Don’t walk away from your trainer…………

Triathlon Forum
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Don’t walk away from your trainer………….

Don’t let excuses keep you off the bike this season. Many riders moan about not being able to really ride through the winter, to go for more than an hour on their trainer is a major challenge. But this is the time of year to get your training going and building that good foundation that will not only improve you cycling, but lower your risk of over training and injuries. All it takes is a plan and committing to your goals.

In fact, you might even find, as I do, that it’s a lot easier to ride indoors because all you need is a pair of shorts and your shoes, as opposed to outdoor rides where dressing for nasty weather takes seemingly forever.

What to do:
Prepare your body. Cars won’t run without fuel. Ditto for your body. So, even though you’re technically not going anywhere on your ride, before you climb on the trainer, make sure you’re well-hydrated and have some form of sport drink. If you start the ride shortly after you wake up, make sure to drink and eat a little extra to make up for the deficit you’ve incurred while sleeping.

No matter what time you start your indoor ride, if you drink either coffee or tea, you can pump up your workout by having a cup, so this is the time to do it. The “life in a cup” as I like to call it will get you psyched to push the pedals and also enhance fat metabolism on longer rides. But always accompany the morning perk with a glass of water.

To keep you going every week make sure you have a goal and get excited about it. Having a set route or workout plan motivates you outside. The same goes for indoor sessions. Usually the best indoor goals are based on measurements of riding output, such as; wattage, or heart-rate. Both provide an excellent reason to keep pedaling. Any measurement can work, as long as it is reliable and motivates you. Training tools like heart rate or wattage make it break trainer sessions into smaller, more manageable intervals therefore decrease the boredom and controlling the effort. Being able to focus like this ensures you get the most out of your rides. Find the one that’s best for you. If you have not used a heart rate monitor or wattage meter before there is a lot of information on how to use them on the net.

By using some form of riding output you can track your progress and record it in your training diary. I find that it’s helpful and important to be able to track workouts, and see whether the workouts are helping. The goal of training is to make the road to your goals a little less bumpy.

If you lack a training plan for this summer and need direction please see us at www.indoorrider.com and we can help you make 2009 the season you reach a new level of fitness.

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Good timing for this, well at least for me so THANKS!

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I got rollers this xmas and found that my biking is much better for it. In Texas, we usually can ride year-round. Still, getting out the door takes time and all that jazz. I just set up the rollers, hop on, and get in a killer ride whenever I want. And the time on rollers/trainer is 100% biking - not any of this coasting crap. I have a small kid and my wife is happy that I’m not leaving the house for yet another ride. All around a great deal.

Can’t say enough about rollers. Very realistic riding and tons of fun.

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www.thesufferfest.com

provides great free videos which get me on my spin bike…lots of pain but more fun than just watching Tivo and churning out miles.

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This is a great site. Just like the Spinervals are great videos. The only issue I have with all of these workout, and with spin classes are that they forget what time of year it is and what you should be working on. The workouts don’t build each week. So you see some improvement but where are the workouts taking you? But great videos.

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Thanks for posting the link, that looked pretty cool!

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I burnt myself out training for IMAZ in 05, five hour indoor training rides will do that to you I guess. Now I can do about 90 mins max, and I throw some 5-10 min runs into the mix every 20-30 mins and a lot of one legged drills to spice things up. I also watch old tour videos and movies when I ride indoors. This year i did a lot of squats, lunges and skiing so we’ll see what happens, first crit race is this Saturday.

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Best of luck this weekend
You will have gained so much from your hard work last years. You are a machine to have put in those winter riders to get ready for IMAZ. I’m getting ready for IMLP and I’m doing 4hrs tomorrow. I’ll have the music going for sure.

I do the following.

