I live in the same region and have done late spring IM several times. I just gutted out some long zwift sessions (4-6 hrs). It helps to find some group rides to join. Even riding outside in April can be unpleasant but I would gear up and at least get some real world rides in. The one thing with indoor training is to not cheat on position. It’s really easy to sit up and pedal but that doesn’t help your neck and back be ready for long aero riding. Just keep yourself honest. The other thing to practice IRL is fueling in the go since the trainer makes that really easy.

From what I see on zwift, everybody is busting out 27mph rides at 200w breathing easy - should not be too hard to get that century in if it’s only a 3 and change ride.

I have only been on Zwift for less than a year. I have done some group rides and it does pass the time. Most are only 1 hour. Did you find some that were longer than that or did you have to do multiple 1 hour group rides?

Surprisingly, since I got my TT bike and had it professional fitted, I am actually more comfortable in aero than sitting up, so I am happy there. Never thought about fueling, good tip!

I am doing IM Texas in April too and am in the same boat. I did get out last Saturday for a 3 hour ride and it was so nice to get off the trainer for a change but now that it is back to freezing it will be another long ride on the trainer again. Hoping that its warm enough by March to get back outside.

Also really hoping it is wetsuit legal but that is a different conversation lol

I mix it up on the long rides. Some time by myself, some with a group for an hour or two, then swap groups. I will also set up zwift “meetups” with friends around the country for an hour or two as well. If you want to avoid the hassle of finding different groups you can also ride with a robo pace partner, they generally have large-ish groups but they just do lap after lap of the same route. I don’t train distances on zwift but time. I know about how long the bike leg will take me so that’s the time I go for on the trainer, I don’t buy into the “trainer is more efficient so you can train shorter” idea, since my butt, neck, and back all need to be ready to ride the full time.

I live in Chicago and trained for IMTX for 3 straight years before doing it in 2022. (It was cancelled in 2020 and 2021). I found that training indoors prepared me quite well. I think my longest indoor ride was 5 hours, which I did maybe once; there were a lot in 4-4.5 hour range.

One big advantage is the ability to really dial in your nutrition plan. I weighed myself pre- and post-long ride and experimented with different products until I found the mix that worked for me.

At some point you do have to get outside, if for no other reason than to train your neck and shoulders. I held aero position while indoors, but it still isn’t the same. In March and April I did outdoor rides of 100 (twice), 80, and 60 miles. Those were my only outdoor rides before the race. The warmest starting temperature was 32 degrees, which was more than 50 degrees below race day. That speaks to the need to do some heat acclimation in the final few weeks before the race.

True.
I am seriously considering seeing if I could afford to work remotely for 2-3 weeks in Feb/March in a warm climate where I could do a couple long and many short rides outside. Plus, attempt to get in some open water swims.

Yeah honestly the serious advice is to go by time. 4-6 hours rides -- not 3 & change on the flattest route available with a pace group. I think you'll adjust to the time in the saddle OP. No other real option other than to log the hours on the trainer.

agree with others that you kind of just have to gut it out on the trainer. i did a 100 miler on the trainer in prep for IMFL in 2021. it was nuts then and it seems nuts now that i even did it...but it worked and gave me confidence both physically and mentally going into the race. try to embrace it and do whatever you gotta do to stay occupied - cue up a movie/new tv show, cue up time with a group or two on zwift, etc etc. and yes, gotta fuel as if you were outside and have stuff ready.

you'll get tons of messages and ride ons as your mileage goes over 70...as you ride by people can see how far you've gone and that helped me get thru to the end, for sure. the other good thing about the trainer is you can schedule it whenever you want - no need to wake up at certain time to align with temperatures/daylight/clear weather/etc.

you got this.

New Englander here who has trained for several early season IM races including South Africa and NZ so we are talking being ready to race in March. You just need to get very used to being on the trainer. I haven't done an early race like that in a while so I didn't use Zwift or anything, just sat there and pedaled for 6 and even a couple of times 7 hours and watched TV and movies. I think the idea of it is worse than actually doing it. Not that it's fun, but I found it best to just mostly turn off my brain and not think about how I'd rather not be doing that. Once you get used to it, it's not really that bad. Also in some ways I find training in winter easier than when the weather is good. There aren't any questions about what the weather will be like for your rides, you just know you will be inside. Generally less is happening in real life that time of year too so spending 6 hours on a Saturday morning in February on my bike usually doesn't take away from anything like one in May might. It's kind of nice to have something productive to do and logistically a little easier because you can ride before sunrise, have as much fuel on hand as you need, never flat, and always have easy access to a bathroom.

