![\"Indoor](\"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/rollers.jpg\")
<\/a>Indoor Training Essentials<\/h2>\nIndoor riding may sound easy, but it is fraught with issues. \u00a0You'll soon discover that there is no cool breeze in your face, hills to add intensity or pretty roadside sights\u00a0to keep your mind off the pain in your legs. \u00a0With that in mind, you can do a few things to minimize the extra pain of training indoors.<\/p>\n
Keeping yourself entertained will help you pass the time and focus on something more than just your Garmin or the pain in your legs. \u00a0And since indoor training can be remarkably dull and lockstep, some form of entertainment will keep your training sessions from becoming less training and more mental torture. \u00a0Using an iPod or similar MP3 player with earbuds or headphones will not only drown out the sound of the trainer but give you a distraction from the tedium. \u00a0As a bonus, you can select music that facilitates your workout for the day: heavy metal tracks for climbing intervals, driving techno beats for high cadence work and groovy funk for long steady state work.<\/p>\n
So, now that you're staying cool, hydrated and motivated, what should you do with those endless hours on the trainer\/rollers?<\/p>\n It should go without saying that “just riding” for an hour on the trainer will do you pretty much no good. \u00a0You won't get much out of it except a few burned calories, and\u00a0certainly nothing of physiological benefit other than “saddle time.” \u00a0The only time where “just riding” is acceptable is if you're trying to get base time in, which is simply zone 2 and low zone 3 riding at a comfortable cadence. \u00a0Keep in mind that if you're doing a proper “not-so off season<\/a>” you shouldn't have to do a lot of this work anyway, but that's a completely different topic which I'll cover at another time.<\/p>\n If you're not “just pedaling away” then what should you be doing?<\/p>\n Let's start with some technique work, shall we? \u00a0What could be better than increasing your power numbers even though you're not suffering hard in zone 5? \u00a0By increasing the efficiency of your pedaling form, you'll use less energy for a given pedal stroke and your upper body will be less involved, leaving more oxygen for your legs to utilize. \u00a0Doing this kind of work on the rollers gives you loads of feedback on your form and you'll very easily be able to tell when you're getting smoother; it'll be easier to stay on the rollers and your body will be much more fluid. \u00a0Try the following workout twice per week in your base period and keep it up once per week in your build phase:<\/p>\n Duration: ~ 1 hour<\/p>\n Best done on: Rollers<\/p>\n For advanced riders, (or if you're just\u00a0feeling badass,) do another pyramid and increase the RPMs by 10 again.<\/p>\n An\u00a0alternative pyramid workout that puts your threshold power in the spotlight\u00a0involves doing FTP pyramids instead of cadence based pyramids. \u00a0In the case of these FTP pyramids, cadence should be within your comfort zone and you will be working off your FTP\/LTHR numbers for intensity. \u00a0You can use this workout one to two times per week during your base and build periods, in lieu of “traditional FTP intervals.”<\/p>\n Duration: ~ 1 hour<\/p>\n Best done on: Trainer<\/p>\n For advanced riders, or as you progress with these pyramids, try increasing the peak power output for the first and second pyramids, and adjust the ramps accordingly.<\/p>\n Now that we've spent some time working on smoothing out our form and reducing wasted energy, and we've spent some time building our threshold and increasing our tolerance for supra-threshold efforts, we can combine the two into one of the most important skills necessary for group riding and racing: zone 5 repeatability.<\/p>\n Duration: ~50 minutes<\/p>\n Best done on: Either trainer or rollers, depending on technique<\/p>\n For advanced riders, consider shortening the time at FTP\/LTHR and lengthening the time at Zone 5 (do 45 seconds\/45 seconds for example) to increase the training stimulus and add variation. \u00a0You can also vary the method you use to increase your power output:\u00a0on rollers you can make your Zone 5 reach based on cadence (speeding up your cadence by 10 RPM to add 15% more power output), on the trainer you can stand on the pedals to increase your power output, and on both you can simply shift to a harder gear at the same cadence to increase your power output. \u00a0Each method has its own relevance to your everyday riding and racing.<\/p>\n It can be extremely difficult to stay motivated to train indoors for long periods of time. \u00a0For those cyclists who don't venture out into the sub-freezing temperatures or when the roads are snow, salt and ice covered, the trainer or rollers may be your only training method. \u00a0The problem with them, however, is the monotony of riding inside, in one place, for a long period of time. \u00a0You go nowhere, and you can only watch those re-runs of the Giro and Tour so many times before you zone out and get sick of them. \u00a0So how do you keep your motivation high?<\/p>\n This arrangement can also apply to spin classes (if you're into that sort of thing), computrainer classes (there are some “studios” out there that offer these, believe it or not) and other kinds of group activities. \u00a0Of course, training outdoors with a group is often the only thing to get someone out the door during the winter, but that's another post entirely.