Monday, 12/29/08 at 3:32 PM
by Mari Holden
by Mari Holden
Indoor Training
On this rainy day as I contemplate an indoor workout, I thought I would share some ideas about indoor training for those of you who haven’t ever needed or wanted to train indoors. It’s not all bad, it’s just different. But, this bad weather can give you an opportunity to work on some fitness that is harder to focus on outdoors.
The easiest piece of equipment to master is the turbo trainer. This is a device that you hook your back wheel into, and then you just get on and start pedaling. There is no balance involved and you can just focus on your workout. I personally have used the trainer much more than rollers, and while I like rollers too, I find that to do a good workout I need to just focus on myself, and not on keeping the bike on the rollers.
If I’m just aiming to get time in on the bike, I usually like to set up in front of the tv and put in a good movie. I will mix up the ride by doing a long warm-up at a high cadence and then do a mix of long intervals. I will stand in a big gear for ten minutes, then I’ll rest, then I’ll do seated ten minute in a big gear seated, then rest, then I will do some one legged drills. I will spend 3minutes pedaling with one leg, switch legs repeat and then rest.. The goal is to keep mixing up the workout to get the time in on the bike. You can also try high cadence for ten minutes. This, combined with watching the movie will really help time pass quickly.
The trainer is also a great way to get specific in your training. The best part about it is that you can focus strictly on the effort, and forget about traffic, stop lights etc. At this time of year, I prefer to do high cadence VO2 efforts. This means that I will do 7x 3minutes as hard as I can at 110-120 rpm. I will take 3 minutes rest in between each. In a perfect world I would do two days in a row of these efforts. I generally like to spend at least 1:20 on the bike, so I will do a good warm up and then a nice long cool down.
Don’t fret about training inside! It’s a great opportunity and can give you a very specific and concentrated form of training. Use it and think about how much tougher you are getting mentally!
Happy training!
Mari
The easiest piece of equipment to master is the turbo trainer. This is a device that you hook your back wheel into, and then you just get on and start pedaling. There is no balance involved and you can just focus on your workout. I personally have used the trainer much more than rollers, and while I like rollers too, I find that to do a good workout I need to just focus on myself, and not on keeping the bike on the rollers.
If I’m just aiming to get time in on the bike, I usually like to set up in front of the tv and put in a good movie. I will mix up the ride by doing a long warm-up at a high cadence and then do a mix of long intervals. I will stand in a big gear for ten minutes, then I’ll rest, then I’ll do seated ten minute in a big gear seated, then rest, then I will do some one legged drills. I will spend 3minutes pedaling with one leg, switch legs repeat and then rest.. The goal is to keep mixing up the workout to get the time in on the bike. You can also try high cadence for ten minutes. This, combined with watching the movie will really help time pass quickly.
The trainer is also a great way to get specific in your training. The best part about it is that you can focus strictly on the effort, and forget about traffic, stop lights etc. At this time of year, I prefer to do high cadence VO2 efforts. This means that I will do 7x 3minutes as hard as I can at 110-120 rpm. I will take 3 minutes rest in between each. In a perfect world I would do two days in a row of these efforts. I generally like to spend at least 1:20 on the bike, so I will do a good warm up and then a nice long cool down.
Don’t fret about training inside! It’s a great opportunity and can give you a very specific and concentrated form of training. Use it and think about how much tougher you are getting mentally!
Happy training!
Mari
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