I agree that practicing skills such as riding in the rain, the wind, traffic, is very useful. However, I think those skills can also be obtained on shorter rides and avoid five hours of suffering outdoors - esp if the goal race is in a decent climate. If she were training for shoulder season races in crappy climates, then I would say be outside all the time.

All that said, it really comes down to each of our personal preferences. I live in a big city and get frustrated with traffic interrupting my workout. I love sitting on the trainer with zero distractions - but conversely, I absolutely hate the treadmill!

Thank you! This is good to know! I have done a wee bit of riding in the rain but it was summer. I am more worried about the cold and wind and rain. The posts about people rather plucking their eyes out then riding for 5 hours indoors makes me laugh. I am doing a 1.5 hour run after today. Can I ask you about the swim in Florida? Is it really choppy? I have lots of open water swimming experience as I have a cottage in Ontario but I have never swam in salt water/ocean.

The first year I did IMFL the water was dead calm with no chop, perfect conditions. The next time there was considerable chop and some pretty good swells, so it can run the gamut. You should be able to get a few practice swims in the days leading p to the race to get used to swimming in the ocean as well as sighting.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

I'd do a lot worse than just "pluck my eyes out". I can barely manage a 45 minute recovery spin on the trainer.

When you do ride in the rain inflate your tires 10psi less than usual. It will help with handling. I haven't seen that tip mentioned yet.

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Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram

I very rarely ride indoors but there's no way I'd advise starting a 5 hour ride in the rain, where the rain is expected to last the entire ride, less than a month before your first IM. Riding in the rain, especially on roads shared with cars, increases the risk of an accident too much. Just think about much you'll regret it if you get injured in an accident and you can't do IMF or it affects your performance. If you've done long rides up to this point, missing one long ride isn't going to make that much of a difference if you do a shorter indoor ride and maybe increase the length of your run if you think your legs can handle a longer run. Have fun at IMF!

P.S. - I just remembered doing a 100 mile hilly ride in a pouring rain in the final 4 weeks before doing Kona one year. I survived it. :)

On race day would you stop and take some air out if it's raining?

Good question, I hadn't thought of that. The question becomes how much air to take out? I guess I could test by inflating to normal pressure, holding the air release valve for 1 second and then rechecking tire pressure. Repeat with 2 and 3 seconds if it's that's not enough.

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Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram

50 minutes to go! Woohoo! It's actually been super fun!

Edit: Maybe I should read other replies before I reply. Way to go!

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Regards,
J. Smith

You just need a better trainer setup. Stuff like a better place for your trainer (not in a dark scary basement or next to your bed), better trainer, good AV, good fan, etc.

Riding indoors removes the vast majority of sensory inputs from cycling; you lose the road vibration, the wind, the altitude change, the auditory or olfactory inputs, and cornering your bike.

I mistakenly bought a Kickr Snap to try Zwift and I was bored out of my mind.

It's not going to be the same as outdoor riding, that's for sure. I've however found that if you're working hard enough, most of that outdoor concerns disappear as you're so absorbed in the suffering. For easier stuff, videos and podcasts work extremely well as an alternate way to combat boredom.

Don't get me wrong, I still love riding outdoors, but a good indoor setup can make riding indoors really, really good, even if it is still a pretty different experience compared to riding outdoors.

But you can lower your immunal response and ability to fight viruses when your core temperature stays down for longer periods of time. So a long cold ride in wet rain would not be my first choice to staying healthy. Not to mention the gunk you ingest from road spray.

I don't have a "cave", I have a living room with a 65" TV, surround sound/bluray/DishNetwork/chromecast for videos or music, laptop with ant+ for Zwift, Kinomap, or TR. I have a high volume industrial fan (not some POS from Walmart). It's loud as shit, but moves a ton of air---so much that I get cold using it with the treadmill if its on high. I'm sure heat control is still an issue, but the fan I have is VERY robust...short of buying two more.

Honestly, I think its a combo of:

1. Zero sensory stimulus (as mentioned above).
2. The lack of subtle bike movement, to move the "pressure points" around---I do much better on rollers where the bike can move "naturally" while I pedal.

I'm not THAT much of a TV/Movie buff...I basically watch Hockey or any Law&Order franchise re-runs. So, those don't really help with #1. Music is a little better, and that's what I normally do.

You might just need more time to get used to it. As said, if you expect it to be a simulacrum of outdoors, it's gonna suck.

Have you tried something like Sufferfest videos? Those things are totally legit! After I started doing those, I literally felt like going outdoors was a waste of time since I got so much more suffering on the trainer (which was sad for me as I do love the outdoor riding experience, but with the kid and job, I'm really crunched on time.)

When I lived in Europe, I'd ride in the rain quite often. But now that I'm in New Mexico, I never ride if it's wet outside. (I'd have to miss a lot of rides waiting for a dry day in Europe, but we don't get many rainy days here.) Mostly because of how the wet/gritty roads trash my bike.

I'd never do 5 hours on a trainer. Maybe two hours on the trainer, and then a long run outside in the rain. But I've never been too concerned about following a training plan to the letter.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

I lived and bike commuted for years in similar environment (Oregon) and there are ways to deal.

I agree that learning to ride in rain and wet roads is a skill we all must practice. So, there is a benefit to riding in the rain, because its possible you may face it in a race. Since you ride slow, its a little less risk of over committing in a turn and having the bike slide out from under you.

BUT, there are ways to deal with the rain. If its just a day, rearrange your training schedule. Swap days if possible. When it was rain for 3 days straight for me, I would adjust my schedule as needed so my long rides were on a day with the least chance of rain.

As for 4-5 hour trainer rides, yuck. But, who says you cant break them up? 2 hours in the morning, 2 hours in the evening after the kids have gone to bed. Its not back to back, but your body still has a training effect, which is what you are after.

You already know about the increased chances of getting sick, increased accident risk, visibility issues, etc with rain riding. Mix it up on the trainer and it isn't that bad.

Both are doable. I will do long training rides in horrible conditions as long as it's not dangerous (ice in the road). It's good to learn how to ride in bad weather but also which clothing choices and combinations work for you in different conditions. I've done a few events where I've been outside in bad weather for a long time and was able to be confident in my equipment choices from training in bad weather. If you don't venture too far from home on your long ride in bad weather you can always knock off early if you get soaked or cold and finish on the trainer which will help you warm up.

I've also done a couple of 5 hour turbo rides when I haven't been able to get out in the day and had to start at 9pm on a Sunday evening when the kids were asleep. Wasn't fun getting up for work the next morning! Setting up in front of the tv helps. I'd go with some of the posts here about not just doinf a 5hr turbo cpnstant effort ride. Doing a shorter ride on the trainer but with more intensity in places might serve you better. Maybe something race specific. My 5hr rides were before Alpe d'huez tri so I threw in some high resistance and therefore low cadance efforts in the middle for 30-40 minutes at a time as training for when I would inevitably run out of gears on the final mountain ascent of the race. But of a silly example but you get the idea.

I vote for indoors)
Personally, I ride 90% indoors, usually on summers one long ride a week on the road (okay, it does not improve my bike handling skills but it is good for other aspects including seeing less criminal drivers)
Between IM Chattanooga (Sept, 24) and upcoming IMFL, I have all my rides indoors, 3 of them 5+ hours rides

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