<\/p>\n If you don't have a group nearby, or you don't want to deal with having to modify your workouts to fit around the group's goals, consider some other methods of keeping your motivation high, such as…<\/p>\n Yes, this is the obligatory plug for what I do<\/a>, but there is a lot of merit in it and a great number of people see their biggest gains while following a structured plan<\/a> that holds them accountable. \u00a0A good coach does more than just provide you with a training plan; they are your guide through that training plan, they hold you accountable for your workouts on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. \u00a0Should you find that you're losing your motivation, only a second thought of disappointing your coach, or wasting all the time you put into your training plan will be the impetus you need to get back on the trainer.<\/p>\n As for motivating yourself with a training plan, nothing beats being able to see your progress in real, honest numerical form (at least if you're into motivating yourself that way.) \u00a0In that case, things like Strava can be beneficial. \u00a0Even greater than Strava is a tool like Zwift or TrainerRoad. \u00a0This online program not only has it's own workouts built in, but it can display power numbers by calculating speed, cadence and the resistance curve of your trainer. \u00a0Not quite useful on rollers, but it is an excellent training tool to keep you motivated.<\/p>\n Don't want the structure of a training plan or the idea of a coach breathing down your neck? \u00a0Try using training videos like the [easyazon_link identifier=”B004BNMCNK” locale=”US” tag=”taicoaandthed-20″]Real Rides[\/easyazon_link] series (where you ride alongside Robbie Ventura as he climbs, sprints and races) or the Sufferfest<\/a> series (which includes professional cycling footage for you to ogle.) \u00a0These videos are just like having a group around you, but without the other riders breathing in your ear or sweating on your floor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Indoor training is more controllable than outside, but it has its own challenges. See how you can make indoor training a valuable part of your training program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,120,38],"tags":[175,68],"yst_prominent_words":[1465,2008,2004,2007,2013,2000,1995,2003,2012,2006,1999,2005,2001,1997,2009,2010,1998,1996,2002,2011],"wppr_data":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/rollers.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3242"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3242"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10550,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3242\/revisions\/10550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3242"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=3242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>Staying hydrated and cool are two more important considerations when training indoors. \u00a0Since we don't have any forward momentum and we are literally just spinning our wheels, there's no airflow over our body to cool us and keep our core temperature down. \u00a0The increased heat (a result of poor evaporative cooling) will cause increased sweat production and fluid loss. \u00a0It's not surprising that both of these can do a lot to curb your performance, and these are often the reason why indoor FTP tests can be as much as 10% less than what can be done on the open road. \u00a0It's also worth noting that interval work and other training will typically\u00a0feel<\/em> harder indoors: getting to that 100% FTP number will probably feel like you're trying to climb the Galibier\u00a0with two people on your back. \u00a0So how do you combat this? \u00a0First off, stay well hydrated, drinking plenty of water and\/or electrolyte mix before, during and after your indoor sessions. \u00a0Second, consider the use of several good quality fans to keep the air moving over your body. \u00a0Alternatively, you can use one BAF ([easyazon_link identifier=”B01FFT0BAY” locale=”US” tag=”taicoaandthed-20″]Big Ass Fan[\/easyazon_link]) to blow in your face like a stiff headwind. \u00a0This doubles as a psychological aid to help you tolerate riding into headwinds better.<\/p>\nIndoor Interval Sessions<\/h2>\n
Speed Pyramids<\/h3>\n
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FTP Pyramids<\/h3>\n
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Zone 5 repeats<\/h3>\n
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Maintaining Motivation<\/h2>\n
Train With A Group<\/h3>\n
Many bike shops have a dedicated “trainer night” during which people bring their bikes, their trainers and their willingness to suffer to the shop, set up and go for a “group ride” without going anywhere. \u00a0Often these sessions are directed by a training video or DVD (oh, how many times did I ride with that awful Coach Troy….) and are designed to work on specific segments of your fitness. \u00a0There's also a significant amount of motivation in an arrangement like this, because nobody wants to quit or show weakness in front of their friends, teammates or rivals.<\/p>\nHire A Coach, Use A Training Plan<\/h3>\n