I am someone who does try and ride outside some even in winter when it's cold, but even if you never get outside you should still be fine. When I trained for South Africa our winter was so brutal with record snow and cold, I hadn't ridden outside in almost 6 months until I got there like 4 days before the race. Had as good a ride as I ever do on an incredibly hilly course. You can for sure be totally ready to go. Just try not to think about how much you hate the trainer :)

you can do well maxing out at 4 hours on the trainer. total volume is much more important than single session

What's your trainer set-up? You can get good mileage from a decent rocker plate - I have the eFlex from Inside Ride for the Kickr and can't recommend it enough. The key is that this one moves in 3 directions so it replicates your bike more (back/forth, left/right, saddle twist as you move the front fork)

I'm in Canada (Ottawa) so I have similar weather as you do. Once I bought it I went from barely tolerating 2hr rides to instantly being able to do 5+ hr rides. Its not perfect - you still get bored and you lose the small breaks you get outdoors so you fatigue quicker - but it took away the backside and underside issues.

Last year, I trained my long rides interchangeably indoors or outdoors depending on the weather, and I'm planning on covering most of my long rides indoors for IMAZ this year as October gets chilly around here.

Fellow New Englander (closer to Canadian border) so very cold winters. And I spend a lot of time on the trainer. I do 4-5 hr trainer rides for IMs in the summer since I haven't done an early spring one (did early spring 70.3s successfully with all indoor trainer rides). I sometimes ride 4-5 hrs indoors and then get out on my gravel bike on the dirt roads for another hour or two for the biggest training weeks.

My question to you is this: During those 6-7 hr trainer rides, do you follow a plan for each ride? A specific workout for those 6 or 7 hours while watching movies? Before Zwift I would ride the Erg mode on the Computrainer and my coach gave me workouts based on watts. And I would watch movies while changing the watts based on the workout. Now I listen to music, follow my coach's training plan for that ride (taped to my laptop) and ride on Zwift (not with a group). I don't think my 53 yr old post-menopausal body could do 6 or 7 hrs on the trainer. Maybe it's more of a mental thing. But I tell my current coach 5 hrs indoors is my absolute max and then I go outside to ride. But I can't do that in winter unless I ride my fatbike which is not conducive to training for a spring IM especially one that will be in a warm climate.

Great post btw. And always love tips on making those long trainer rides better.

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

One of the things I've found that can be a bit sore is the neck and shoulders when you go from almost exclusively trainer riding for a spring race. I've actually worn my aero helmet at times for extra weight just to get my body accustomed to that for race day.

In terms of intervals, I think it helps the time go a lot faster. For IM's, lots of 40-60 min steady efforts at race pace, then some in the 70.3 range in the back third of the ride. Maybe 3x20 at 80% or so in the last 90 minutes of a long trainer ride. I also try to have my avg. power on those 4-5 hour rides be higher than my goal on race day - it makes things quite a bit easier.

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I use TrainerRoad and so I follow a plan. I think it would be very hard to just spin without any kind of guidance or goal. I just put it on ERG mode and watch Netflix. I sure do burn through a lot of TV series.

I wonder if there is any need to go as high as 6-7 hours. I guess it depends on how long you think the bike will take you during the race. My sense is that five hours is plenty, assuming you sustain a high total weekly volume over many weeks.

I think for a flatter IM or one without significant elevation gain, 5 hrs would be enough (for me), I think good quality 5 hr trainer rides would be great for IMTX. Courses like IMLP or IM Wales might require over 5 trainer rides, but it really depends on the individual. I've done IMLP and back then rode outside mostly in the summer and did do 6 and maybe 6.5 hrs on the bike. I think I could get away with 5 hr trainer rides now. But I also might do a couple 5-6 hr hilly gravel rides outside (not safe where I live to ride outside anymore on paved roads on my tri bike. I just don't want to be another story/statistic about being hit by a car).

