - and the large central number is the reading for your last stroke. You can set the display to also show the average for the current rep or the whole piece if it not an interval. The PM doesn't record the data on a stroke by stroke basis so you can't get an average of the last 10 strokes.

One alternative is to use Ergdata on a phone or tablet to both set and record your workouts. This links to the PM and can be set to automatically update your online log. When Ergdata updates your onlne log , it does save the individual stroke data. It would therefore be possible to download the data to spreadsheet or similar and do all kinds of averaging or other transformations on the numbers - but that's all after the event so not really what I think you're asking.

The current version of Ergdata works with a PM5. The old version of Ergdata (which can still be found in a few places online) will work with a PM3 connected to the Ergdata device with a cable. The old version is much less feature rich and the required cabling difficult and expensive to find online - but is an option.

But given that none of the above gives you what you want I think best to look for another solution. On the 5k example you give, it seems likely that you're rowing as hard as you can for the distance. Most of us do most of our training at a slower pace and much less often try as hard as we can. When we do try hard, it will probably be at the 3.8-4.3 mark that we'll all have a wobble and wonder if we can finish. To get your best time you have to learn to push through that...but to get the training effect on the majority of your outings you can do the whole thing at a slower pace and always finish.

I doubt any 10 stroke average info would really help avoiding the wobble if you're going that hard....
HTH

[gvcormac]

I know this isn't quite what you asked for but ...

Both the PM3 and PM5 have a display mode in which you can see instantaneous pace (large at the top), average pace since start (left before the break), and split pace (below the break, along with distance and projected distance).

This isn't quite what you asked for but I find it pretty good. I can hold the split pace pretty constant (within +/0.5 secs/500m) by adjusting the instantaneous pace by small amounts (perhaps 2 secs/500m).

You can do the same thing with watts, but unfortunately "average watts" doesn't give you tenths, so it is quite a bit coarser than pace.

[gvcormac]

Also, you might check out RowPro. I still use it occasionally, but it no longer works on my PM5. It used to, but after a firmware update a few months ago, it gets some sort of error.

[tijmenvangulik]

Ergometer space has a lot of tools for keeping pace, Graphs of your pace during the workout, Notification widget where you can set warnings for parts of your race and a metronome. It will work when you connect your PM3 to a pc ,phone ipad.

https://ergometer-space.org/

If you do not want to "blow up", you could also use a heart rate belt and row on a fixed heart rate. This works best for me.
Personally I have upgraded my PM3 to a PM5 and it was well worth the money, but no real extra tools for the pace.

Tijmen

[gvcormac]

Ergometer space has a lot of tools for keeping pace, Graphs of your pace during the workout, Notification widget where you can set warnings for parts of your race and a metronome. It will work when you connect your PM3 to a pc ,phone ipad.

https://ergometer-space.org/

If you do not want to "blow up", you could also use a heart rate belt and row on a fixed heart rate. This works best for me.
Personally I have upgraded my PM3 to a PM5 and it was well worth the money, but no real extra tools for the pace.

Tijmen

This looks very cool. Thanks for the lead!