-Long rides (Wednesday) are on my CT so I ride a set course and I have the music blasting
-Rollar Rides - (Friday) are for technique and accelerations
-Indoorrider.com - (Monday’s) I film the riders. I do them as part of my training. I’ve really seen a change in my cycling.
-Sub for indoor riding - (Sat/Sun) Skate Skiing every weekend - 2-3hrs

Happy Riding

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Don’t walk away from your trainer…

Rich,

If used properly and effectively the indoor trainer is an extraordinarily valuable training tool. Yes it’s boring. Yes riding outside is more fun, but if you focus on some key things and key workouts on the indoor trainer and keep at it, I think that many would be surprised how far they can go with this.

Anecdote: We are in Tucson and MissP has not ridden outside since last October. She rides for 3 days on moderate to flat terrain getting used to outdoor riding again and then yesterday took on Mt Lemmon, in a five and a half hour ride. Her up-time from last year from the base to the 20 mile mark, was much faster and was done at an over all lower heart-rate than a year ago. She said she found it easier than last year. She really focused on some specific high quality indoor workouts on the trainer this winter, and it seems to be paying off.

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Great news and say hi to MissP. I look forward to hopefully having the same feeling on Mt Lennon in 25 days when we bust out of the snow and get out on the open roads. There is no doubt that riding indoors helps even in the summer. I have a plan to ride one workout each week indoors right up to IMLP. It will be a key workout (TT, or Hard intervals). I think the trainer is great for those workouts where a consistant effort in needed with no interuptions like an STOP sign, traffic, or lights.

Enjoy Tucson and ride a few kms for me :slight_smile:

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i think Rich should put together a ST forum workout and tape whomever wants to come out for one of his sufferefests. :slight_smile:
I nominate, Miss P, Rich, Fleck, myself, Darcy and whomever else wants to trek out to Orangeville.

I can’t imagine people want to look at Rich every week. :wink: hahaha

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Good post. Many people I know don’t understand that an effective indoor/trainer riding plan involves maximizing the time you have by segmenting your ride into warm-up, drills, intervals, step-ups, gear changes, etc. I have a CompuTrainer and only use the 3D courses a couple times a month. For the most part I am using a static (flat or slightly uphill) course or Erg Mode to do all of my indoor rides. Time goes by pretty fast for me because I’m always doing something different.

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It has always been my belief that HUGE gains can be made during the winter with an effective trainer plan. There is no coasting or screwing around on the trainer like you can in group rides in the summer. Last summer I had a real boost in my cycling times because I was really consistent in the summer and I participated religiously in Rich’s CT challenge. It kept me honest.

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I’m trying to wrap my head around being in Tucson and not being able to ride outside from October on.

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I agree. However, I have noticed that the first few real rides outdoors in the spring my legs feel “different” afterwards. Fatigue and soreness in areas that I don’t feel on the trainer. There’s no chance that I’m not challenging or working myself on the trainer just as hard (or harder) than on the road but the feeling in the legs is just different.

A bit of panic setting in here with < 5 weeks until Calif 70.3 and I have only been outside 3X - I need the weather to give so I can get out a little more before the race. Mostly a mental thing.

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I think the secret is to get yourself in different positions on the trainer. Get that front wheel elevated for an hour and really try and work those other muscle groups you use outside in normal conditions.

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I think the difference also for a lot of people is the trainer is a more consistent ride. Fewer peaks and valleys. Outside it is easier to over do it early on in the ride. Do you train with wattage, effort, or Hr?

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That is not nice :slight_smile:

Everyone is welcome in my to join me for my long rides every Wednesday. You’ll find me riding from 9:30 to at least 1-2pm. Love the company. Just call a head I can only fit 3-4 people. Maybe even get the Multirider going. I’ve had it now for 5 years and never used it.

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I’m trying to wrap my head around being in Tucson and not being able to ride outside from October on.

My apologies for the lack of clarity. We live in the Toronto area and have been going through one of the snowiest and coldest winters on recent record. We are just down in Tucson for a bit of work( TriFest) and play(The great riding).

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I lived in the Phoenix area for three years and even though the weather is really nice in the winter, if you have a “regular” M-F work day, you are still driving to work in the dark and driving home in the dark. I would still get out on the weekend though.