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

5 hours isn't actually much worse than 3 hours in my experience.Your mind expands to whatever expectations you've set it. I know it doesn't make sense. You might find it does help to split it up into slightly different "chapters" though - hour 1-2 listen to music, then listen to a podcast for 3-4, then maybe a pacer ride with a music for the last hour, etc.

I'm probably not a great person to be asking this because honestly, mostly I just ride how I do outside. I just ride. Before I was on a Computrainer and I'd adjust watts in ERG mode to whatever I needed to hit a heart rate range. Now on a Tacx Neo and again just pedal for those long rides. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this. And realize I may be somewhat unique in that I really don't mind just riding and not thinking about too much. I certainly in the past had been one of those, "I could never ride the trainer for more than 2 hours!" kinds of people but the more used to it I got, the less of a big deal it felt like. There is definitely a mental aspect to it. In the past too sometimes I'd set a countdown timer with an alarm that would go off at the end so I wouldn't have to pay attention to the time which would make it feel worse. I don't really feel like I need to do that anymore. I'd still FAR rather ride outside but I wouldn't let the idea of long trainer rides stop me from doing another early IM race. I do intervals and stuff on shorter rides during the week. Maybe it's also important to add that I've always been a pretty strong cyclist so I'm not usually that worried about doing anything too fancy on those indoor long rides. I could also probably get away with shorter long rides but I just seem to do well on more volume. Which is sometimes a pain but oh well, I'm used to it. I guess of course it depends on goals as well. Most people would easily get by on doing a few 5-hour trainer rides at most.

I have no problem mentally doing the hours upon hours. Same thing physically

EXCEPT the undercarriage. OUCH

I have had professional bike fits have tried many different saddles. Many different shorts and still down there is the problem

I now rode for 20 minutes, stand up and pedal for a few and repeat for 3 hours. But still OUCH!


Any suggestions?

I don't know, I just get used to it. Also I'm a female so while that doesn't mean we can't (or that I haven't, because I definitely have!) Have issues but maybe just different. I've done well for years on an ISM saddle and most of my shorts are Pearlz Izumi. I think like most things though you just have to find what works for you.

OH but also... lots of Bag Balm applied to sensitive areas pre-ride. That stuff is the best.

Sounds like it's been working well for you riding as you ride outside and for longer durations.

I think part of my problem is that I can't get comfortable on a tri-bike after several professional bike fits and even a new tri-bike this September. I come from a road cycling background in the 1990s and then took off 15 years before getting back onto a bike as I discovered I was better at running. And starting triathlon at age 44, my body was older, stiff, beat up and never could get used to the aero position. (I think I wouldn't have these issues if I started triathlon in my 30s) My neck screams and oh my lord, my (female) crotch! I have since figured out being more comfy in the saddle (had it lasered all off downstairs, numbing cream, ISM saddle). My neck is a bit better on the new bike but my new bike gave me different issues. But the point is that comfort on a tri-bike is really helpful.

And tying this back to the OP, I think if they can be comfortable enough to do 5 hr rides on the trainer than IMTX is very feasible coming from MN. I would also sit in the sauna a few times a week if you have one available for the heat and humidity in TX. I used to sit in the sauna after master swim practices in our previous home. Worked great!

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

Great advice. I change shorts a couple times per long ride too. Putting on a dry pair feels great.

Im in a strange situation. Indoors I can barely hold on aero for more than 5 minutes without my whole body screaming, same bike, fitted, with a Tacx Neo 2.

But I can do 5h+ rides "most" of the time on aero just fine on the road. I dont know if its because being completely fixed and no motion while indoors is killing me, but its much much easier on the outside to keep that position. Even that, just one hour indoors in&out of aerobars cause me to have muscular pain for hours after zwifting

In the end I just do normal saddle position and thats it :/

I am kind of in the same situation as the OP. I am training for IM 70.3 Galveston and even though the average temperature here in Louisiana doesn't prevent outdoor riding, this has been a miserably wet month of January and all of my riding has been indoors on the Wahoo. My plan is similar to yours. I will do either IM 70.3 Memphis, or Waco in the fall and IM Texas in May of 24. I have been able to do a couple of 2.5 hour plus rides with very little discomfort. Based on how I feel physically after those rides, I think that 5 plus hours is doable. Mentally I start to struggle not to want to watch the clock at around the 2 hour point, so I know that is where I will need to figure something out. Rouvy, football and Netflix have helped.