reading the posts here I note that a lot of posters talk about getting out for their first outdoor ride in 3 or 4 months. How do you handle it?
I was just interested to see what weather extremities people have to deal with just to get in a training session. Do you spend all winter indoors? I note that there is a lot of comment about computertrainer sessions indicating indoor sessions.
I live in Queensland Australia and we are in our 4th day of winter and it is about 26 degrees celcius outside. Our lowest morning temp in winter may get around 4c, no such thing as snow, ever.
I can run most evenings just in shorts and t-shirt, occasionally I may need thin sleeves.
Ocean temp may get around 19c, too cold for me without a wetsuit (sleeveless). Pools are heated but still outdoors.
I know I have it easy, feel free to share your stories.
Last year, winter lasted all the way from the first Wednesday in January until, like, the next day.
San Diego weather is not all bad.
I still get on the Computrainer though. While it might not get too cold, it does get dark early in the winter, and the garage is the only safe place to ride.
I live in Houston, TX. My winter running outfit is the same as my summer running outfit, except I may put something over my ears once or twice in the winter.
Today was a long run 2:20 starting in almost 110* heat index, thankfully some clouds moved in and it got much better.
We don’t have seasons here, just a few months where there’s a bit more rain. Temps don’t change, averages high 80’s year round, but climbs well above that in the middle of the day. It’s currently 35C outside, and I’m off for a run in 3 hours, hopefully it should drop a bit. At least there’s usually a breeze along the beach.
It’s going to be a bugger trying to train for IMNZ 2006, we just don’t have any cold water!
You can pretty much train year round here. The only time I ride the trainer is if I’m stuck at home with the kids. It does get a little warm (today was 107) but you do get used to it and humidity is usually less than 20%. Almost all pools are outdoors except for a couple of health clubs.
a couple of my training friends went to NZ for the worlds in December and said that the water temp of a lake near their hotel was about 13 degrees celsius. They said it sent shockwaves through your body when you put a foot in.
From their advice would recommend full length wetsuit (obviously) as well as one of those wetsuit style swim caps.
ex Sydney lad. Born and raised there until I was married back 15 years a go (anniversary last week actually). Left Sydney in 1989 to Toronto (bloddy cold winters) until 1991, back to Sydney from 1991 to 1993, then Guam from 1993 until 2001. Hawaii since 2001.
I am gonna do the Noosa tri one of these days. You live in a magic part of Oz. When we eventually go back to Oz it will be Qld on the coast.
I live in the south … of Ontario, Canada so yes I train year round, but not outside all the time We have had a miserable spring with record rainfall and cool temperatures. This morning it was 7 C and it is going to 20 for a high and the big yellow orb is in sight in the sky so this weekend should be good. Fortunately, this year I don’t have to be in good shape until October 16th.
Live in Montana. We can get snow in June here. The mountain pass 40 miles from here is going to open this weekend(the beartooth,heading in to yellowstone park). I run year round but cannot bike outside from nov to feb. Even then going out is in the 30’s. Since we are by a pass and high plains,aleawys have 20mph winds. Have ridden in much worse.
San Francisco, California and we can train outside all year round. In fact, it’s generally colder in June/July than in the winter. I’m originally from Kansas and would never move back to the Midwest or anywhere with snow.
I’ve heard great things about Noosa week and it’s on my list of races to do someday.
I am in Brisbane Quensland Australia. 25 C today and nil wind. This is winter. I got offered a job in Edmonton Canada where it gets to -40 C in winter. Needless to say i turned it down. I still am a puss and swim at the QUT indoor pool if the overnight temp gets below 15 C. Had an arguemnet with the parking pig today so most likely I will boycot for a while and head back to Centenary.
Most of my years have been spent in Southern Ontario, Canada with a 10 year stint in Vancouver.
With the exception of South Western BC( where Vancouver is) most of Canada gets a real winter i.e. sub 0C temp and snow for 3 - 6 months.
How do you train with that? You make the best of what you have. I have always looked on it positivly and don’t get to worked up about what I can’t do. If you really think about it, the only thing that you can’t do in real winter conditions is ride outdoors. I sub in a substantial amount of cross-country skiing, which does a remarkable job of maintaining cycling fitness. I would often not ride at all, save a couple of spins on the indoor trainer each week, from late Nov to early March. Yet, after a solid winter of xc-skiing I could hope back on the bike in March and almost right away go out for 3 hour rides at a decent pace.
Swimming is not affected as that is done indoors and as for running, if you have the right gear, you can run in just about any weather. In fact, some of the best training runs that I have had have been in real winter conditions sub -10C and some snow. That is the time of year that I would really focus on long steady runs. Sure there were days that you could not get out, but then I would just sub in a swim, or a gym work-out, or a ski or a spin on the trainer.
What I found was the extremes of the weather gave a real rythmn to each year/season. My key races where all typically in August( IMC for example) - 6 months from March which if you talk to many coaches is the longest sustained period of macro-cycle training that you should maintain. After that you can get into something else for a bit.The overall benefit is that you get away from the total focus on tri training for 12 months of the year. That’s what kept me fresh and motivated for 15+ years of fairly high level training.
Yep…Florida…nice and flat, warm and we train all year. Yes it does get a slight bit chilly (50’s) here in northern FL, so I wear long sleeves in January and February.
You have to be very careful not to over train! There is no real “off season”.
You people are killing me. I live in central Canada, Winnipeg to be exact. Winter began in November and was still going strong in April. No major complaints except many hours on the trainer. Never missed one long run outside this winter, but there were a few days that required a kick in the butt to get out the door.
Summer is finally here and got to ride in shorts and a jersey this week. It was a big change coming from Flecks area in Southern Ontario, but the summer is hot.
We have had a miserable spring with record rainfall and cool temperatures. This morning it was 7 C and it is going to 20 for a high and the big yellow orb is in sight in the sky so this weekend should be good. Fortunately, this year I don’t have to be in good shape until October 16th.