New Feature: The Biathlon Game

Biathlon combines two sports: typically Nordic skiing and target shooting. Races consist of either three or five laps, with either two or four shooting stages between the laps of skiing. A penalty is assessed for each missed shot. Most often, this is a penalty lap of 150 extra meters of skiing.

On the Concept2 Indoor Rower and SkiErg, you can use the Biathlon Game to row/ski intervals alternating with target shooting or some other activity. You can choose from a range of penalty distances, or no penalty at all.

There are two modes of play: With Penalty and Without.

  • With Penalty: After each interval, you will be prompted to enter the number of penalties incurred from zero to five. The total penalty distance to be completed will be the penalty distance multiplied by the number of penalties incurred. The competitor will have to complete these meters before proceeding to the next interval/lap.
  • Without Penalty: When you set up your workout, choose "None" for penalty. You will simply have an undefined rest time of up to 10 minutes between your intervals. When you are ready to start the next interval, press Continue and then start to row/ski.

The computer keeps track of your "range" time and your total elapsed time. Penalty laps show up on the logged workout detail as a separate interval with zero rest. You can Re-Row or Re-Ski the game workout, but penalty intervals and range time will be exactly like when you completed the workout originally.

Note: These instructions apply to both PM3s and PM4s.

Who Can Get this Upgrade

This upgrade is available for the following monitors:

  • PM3 monitors with serial numbers above 300200000 (firmware versions above 300)
  • PM4 Monitors with serial numbers above 310100000 (firmware versions above 300)

PM4 Monitors with lower serial numbers may be supported soon.

How to Get the Upgrade

This upgrade is available through our current Beta Firmware release. To get the upgrade, follow the instructions for installing beta firmware under Updating Your Firmware for the monitor you have:

How to Use

  1. From the PM Main Menu, choose Games > Biathlon.

  2. On the Biathlon + Setup screen, choose how many intervals you want (you can select between two and 15), how long the intervals should be, and if you want a penalty. The Penalty options are None, 50m, 100m, 150m, 200m, and 250m.



    When it is set up to your satisfaction, press the checkmark to get started.
  3. Start rowing/skiing. Data for your first interval is displayed.

  4. When you come to the end of the lap, "rest" or "range" time begins, and you will be prompted to "Stop Skiing" or "Stop Rowing."

  5. When you stop rowing/skiing, the "Penalty Screen" will be displayed, if you are playing the game with penalties. (If you are playing the game without penalties, you will be prompted to press Continue.) After completing your range time, press the button that corresponds to the number of penalties you incurred. For example, if you are shooting, you would choose the number of shots that you missed.

  6. The penalty lap is then calculated and displayed on the screen. For this example, our penalty lap is 150 meters, because we selected a penalty lap distance of 150 meters during game setup and had one penalty during our range time (one penalty times 150m/penalty = 150m penalty lap). Complete the penalty lap.



    When you are finished, your next true interval (lap) begins. When you complete all the intervals, you can review your results.

Reviewing Results

Notes:

  • "Total time" in the upper right of the screen shows total elapsed time (work plus penalty and range times).
  • On the summary line, time is the sum of the work and penalty amounts only.
  • The 2nd interval of 150 meters is a penalty interval. This can be identified by the r:00 0 line below it.
  • The r:50 227 indicates that someone completed 227 meters during the range time, because they didn't see the "Stop Rowing" or "Stop Skiing" sign.
  • The last interval shows :02.0 seconds with zero meters. This is to accommodate a legacy software design aspect where rest times are stored only in five second increments and not tenths of seconds. To ensure the Total Time value for the piece is accurate, the PM adds a final interval to the piece to make up for any unaccounted rest time. For example, if your workout has 17.0 seconds of rest, the PM can only record 15 seconds, because of the five second increment limitation. To account for the missing two seconds, the PM adds a 2.0 second 0 meter work interval at the end of the piece.