I have to do my long ride this week on the trainer. Anyone have a good 2 hour + interval workout for the cycle trainer?
Thanks
One of my favorites (my FTP is around 300 watts–adjust your watts accordingly)
10 min easy spin with last 15 sec of min 6-10 with spin-ups to 100+rpm
single leg drill:
3x 1 min left leg/30s both leg/1 min right leg/30s both// 1 min easy
15 min @ 250 watts/5 easy
10 min @ 275 watts/5 easy
5 min @ 300 watts/5 easy
5x (3 min @ 315+ watts/2 min easy)
5 min easy
15 min @ 250 watts/5 easy
3x (4 min high rpm/1 min easy)
wd for time
The intensity of your “easy” periods is a function of your fitness–go as hard as you can while maintaining your ability to complete the workout–err on the easy side of easy the first time or two…
Spinervals “tough love” is PITA 3 hour workout with long, 20 min tempo sessions that equals at least 4 hours on the road
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No offense but a 3hr trainer workout does and will never equal a 4hr road ride; it is a totally incorrect way of thinking, especially if you use and understand power meters (which I am assuming you do).
This can be argued ad nauseum (i.e no stop signs/lights downhills on a trainer; esp if one is using a power meter correctly outside), but I stand by my statement.
I’m with you rroof, I have the Tough Love DVD and when I’m done, I can barely crawl off my bike at the end.
the “3 hrs on the trainer equals 4 hrs on the road” thing that Coach Troy says is a bit of a marketing thing I suppose…but nonetheless, its a very, very difficult workout if done as instructed.
Tough Love DVD is Awesome. Why is Coach Troy so hard on that Bruce guy?
I am on your side “rroof” for the same reasons stated. I get very high quality workouts on the trainer which often are more intense and focused than a “long” outdoor ride. There is no coasting on a trainer and no tailwinds. I only take credit for the actual time I spent on the trainer but do feel like a hard 2 hour trainer interval session beats me up more than some 3 and 4 hour outdoor rides. I have been forced to do 5 1/2 hour rides on the trainer for my long ride during IM training due to inclement weather (i.e tropical storm conditions). Long trainer sessions also build mental toughness.
Oh yeah, he does say something like in the video doesn’t he! Actually, I forgot that. But, like using a powermeter outdoors, I make all my trainer rides count and I’m hurtin’ pretty good after that one.
That is Bruce Gennari in the video, he is a very accomplished AG athlete. Having met Troy, I think he is just giving him a hard time…he likes to joke around.
Bruce posts here on occasion I believe.
Hey, Troy and I are good friends. Troy had actually been coaching me for some time and was really the person responsible for getting me where I was at in the sport. He’s just busting on me and I, for one, thought it was pretty funny.
That was one of the hardest things I had ever done. There was no fans in that room at all and we were under those huge lights. It was torture. Plus, I had a catch a plane about two (2) hours later and never got a chance to shower. I thought for a second about jumping into the harbor but Troy and everyone else said that it wouldn’t be a good idea.
On the plane I went straight to the back and hoped people wouldn’t sit anywhere near me. I was ripe! Plus, I had bikers itchy butt like you couldn’t imagine. It was torture!
Bruce Gennari
If you happen to have a Computrainer, another great way to get 2 quality hours of riding indoors is by getting some of the ErgVideos (www.ergvideo.com - they advertise on Slowtwitch sometimes). One of my friends recently got me hooked on them, and I finally ordered some for myself last week. It feels a lot like riding outside, and two hours goes by really quickly. Most of the videos include some hard efforts, either as timed intervals or group sprints.